200 Dervishes and Congolese Troops.

Ariba Wad Dafalla.

Dervishes and Congolese.

latter, by the way, had been much disturbed hj this insurrection, and sent his cousin Ibrahim Khalil with 4,000 men to suppress it ; but the movement died out by itself (v. p. 187). Abu Girgeh eventually arrived at Regaf in July, 1893.

Probably fearing the Khalifa's wrath, and finding thestation in a flourishing condition, he sent the Khalifa a present of ivory as a peace offering, this arriving in August, 1893. Not even a rumour of any fighting having taken place at either Regaf or Laclo, least of all with any whites, seems to have reached Omdurman about this time.

On Oinar Saleh arriving at Omdurman he assured the Khalifa that the district was not in danger, and that no Europeans had arrived there. The Khalifa thereupon despatched his relative Arabi Wad Dafalla to take command, to transfer the garrison from Bor back to-Regaf, and to place Abu Girgeh in chains (presumably for his misconduct at Fashoda).

It is more than likely that the above-mentioned rumours at Omdurman of a large Christian force in* Equatoria did refer to Van Kerckhoven's Congo expedition, which had at that time (November, 1892), barely crossed the great watershed ; but rumour, especially in the Sudan, is not to be trusted implicitly.

Arabi Wad Dafalla arrived in the autumn of 1893 from Omdurman, with 1,500 men, to supersede Abu Girgeh, the latter having another 1,500 at Regaf. Arabi on his arrival wrote to Fadl el Maula Bey, now in command of some of Emin's former men, inviting him to seize Baert* and his officers and to bring them to him, but Fadl had had enough of the Dervishes, and declined; 400r however, of Baert's 900 natives heard of this, and deserted en masse to the Dervishes, some of whom, under Abu Girgeh, were penetrating in a W.S.W. direction, and had arrived in the Makaraka country. Fadl el Maula then took service with Baert.

Baert dos not appear to have actually come to blowswith the Dervishes here, but with his thoughts intent on establishing Congolese posts on the Upper Nile, and even on the Albert Nyanza, at Kavalli's, he despatched four companies of Sudanese (400 men) under Fadl el Maula Successor to Van Kerckhoven.