The Death of Gessi Pasha.

431 authorized them to collect taxes. The lieutenant refused to recognize them without my order. He was threatened and arrested. "What could he do with only twenty-five men, of whom twenty were ill with guineaworm, against fourteen hundred ? He could only send me word of what had happened. I immediatel}" sent Saati Effendi with a company of regular troops and four hundred Besingers. The invaders fled, but while retreating killed five natives and wounded three, carrying away men, women, children and cattle, and once more sowing desolation in the regions I had colonized with such care and perseverance.

" Precisely a week before this invasion, I received a telegram from your Excellency, ordering me to cede Jangeh to Darra, and the irregular troops — believing that Jangeh no longer belonged to Bahrel-Ghazal — had the audacity to commit the abovenamed stroke of brigandage. It cannot be supposed that the authorities in Shakka were in connivance with the brigands, although it is impossible that enlistment on such a large scale coidd be carried on in such a small district as that of Shakka and neighbourhood without attracting the attention of the Governor.

" Is there not an order promulgated by his Excellency Gordon Paslia which prohibits the Jelabba from remaining at Shakka ? Madibo Bey, Ajiel Bey, Dandan and Bellen, in spite of my sending remonstrances to Khartoum, still continue to maintain small troops of four or six hundred men, whose only business is to make raids and capture slaAes. It is clear that the invasion of the irregular troops was the consequence of your Excellency's order to incorporate Jangeh with Darra ; an order that caused them to believe that they could carry on their thievish raids just as before, as is done in other provinces not under my administration. In spite of the report I sent your Excellency, and although the Mudir of