one of the
greatest of the Mahdi's old emirs. I mean Osman Digna, to whom I
referred in the early pages of this work. He had been sent to the
Eastern Sudan after the fall of El Obeid, and in July 1883, had taken up
a position near Sawakin. The Mahdi had given him proclamations to
distribute to all the tribes in the neighbourhood of Kassala and
Sawakin, ordering them to rise against the Government. The summons was
obeyed, and by the end of 1883 Osman Digna was in possession of all the
principal posts in the vicinity. The most important work which Osman
Digna performed for the Mahdi was cutting the communication between
Sawakin and Berber, and thus blocking the shortest and best road into
the Sudan. Fully alive to the importance of this route, the Government
made repeated attempts to re-open it, but Osman, with his dauntless
Hadendoas, caused every effort to fail.

On the 3rd of February, General Baker Pasha made a vain attempt, but was
cut to pieces at El Teb, losing over two thousand men and all his arms
and ammunition. After Baker's defeat, the English made another effort,
and after General Graham had defeated Osman Digna at both Teb and Tamai,
the proposal was made to open the road to Berber, and thus relieve
Gordon, then besieged in Khartum; but it was thought impossible to fight
Osman Digna's hordes, and to overcome the difficulties of the desert, so
the idea was abandoned.

For seven long years Osman Digna continued alternately to harass and
besiege Sawakin; but gradually numbers of the local Arabs--notably the
Amarar--fell away from his cause, and intertribal conflicts ensued.
When almost quite deserted, Osman Digna came to Omdurman. In January
1887, he returned _via_ Gedaref and Kassala, where he collected some
four thousand men, eventually occupied Handub, and again besieged
Sawakin. He also defeated the Amarar, and killed over seven hundred of
them.

Kitchener Pasha, the Governor-General of the Red Sea Littoral, was
severely wounded during his attack on Handub; in March of the same year
Abu Girgeh arrived with a force from Kassala, and thus Osman became
almost as powerful as ever. He continued to harass Sawakin, and to
devastate the neighbouring country. It was useless for him to attempt to
take the town, he therefore received the Khalifa's orders to establish
himself at Tokar in January 1889, and at the same time he was permitted
to open commercial relations with Sawakin. A small post was established
at Ha