262 Equatcma, 1893—1894.

Defeat of Kabarega.

Owen at Wadelai.

Events in the Bahr el Ghazal up to February, 1894.

1886.

1888. Abu Mariani.

Colonel Colvile was appointed Chief Commissioner in 1893, and arrived there on the 16th November of that year, One of his first acts was to declare war against Kabarega, King of Unyoro, who had for some time been perpetually harassing Uganda, and on the second day of 1894 he occupied his capital. On the 2nd Februray Major " Roddy " Owen was despatched with a small party by boat to Wadelai, and on the 4th he arrived there, meeting at first with a hostile reception from the banks. He landed, however, hoisted the British flag, erJisted 50 natives (Luri) to protect it, and learnt from the natives that no white man had reached the place since Emin Pasha left it in 1888. The garrison had gone, he was informed, in April, 1893, to join the Dervishes. Hearing next day reports that a large body of " Dervishes " was approaching from the north, he retired, and arrived at Kibiro on the 11th.

From subsequent events it appears that these " Dervishes " were none other than the remaining 200 of Fadl el Mula Bey's men, and had Owen remained another day he would have been able, no doubt, to bring them back with him into British territory.

As it was tliis event was only postponed for a short time, for Captain Thruston, who was sent to reconnoitre the western shores of the Albert Nyanza in March, foimd on the 23rd of that month the two Sudanese companies at Mahaji Soghair ; to this spot they had drifted from Wadelai, not finding enough suppUes at the latter place.

They were straightway enUsted by Thruston, and eventually brought back under the British flag to Uganda. We must now take a glance at the Bahr el Ghazal, and endeavour to bring the history of that province, for the present, up to the beginning of 1894.

1891.

1892.

1893.

Diukai4 lieat Dervislies.

Mahmud.

1894.

The state of things in the Bahr el Ghazal since 1886 had been, on the whole, peaceable. On the death of Osman Ganu, Dervish commandant of Shakka, about 1888, the Emir Abu Mariam had succeeded him, and for three or four years little fighting had taken place. The country had relapsed into its original barbarous state of small native independent tribes, and Dervish influence, although nominally extending over the whole province, did not make itself felt in the direction of aggression.

Nothing worthy of record occurred until La KethuUe appeared on the scene from the south. This officer had been ordered by Van Kerckhoven in 1891 to proceed to Rafai's, make friendly treaties with him, and obtain his assistance in furthering Van Kerckhoven's expedition. He left Bomokandi in February, 1892, and reached Rafai's early in April. Here he was received in a most friendly manner, and made a treaty with Rafai on the 7th April. During the remainder of the year he established Congo posts up to the 7th parallel of north latitude, such as Alewali and Bandassi. Rafai assisted him to the best of his abiUty, and from December, 1892, to April, 1893, accompanied him on an exploring tour vid Yangu, Baraka, and the Upper Bali to Sango and back. La Kethulle then returned to Yakoma, where a large expedition for the North was being organised by the Belgians, under Captain Nilis.

During this summer (1893), in consequence of some inter-tribal fighting, Abu Mariam advanced against the Dinka or Jange tribe. A battle took place, in which Abu Mariam was killed and his force destroyed, whereupon the fugitive Dervishes took refuge in Shakka, leaving many of their rifles in the hands of the Dinkas. On hearing of this the Belgian Governor of Zemio (Le Marinel) sent to Faki Ahmed and Ajerra, chiefs in Dar Fertit, and unwilling allies of the Dervishes, asking them to make common cause with the Dinkas against the Mahdists. At the same time he despatched an ally of Zemio's, one Baudue, who appears to have been starting an expedition in the direction of Deim Bakr " to conquer the Bahr el Ghazal " on his own account, to help, and reinforced him by sending 2,000 men to Mbanga. They were, however, not required. The Dervishes were too broken to renew the attack on the Dinkas, and no further action appears to have taken place in this direction. Mahmud, chief Emir of Kordofan and the Bahr El Ghazal, was much incensed at Abu Mariam's defeat, and sent to Darfur for reinforcements ; but the chiefs in Darfur refused to assist, or even to come and see him.

By the beginning of 1894 the Congo Expedition for the North was ready, and in February Nilis, with La Kethulle as second in command, five other whites (Lannoy, Gerard, Libois, Gonse Deschrymacker, and Sergeant Philippart) and a strong party, made a start for the North.

Recapitulating shortly, we see that by the end of February, 1894, the Dervishes based on Rejaf were pressing the remains of the Kerckhoven expedition under Baert on the Congo-Nile watershed, but that in the rest of the Bahr el Ghazal their influence was practically nil, their only post of any importance, and that weakly held, being Shakka, to the north of the Bahr el Arab. The Congo forces had not succeeded in establishing posts on the Nile, whilst between the north-west of the Bahr el Ghazal and Zemio's country they were busy cementing relations with the natives, who seemed not ill-disposed to receive them. Since the British Government had taken over Uganda on 1st April, 1893, fears had been expressed that the Dervishes would attack the colony from the north ; but for this there appears to have been no justification, for the Khalifa had no intention of enlarging his dominions in this direction, and was content to keep Rejaf as a penal settlement and as an outpost against the inroads of the whites.