XXIV INTRODUCTION.

This accounts for his new difficulties, and these letters were

written whilst he was engaged in the arduous task of freeing

these new districts from the active slave-traffic that was going

on. He was completely successful, and it was only after the Mahdi’s rebellion that he was compelled to withdraw his

troops from these outlying districts, where the slave-trade then recommenced.

Speaking of the Mahdi’s rebellion, a very concise and in-

teresting account of its commencement and progress is given by Emin Pasha in Part vil. 6 (p. 432), and the later letters

also refer to it, in its effects upon the Equatorial Province.

Emin’s dealings with the natives are worthy of notice. He

has always been patient in the extreme with them; he has a high opinion both of their intelligence and their capabilities ;

he respects their peculiarities, their modes of thought, and

their beliefs, and the influence which he is able to exert upon

native chiefs is very remarkable. His dealings with Mtésa and Kabréga were characterised, not only by a keen sense of

justice, but also by a thorough appreciation of their various

needs. Mtésa had the highest respect for him, and on several

occasions he expressed to me his appreciation of the way in which Emin had preserved his independence, when it was threatened by the injudicious action of Nur Bey, who had marched to his (Mtésa’s) capital with three hundred Egyptian

soldiers with the intention of annexing Uganda to Hgypt.

This action of Nur Bey’s, by the way, was in direct opposition

to Gordon Pasha’s orders. EHmin’s power over the natives may

also be gathered from the fact that he entered into friendly

relationships with so many of the petty native chiefs whose dis-

tricts adjoined his province. One after another began to trade

with him, and sooner or later, with very rare exceptions, they

asked him to extend Heyptian authority over their lands, and without a shot being fired they became tributary chiefs. They recognised that it was to their advantage to do so, for, once having placed themselves under his beneficent rule, they

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