At a point called (Maqenqwa), and by the grace of God, its people welcomed us warmly and hosted us. We rested, ate, and drank, and were pleased with their good treatment. During this time, Colonel Gordon asked the sheikhs of the area about their conditions. They replied, "We are in chaos. All our weak tribes are ruled by the arrogant and the humiliated." So Gordon asked them, "Are you satisfied if I send you a just ruler with a strong force and authority capable of establishing security among you and repelling the strong from the weak?" They replied, "We are from the oppressed tribe, and we are for the oppressed and the weak. There is no doubt that we will accept any authority that brings equality between us and our oppressors." Then Colonel Gordon asked them, "Which tribe among you are the strong ones who oppress you?" They told him, "Our tribes are (Arbonja and Bakrik). If you ask for the leaders of these two tribes, they will not answer you or obey you." He told them, "We are now asking them to come for the sake of trial, and we sent them messengers, but they refused and met the messengers with insults and abuse." As for us, we chose to return to the (Dafliya) area, which is on the eastern bank of the lake, and this is the point we chose for the government. So we returned after two days and saw our soldiers, who were very worried about us, as they thought that the storm that had occurred had drowned us in the lake. After staying in that area for about ten days, we headed to the Directorate of General Affairs, whose headquarters are in (Ladwa). We left a military post in Dafliya under the command of a commandant and a district officer. On our return, we checked all the posts we had established and found them safe and sound. When we reached Ladwa, Colonel Gordon sent a telegram to the Ministry of Finance in Cairo and the Directorate in Khartoum requesting the necessary steamers and supplies. He also asked for the promotion of many of the officers with him, and my share of that was the rank of Yuzbashi.