ionaries to teach his people and make men of them. He always
remained faithful and loyal to the Government, and when our time of
difficulty and hardship came, his continual motto was, "Eed Effendina
tawileh" (_i.e._ "Our Khedive's hand is long")--that is to say, his
power is great.

The third mountain was occupied by a certain Dogman, with a small
following who were for the most part inclined to Mahdiism. For the
moment this man was not dangerous, and the people on the two other
hills remained loyal to us. When the whole country was up in arms
against the Government, this honesty and devotion on the part of these
poor Nubas was a bright exception; they would even have fought for us
had it been of any use and we had deemed it necessary.

The enemies we most feared were the Baggara of the Nuba plains, who had
their headquarters at Singiokai, about six hours north of Delen. These
tribesmen had joined in the revolt from the beginning, and had cut off
our communication with El Obeid; they had organised themselves into a
corps of from 150 to 200 strong, mounted on horses, and they frequently
made incursions on the people in the neighbourhood of Delen; they would
suddenly appear galloping at full speed, and as suddenly disappear,
destroying or seizing everything on their path. Their raids were
principally directed against the Nubas who were working in the fields,
and on their women who were carrying water from the wells. These
robber-dervishes appeared for the first time on the 8th of April, 1882,
and a cry of alarm was raised from the mountains, which echoed and
re-echoed it back a hundred times.

Every one fled to the mountains, even the cattle instinctively made for
their shelters. Some Nubas were attacked and killed in the woods, and
twelve of the soldiers, who were out looking after the camels grazing,
were all killed, with the exception of one who fell severely wounded in
the back; all the camels were captured. When the Baggara had
disappeared, the Nubas descended from the hills and came to the scene of
the raid. On finding the dead bodies, with weeping and wailing they
carried them back to the villages; the women tore their hair, rolled on
the ground, and put dust on their heads. The large broad lances had made
deep gaping wounds in the unfortunate soldiers who had fallen.

That night, when all was still, the widows of these poor men went to the
top of a high rock and there sang a solemn dirge for the dead, which
ma