'The ABC of Signalling: Teaching men of the 2nd King's African Rifles the Morse alphabet in Somaliland, 1903.'

Watercolour en grisaille by J J Waugh, the original for the engraving published in 'The Illustrated London News', 1903.

The soldiers depicted were probably members of the 2nd (Nyasaland) Battalion and are shown undergoing instruction in the Morse alphabet by a British officer. They were engaged in the campaign against Somali forces led by Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, labelled the 'Mad Mullah' by the British, who rose up against colonial rule in 1899.