166 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

the surrounding tribes, it is possible that Suleiman Bey would have succeeded in establishing his independence.

The attitude of the slave-dealers became so menacing that Gordon Pasha determined to go himself to Shaka and strike a blow at the very heart of the disaffection. Accordingly he proceeded to the slavedealers' camp near Dara, and thence to Shaka, and warned them that he knew of their treasonable designs, and called upon them to disband and lay down their arms. While in Shaka he was for some days in imminent danger. The troops of the slave-dealers were more numerous and reliable than his own, and for some time it appeared likely that he would be attacked; but Suleiman's officers were divided in opinion, and, subdued and overawed by his presence, which seemed to exercise a mysterious influence over them, the greater number, one by one, gave in their submission and were dispersed. Suleiman Bey was sent to the Bahr-el-Ghazel, and the other chiefs to different places ; and the difficulty being over for the time, Gordon Pasha returned to Khartoum.

In the following year, 1878, Sebehr Pasha wrote to give his followers the signal for another revolt, thinking, apparently, that it would result in his return to the province, the government of which he coveted. His idea would seem to have been that the authorities at Cairo would send