62 FIGHT WITH SHATTAl AHMED NIMR AND THE EMIR HUSSaBULLAH.

In those days Shattai Ahmed Nimr, the Chief of Bargud, collected the remnants of the army of Ahmed Shatta and besieged us in our fortress, keeping us engaged until the force which Sultan Ibrahim was preparing should arrive.

I took no action until I learnt that the reinforcements were coming. Then I ordered one of my commanders Rabeh to go out with a small detachment to attack Shattai: they were successful in killing him, together with his forces, spoiling them of all they had in the way of horses, helmets, shields and cattle. On the sixteenth of August, 1874, I sent a letter to Sultan Ibrahim calling on him to surrender: the Sultan was furious, and gathered together a huge army of over 100,000 fighting men, many of whom were mailclad horsemen or infantry armed with rifles(i). This force he placed under the command of his uncle the Emir Hassabullah with other chiefs such as Ali el Tamawi, and Ahmed Ooma, the commander of the south, who had succeeded the Vizier Ahmed Shatta : there were, too, the commander Hassan wad Abli and Ibrahim wad Dur. They arrived at Dara on the twenty fifth of August, 1874, and besieged us on all sides ; then they sent me a letter in which they said "You have invaded (l) By 1912 these numbers had increased to 139,000 of which 60,000 were mailclad horsemen and 22,000 were armed with rifles.