179 A CORNER IN THE WOMEN'S QUARTER OF THE MAHDl's PALACE.

CHAPTER XXXIIL OPERATIONS AFTER THE FALL OF OMDURMAN.

The only organised Dervish force which remained intact was that commandedby the Emir AhmedFadil, in the province of Gedaref, southwest of Kassala and on the Abyssinian border. Until the fall of Omdurman Colonel Parsons,the Governor of Kassala,had to be content to keep the small force at his disposal together for the defence ofhis district. But now that the main powerofMahdism wasbroken he was told that lie might begin operations to clear Gedaref of the Dervishes. Nor was this the onlyexpedition that followed the victory of Omdurman. The gunboat flotillaoffered an easy means of rapidlyreconnoitring the course of the White and Blue Niles above Khartoum, dispersing any bands of Dervishes still in arms on their banks and reestablishing Egyptian authority in the chief riverside towns. It was thereforedecided that a gunboat with a small body of troops under the command of General Hunter should ascend the Blue Nile as far as the rapids of Rosaires, near the Abyssinian border,occupying the important town ofSenaar on the way. Another expedition of the same kind was to be sent up the White Nile. All this was arranged quite independently of the news almost immediately received of the presence of a mysterious body of Iuropean troops on the White Nile at Fashoda. Let us first follow the fortunes of the Gedaref expedition. Colonel Parsons, after providing for a garrison to hold Kassala, could only muster ON the Monday morning after the battle there was a grand parade of the British division. The Sirdar wished to show them the Dervish capital before the)- went awaydown the river, and at the same time to impress the people with some idea of the fighting strength of the white contingent in the conquering army. So from Shambat camp, with bands playing and pipes skirling, the British battalions tramped into Omdurman. They marched down the longwide street that leads from the north end to the Mahdi's tomb, a street five miles long, with mud-walled houses on both sides, and wretched lanes and alleys branching off from it on either hand. The wide thoroughfare was thronged with admiring crowds. After a halt near the shattered tomb, the troops marched back to camp, whilethe Sirdar,accompaniedby his staff, ded to the arsenal, where he held a kind of durbar. About a hundred of the principal Arab sheikhs of the city and district had assembled there to make their submission and pledge their fealty to the Egyptian Government.

There, too, were many former officials of the Soudan,including severalEgyptian and Turkish officers who had served under Gordon. This was the formal taking possession of the central Soudan by the Sirdar. After these ceremonies the work went on of making that possession effective.