39 THE NILE AT BERBER.

CHAPTER VIII.

the khalifa's four enemies. IT was not only on its northern borders that theempireoftheKhalifawasnowthreatened.

The evidence ofitsdecliningpower afforded by theDongolacampaignbroughtnewadversaries intothefield,andterritories that a few yearsbefore were eitherheld by Mahdist garrisons or visited each year by slave-hunting Dervish expeditions nowpassed almost without a blow into the hands of other powers. The most important advance was,of course, that of the Anglo-Egvptian army on the north, but Mahdism had to reckon with enemieson the east,west, and south. Eastwards the Abyssinians were putting forward far-reaching claims to territory on the Upper Nile, and the campaign of Adowa had given proof that they could back such claims with force that was not to be despised. Westward the French were making their way fromthe valley of theUbanghi into the countryof the Bahr-el-Ghazal;and in the south the Belgians from the Congo Free State were endeavouring to establi-h themselves on the UpperNilejust north of Ugandaand the great lake-.

withrifles,3,500 sword-and spear-men, and three guns, allunder thecommand of theEmir Wad Dafalla. The Khalifa used it as a centre for collecting ivory and slaves, and a point from which to watch the Belgians in the Free State and the British on the great lakes. Criminals and suspected persons were Frequently exiled from Khartoum to this remote garrison, which the Dervishes had held since 1S88, when the mutiny of Emin's troops enabled them to overrun the province.

The Belgians had long covetedthe possession ofRegaf, which would rid them of a dangerous neighbour and give them a footing on the Nile.

The time seemed now come to attempt the capture of the place, and in January, 1807, the column destined for Regaf assembled at Surrur in the extreme north-east of the Congo Free State. Captain Chaltin wasincommand, andhe had with him 800 FreeState troops, dividedinto eight companies, each under a Belgian officer ; 500 irregulars, mostly spear-men, under their native chiefs ; 250 porters, and a mountain gun.

Instead of having to make their way across rocky deserts, like those whowere attacking the Dervishes from the north,the Free State forces, all of them natives under European leaders,had to traverse sorest and marshy swamp by narrow In this direction Regaf, on the west bank of th"Nile,morethan 800 miles beyondKhartoum, had been for many years the southern outpost of Mahdism. According to Slatin Pasha thegarrison in 1895-96 consisted of 1,800 Jehadia,armed