486 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

as because it seems to me to throw considerable light on the character of the fellaheen population, the descendants by race, as well as by succession, of the old Egyptians in the days of the Pharaohs. For countless generations they have been virtually slaves to one taskmaster after another, and — as it,would seem from their history — have had no higher aspiration than that the master for the time being should not be unduly hard, or the tasks imposed unreasonably severe.

If this view is correct, it is easy to understand why Lower Egypt, whose population consists mainly of the fellaheen and the Copts, should be so easy a country to govern, and one so indisposed to take up arms in her own defence. The Arabs of the deserts, which extend on either side of the Nile, belong to a far stronger race than the fellaheen ; but it is the patient, stolid industry of the latter which has created, and which still maintains, the marvellous agricultural wealth of Egypt. The Nile valley is a model breeding-ground for cultivators of the soil, but not for soldiers.

To pass from this digression, it is sufficient to say that the first stage of the advance on Khartoum was accomplished by the beginning of June, 1896, when the Sirdar occupied Firket, south of Wady Haifa, after having routed the Dervishes. After the occupation of Firket, no further advance was made till the middle of September. An unusually low Nile, an exceptional number of sand-storms, and an outburst of cholera, retarded all military operations.