Colonel Stewart, who was accompanied by Hassan, ordered Wad Hami Gharab to take a few men from the Mahamid tribe and go by boat to the village of Al-Salmaniya on the eastern bank of the Nile. They refused, saying that going there was a risk to their lives. He became enraged and threatened to kill them by firing squad if they did not go immediately. They obeyed out of fear of this threat and crossed with about thirty people in the boat. They met with the chief, who was sitting in the courtyard of a mosque, and a blind man named Tayyem Hassan Hussein and Hilmi. They told them that their boat had sunk in front of their village and that if they were obedient to the government, they hoped they would extend a helping hand to them to reach Dongola. They replied that they were still obedient to the government and that they were subject to the rule of Dongola, represented by Mustafa Pasha Awad Pasha, and swore on the Holy Book that what they said was the truth. They asked the messengers to guarantee them, but they said that this was not their responsibility, but the responsibility of the commander, Colonel Stewart. The two messengers returned to the island with two of the three men with whom the incident had occurred. The blind man wished to accompany them, so they all set off and crossed the river by boat. When they appeared before Stewart, they repeated what they had told his two messengers, who had informed him of the conversation and their oath on the Holy Book. He was convinced that they were truthful in their words and treated them with great generosity and hospitality, and returned them to their village. He spent that night on the island. The next morning, the two men who had been with him yesterday came to him and told him that...