156 The British Campaign in the Soudan.

temporary command until the arrival of Abd-el-Kader, the new governor-general. The situation was very critical, for nearly the entire Soudan was rising; but Giegler who had been vice-governor since Gordon’s time displayed great energy. He enlisted and organized a considerable force from the Chiaggias, Dongolawees, and other tribes which still remained loyal to the government. To these were joined about fifteen hundred regulars. This army, well armed and equipped by Giegler’s care, and numbering nearly six thousand men, started up the Nile about the middle of March, 1882, for Jebel Gedir. Their commander was Yusuf, formerly a great slavehunting chief, who had killed Munza, the king of Monbuttu.* Later he had rebelled against the Egyptian government, by whom he was pardoned and received back into favor. He had commanded Egyptians under Gessi in the rebellion of Zobehr’s son Suleiman, and had contributed to Gessi’s victories, for which service he had been made a pasha. In June news reached Khartoum that Yusuf-Pasha with his entire force had been annihilated by the Mahdi into whose hands fell all their arms, ammunition, and a vast amount of supplies. As usual in those desert battles, only a mere handful of the vanquished escaped to tell the story of the disaster. The consternation of the European and Egyptian population of Khartoum and Berber was extreme, and with good reason, for before mid-summer Darfour was entirely lost, while Kordofan and Sennaar were in great danger, although Egyptian garrisons still held Bara and El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, and the city of Sennaar, the capital of the province of that name.

* See Schweinfurth’s ‘‘ Heart of Africa” for an account of King Munza.