- 60 — sity should dictate. A reply came on the twenty second of November 1873, as follows : "We have placed your letter before His Highness the Khedive who thanks you for your loyalty and approves of your desire to put beneath his sway the country you have conquered. He has conferred on you the rank of second class with the title of Bey.

Furthermore he appoints you to administer the country on condition you pay to his treasury an annual revenue of £1,000". 1 agreed to pay the tribute and formally took possession of the country in the name of the Khedive, and began to introduce into it law and order.

But Sultan Ibrahim could not brook my remaining in the Shakka country, and sent instructions to Ahmed Shatta, the chief who lived at Dara, on the southern frontier of his kingdom, and also to Saad el Nur, who was the commander on the East. He then began to collect an army with the intention of expelling me from the country. But I was aware of the movements of the two chieftains, and gave information to Ismail Pasha, who transmitted the news to Cairo. The Khedive determined to seize the opportunity for which the Government had long been waiting, since the conquest of Kordofan. He accordingly sent me 380 trained troops, as well as