THE ADVANCE ON DONGOLA. 473 Toski, in 1889, the Dervishes remained on the defensive. The true story of the Khalifa's reign is so little known as yet, that the motives of his long inaction are not easy to understand. The most probable theory is that the losses sustained in the frontier campaigns had crippled the effective fighting force of the Dervishes ; that the terrible outbreaks of cholera and small-pox in the Soudan had greatly diminished the military strength of the population ; and that Abdullah el Taashi had come to the conclusion that it was useless to renew his raids upon Egypt till he had largely increased the number of his troops, and had secured outside support to counterbalance the power of England, as represented by the army of occupation. During this cessation of active hostilities, no formal truce or treaty of any kind was concluded between Egypt and the Soudan. The only approach to a mutual understanding consisted in the fact that the Egyptian Government, under pressure from England, consented, much against its will, to relax the cordon system under which the Soudanese had hitherto been debarred from any trade with the Red Sea ports. At this period our British statesmen, with very few exceptions, had no notion whatever of reconquering the Soudan. In consequence, the idea of promoting commercial intercourse between the Soudan and Egypt was viewed with favour in Downing Street, under the delusion that it might lead to the establishment of a modus Vivendi between the two countries. This being the position of affairs, there was, in as far as I