regard to Sudan affairs could no longer be
maintained. Public opinion in England was strongly impressed by the fact
that the Egyptian garrisons of Tokar and Sinkat were perishing within
striking distance of the Red Sea littoral. A British force about 4400
strong, with 22 guns, made up of troops from Egypt and from units
detained on passage from India, was rapidly concentrated at Suakin and
placed under the orders of Major-General Sir G. Graham, with
Major-Generals Sir R. Buller and J. Davis as brigadiers. News of the
fall of Sinkat, where the starving garrison, under Tewfik Bey, made a
gallant sortie and was cut to pieces, reached Suakin on the 12th of
February. On the 24th General Graham's force disembarked at Trinkitat
and received information of the surrender of Tokar. At 8 A.M. on the
29th the force advanced towards Tokar in square, and came under fire at
11.20 A.M. from the enemy entrenched at El Teb. The tribesmen made
desperate efforts to rush the square, but were repulsed, and the
position was taken by 2 P.M. The cavalry, 10th and 19th Hussars, under
Brigadier-General Sir H. Stewart, became involved in a charge against an
unbroken enemy, and suffered somewhat severely. The total British loss
was 34 killed and 155 wounded; that of the tribesmen was estimated at
1500 killed. On the following day Tokar was reached, and on the 2nd of
March the force began its return to Suakin, bringing away about 700
people belonging to the late garrison and the civil population, and
destroying 1250 rifles and a quantity of ammunition found in a
neighbouring village. On the 9th of March the whole force was back at
Suakin, and on the evening of the 11th an advance to Tamai began, and
the force bivouacked and formed a zeriba in the evening. Information was
brought by a native that the enemy had assembled in the Khor Ghob, a
deep ravine not far from the zeriba. At about 8.30 A.M. on the 13th the
advance began in echelon of brigade squares from the left. The left and
leading square (2nd Brigade) moved towards the khor, approaching at a
point where a little ravine joined it. The enemy showing in front, the
leading face of the square was ordered to charge up to the edge of the
khor. This opened the square, and a mass of tribesmen rushed in from the
small ravine. The brigade was forced back in disorder, and the naval
guns, which had been left behind, were temporarily captured. After a
severe hand-to-hand struggle, in which the troops behaved