230 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

measures after the rescue of Gordon and Stewart. Otherwise, it was argued, we should find ourselves embarked on an endless enterprise nothing less than the conquest and the permanent occupation of the Soudan—a territory half as big as Europe, and with such vast spaces of almost impassable desert, and such a climate, that to hold it with European troops would be a task beyond reasonable contemplation.

At the same time it was felt to be impossible that we should withdraw our forces from Egypt, and though France was still "nagging" and protesting against our continued occupation, even French politicians of liberal and statesmanlike views acknowledged that, as we did not occupy Egypt for the sake of Turkey, or for the purpose of propitiating any other European power, but had found ourselves there for the protection of our own and European interests, for the purpose of maintaining the established government and suppressing rebellion, and with the general concurrence of other European powers, we could not evacuate the country until something had been effected towards the end that we had had in view. It could scarcely be denied that the opinions of those who, having been well acquainted with the nature of the Soudanese sheikhs, declared that nonintervention was the best policy, because the chiefs would soon quarrel with the Mahdi and among themselves, and the revolt would end in tribal hostilities and consequently would die out, were already to some extent being verified. There were rumours of serious defections among the rebel host, and it soon became evident that the rebellion in the south was likely to fall to pieces, and that the most important factor with which we had to deal was the hostility of the tribes on the borders of the Red Sea and about Suakim and Kassala. Osman Digma, in fact, was likely to become a more formidable foe than the Mahdi, and the character and antecedents of the man himself were significant. It appears that the Digma family were previously rich and influential; but on the abolition of the slave-trade they suffered severe losses, and some of them were imprisoned for being implicated in dealing in slaves, so that the family gradually became poor and in debt. In 1877 Ali Digma, one of the brothers, was caught by her Majesty's ship IVi/d Szuan, with ninety-six slaves off Sheek Beragoot, a small harbour about 30 miles north of Suakim, and in consequence Osman's family suffered a loss of at least iiooo.

Osman Digma, the head of the family, then became a broker in the town of Berber, and occasionally went to Suakim to sell merchandise of various kinds. In 1882 he brought ostrich feathers and shipped them to Jeddah, remaining there himself, and staying about six months. He then left for Khartum, afterwards going to Kordofan, where he remained some months, and then returned to Erkowit about the 23d Ramadan, or the 2Sth of July, 1883, bringing letters from the Mahdi to Tewfik Bey, the governor of Suakim, the prefect of Sinkat and Tokar, Mohamed-el-Amien, sheikh of