MESSAGES TO THE NATIVES. 1 39 in which he was to be aided by Major Rundle, who had a large quantity of provisions at Korosko, and undertook to have a convoy of supplies at Abu-Hamed four days after the arrival ot the column, he was to advance upon and take Berber, whence he was to forward as many supplies as possible to the force which, it was intended, should have reached Khartum by land. All the tribes were to be treated as friends except the Monassirs, who were to be regarded as hostile unless they gave up the murderers of Colonel Stewart and his party. Supplies might be taken in the Monassir country by a portion of the mudir's troops, who were to accompany the force, and other natives who were hostile might be compelled to comply with the demands made upon them. Abu-Hamed, Berber, and other places necessary to the safety of the line were to be occupied, and it was to be regarded as indispensable that, as soon as possible, 75,000 rations should be placed at Shendy for the force operating by the desert. The native sheikhs might be assured that the English were there to restore tranquillity to the country, and to establish some form of native government acceptable to the people, while the property and the just rights of the inhabitants would not be interfered with, and all those who submitted at once, except .the men and their accomplices who murdered Colonel Stewart and his companions, would be well treated.

Letters in Arabic had been prepared and addressed to the sheikhs of the various tribes, setting forth these particulars; and in case it should be found that Suleiman Wad Gamr, and Fakir Wad Etman, the two men who had been most concerned in the murder of Stewart, had fled, a special proclamation was to be issued offering a reward for their apprehension.

No further advance was to be made till the whole force could leave Hamdab. There was no nearer telegraph station than that at Abu-Dom, from which the force was now nineteen miles' distance; but Lieutenant Stuart of the Royal Engineers was soon at work superintending native labourers, who cut and erected poles, to which were connected the wires that had formerly belonged to the old Berber line that had crossed the desert at Duguiyet; and a camel post was temporarily appointed between Abu-Dom and the