Two Autograph Letters signed to Carl Christian Giegler, Chief of Sudan Telegraph, in Khartoum

London, 1876. Together 12 pages. 1 vols. 8vo. With original envelopes in Grant's hand. Together 12 pages. 1 vols. 8vo. COL. GRANT ON GORDON'S FIRST TOUR OF DUTY IN AFRICA: In the March 1876 letter, Grant notes The Times's report on Gordon's contemplation of retirement. "It is reported ... that my excellent friend Colonel Gordon contemplated retiring from his present duties south of Gondokar, and if this is true, no one will regret it more than I do for he is one in a thousand - one in every respect highly qualified for bringing the natives under a new rule - I trust the report is without foundation ... " In the November letter he expresses relief that Gordon is staying in Khartoum: "It delighted me to hear that Colonel Gordon was not coming home when he intended as changes in the Govt. make a great difficulty out there, besides which he is so well suited for the work, however I think that five years work on the Nile is very trying to a constitution and that a trip to Europe is absolutely necessary after five or six to recruit body & mind. Colonel Gordon can have few European comforts about him. l know he will be successful in placing the "Khedive" upon the Victoria and in getting some proper person to take his place whenever he wishes to resign and take leave to Europe." He then reports that Mr. Lucas has asked for a letter of recommendation to Gordon, but "as [Lucas] had never been with natives" and lacked knowledge of eastern countries, Grant declined to write it. Grant is perhaps best known for accompanying James Speke in 1859 on his expedition to confirm that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile. He published two works as a result of this expedition, A Walk across Africa (1864) and, pertinently here, Khartoom as I Saw it in 1863 (1885).