28 (No.98 HISTORY Sunni title and personality of the Mahdi ; and his superb oratory, early military successes, and personal attractiveness rallied the greater part of the popula tion of the Northern Sudan to him . His chief supporters were the fierce Baggara cattle-owning tribes of the western deserts, who were alarmed by the efforts, however feeble and in part insincere, which the Government was making to abolish slavery. For the slave trade was " atonce their religion, their occupa tion, and their principal source of income.” Religious zeal was , however, the chief cause and also the binding force of the rising . Hatred of the Egyptian tax gatherer, official, and oppressor had spread universal discontent through the country and brought all the wretched to the Mahdi's banner. The worthlessness of . the Egyptian army of occupation , men and officers alike, gave the movement an unexampled opportunity of success .

Eluding capture by a timely “ Hegira ” to Jebel Gedir in theNuba mountains, the Mahdi slew two governors of Fashoda and destroyed their armies, captured after long siegesthe Egyptian garrisons in Kordofan (January 1883 ) , and annihilated the avenging army of 10,000 men under Hicks Pasha at Shekan , a few miles south -east of El Obeid, on Novem ber 5 , 1883. This caused the surrender of Slatin in Darfur next month . In the eastern Sudan the Egyptian garrisons were beleaguered , and Suakin was onthe point of capture .

The Government decided to evacuate the whole Sudan,and despatched Gordon to withdraw the garri. son and provide a working Government instead. This combination of tasks and the vacillation of the British Government proved fatal . Gordon arrived in Khar tum on February 8, 1884 , unsupported, and was soon invested . A British rescue expedition was sent six inonths too late, and lingered, perhaps unduly, on its march . Khartum fell to the Dervishes on January 26, 1985. Gordon was killed , and the town was shortly afterwards partially destroyed, its surviving inhabi