164 Slave Convention.

The Slave Convention of August 4th, 1877.

Gordon starts for Kordofan, March, 1879.

Church at Alexandria, and was the only person in Abyssinia who could ordain priests.

Gordon had some difficulty just then as to the- disposal of 1,300 slave soldiers ("Bazingers ") who had remained faithful to the Government, and finally decided on sending them under Nuer Bey Angara, their chief, accompanied by two Europeans, to a zone of country between Wadai and Darfur. These soldiers had been originally kidnapped by Zubehr and trained to arms.

Though Gordon had pointed out that the destruction of Zubehr' s force was the turning point in the slave trade question, he could get no assistance from Cairo.

On August 4th, 1877, a Convention had been concluded between Great Britain and Egypt, by which all public traffic in slaves was at once prohibited, while the private trade in Egypt was to be suppressed in 1884, and in the Sudan in 1889. Although it was well known that Zubehr was mainly responsible for the slave trade of the past 10 years, yet he was now at Cairo being treated as an honoured guest, and Nubar Pasha even offered to send him to assist Gordon. The latter, however, declined the offer, and occupied himself by appointing European Vakils to all the frontier posts.

In March, 1879, Gordon set out for Kordofan. Not only was the revolt in full vigour in Bahr el Ghazal, but there were also risings in Darfur and Kordofan. In the former, Harun had once more appeared on the scene, and in the latter, the insurgents were led by Sabahi, formerly one of Zubehr's chiefs, who had taken to slave dealing on his own account, had murdered the governor whom Gordon left at Edowa, and gone to the hills where the Egyptian troops under Hassan Hilmi Pasha were making no efforts to attack him.

Gordon's reasons for undertaking his present expeditions were to help Gessi, to prevent partisans of Zubehr in Kordofan sending aid to the slave dealers, to cut off runaways, and to hinder Zubehr's bands breaking into Darfur, and joining Harun. At the end of March, he went to Edowa, from which station Sabahi with 400 men was only four days distant. Many captures of slave caravans now took place, the total number captured since June, 1878, being 63. Shakka was reached on 7th April, where a message was received from Gessi asking for more