476 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

troops had been found at Fashoda ready to support the French expedition by force of arms, the object of the Marchand mission would have been secured, and France would now be securely established upon the territory traversed by the White Nile. M. Pinon's explanation of the causes which upset the arrangement contemplated is not very satisfactory. The most probable explanation is that the NegnSy after the fashion of all native African potentates, preferred to be on the stronger side, and that when he learnt the English were marching on Khartoum in grim earnest, he felt convinced they were stronger than the French, in as far as the Soudan was concerned, and that therefore it was his interest to be on the side of England as against France.

Meanwhile, as always happens in the East, even where postal services and telegraphs are unknown, news had trickled down from the heights of Abyssinia to the plains of the Delta to the effect that the NeguSy under French influence, was contemplating joining his forces to those of the Khalifa, in order to drive the English out of Egypt This, at least, was the report which was current in the bazaars of Cairo. I have little doubt the report, as given in the above form, was baseless. The chief of the various causes which have enabled Abyssinia to maintain its independent existence for so many centuries, has been the fervour of her hostility to Islam, and it seems to me intrinsically improbable that the Emperor Menelek should ever have contemplated allying himself with