THE RECONOUEST OF THE SOUDAN. 47 beari "a man of war from his vouth upwards," for as a boy of fifteen he had been in command of a Dervish force, his kinship with the Khalifa securing this early promotion. It was on the first of July that he approached Metemneh. The Jaalin Emirs, rashly trusting to their own tribalpower,refused to admit the BaggaraEmir and his forces into the place, telling him they would no longer fight for him and his master. There was a fierce battb, ia which the unfortunate J..alin were routed with fearful slaughter, over a thousand being killed on the field and in the pursuit. Their homes, their women,and their propertybecame the prize of the victor-. All along the river,above and belowMetemneh, their villages v ere sacked, their fields wasted, their water-wheels burned. The fertile strip of country was converted into a wilderness by the conquering Baggaras. Numbers of the fugitive Jaalin took refuge within the Egyptian outposts, eager for revenge on their cruel enemies.

Mahmoud proceeded to strongly fortify Metemneh, constructing batteries near the river, and an entrenched camp at some distance from it. His success, the first obtained by a Dervish army lor many a day, gave unexpectedencouragement to the Khalifa andhis adherents. The battle at Metemneh was indeed a most unlucky event, but, happily, within a few weeks the prestige of the Dervishes received a new blow fromHunter's brilliant victory at Abu Hamed.

IN HOSPITAL AT WADY HAM A.