rds Kassala his followers had nothing to eat but wild
figs, and many had starved. The Khalifa received Osman very coldly, and
reproached him for his defeat; he afterwards sent him to cultivate on
the Atbara, where he now lives at a place called Adaramab.

Of all the opponents to Government, Osman Digna was perhaps the most
bitter; he had done great things at Sawakin, Kassala, and on the
Abyssinian frontier, but by his ruthless cruelty he had alienated the
Arabs from his cause. In his present seclusion he has, probably,
occasion to think of all his evil and bloodthirsty deeds, which have
ended in the ruin of his country and the death of his followers. Almost
all the Arabs who espoused his cause with so much zeal are now dead,
and his present humiliation is a fitting reward for his blind adherence
to a false and ruthless tyrant.

Scarcity of money in the beit et mal at Omdurman was the main reason for
the despatch of an expedition up the White Nile. Since 1885 Emin had not
been disturbed by the Dervishes, and Karamallah had long since retired
to Bahr el Ghazal, from whence no news had been received of him for
years.

There was no Dervish post south of Fashoda, which was the market to
which the blacks brought their cattle for sale. The negro tribes all
along the White Nile had been left quite undisturbed by the Dervishes,
but now it occurred to the Khalifa to send an expedition to collect
ivory and slaves and to subdue Emin Pasha. Omar Saleh was appointed to
command, and was given three steamers and a number of sailing vessels;
he was also the bearer of a letter to Emin informing him of the various
events which had occurred in the Sudan, and calling on him to surrender
to Omar. To add weight to his letter, he also ordered the Syrian
Stambuli to write in a similar sense; also some of the Copts in Omdurman
were ordered to write to the Copts who were known to be in Emin's
service.

Omar Saleh left Omdurman in July 1888, and a whole year passed without
any information of his movements reaching Omdurman; it was thought that
Emin must have annihilated the expedition and captured the steamers. The
Khalifa became restless, but at length one of the steamers returned,
laden with ivory and slaves.

We were all naturally most anxious to hear about Emin, and the men who
brought the despatches informed us that they had arrived at Regaf in
October; this place they took by storm, and had sent down to Omdurman
one of the clerks they