volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

152 Kitchener and the Egyptian Sudan.
forward my quest for the missing fragment of Aristotle's
'Adrjvaicjv iToXiTeCa., I went to Cairo on the 3rd, and
had to wait there until the morning of the 7th for a
train to take me to Asyut. On the 5th I delivered
certain letters to Colonel (later Lord) Kitchener, and
renewed my acquaintance with him which had begun
so far back as 1875. I spent a long afternoon with him
and found that he was just as keenly interested in
Oriental Archaeology as he was in the days when he
was working for the Palestine Exploration Fund. He
talked a great deal about Mesopotamia and Baghdad,
and excavations in Egypt, which he thought were
badly mismanaged, and he urged me to lose no chance
of acquiring antiquities and taking them to England.
He asked me many questions about the Egyptian
Sudan and its ancient history, and was evidently very
desirous of playing a prominent part in its restoration
to Egypt. He walked round his garden with me and
showed me the various flowers which he was trying to
grow, then took me to his stable and talked to his
horses, and when we reached the gate he wished me
" good luck " and said, " If ever I get the job of
smashing the Khalifah^ and taking Khartum you shall
have your ' look in' at the Sudan." And he kept his word,
as the following copy of a letter of his will show :
" Cairo,
"June 15th, 1897.
" Dear Mr. Budge,
" I am quite sure your military abUity would be of great service
to me at or about Merowi, so if you find yourself at Assuan without
raising any vast amount of attention, means wUl be provided for you
to proceed.
" You can select your own time, but it appears to me that there
is'Iess likelihood of your military expedition being talked about before
September than later.
" Yours sincerely,
" (Signed) Herbert Kitchener."
The result of this letter was that the Trustees sent
me to the SudS.n six weeks later, and when I arrived at
1 The Mahdi died June 22nd, 1885.