lay close to the western boundary
of their new colony, on condition that they restored it to Egypt at a
future day when required to do so. Three years passed before they
availed themselves of this agreement. In 1893 the dervishes, 12,000
strong, under Ahmed Ali, invaded Eritrea, and were met on the 29th of
December at Agordat by Colonel Arimondi with 2000 men of a native force.
Ahmed Ali's force was completely routed and himself killed, and in the
following July Colonel Baratieri, with 2500 men, made a fine forced
march from Agordat, surprised and captured Kassala on the 17th of that
month, and continued to hold it for three years and a half.

_The Abyssinian Frontier._--On the Abyssinian frontier Ras Adal was in
command of a considerable force of Abyssinians early in 1886, and in
June of that year he invaded Gallabat and defeated the dervishes on
the plain of Madana; the dervish amir Mahommed Wad Ardal was killed
and his camp captured. In the following year the amir Yunis ed Dekeim
made two successful raids into Abyssinian territory, upon which Ras
Adal collected an enormous army, said to number 200,000 men, for the
invasion of the Sudan. The khalifa sent the amir Hamdan Abu Angar, a
very skilful leader, with an army of over 80,000 men against him. Abu
Angar entered Abyssinia and, in August 1887, attacked Ras Adal in the
plain of Debra Sin and, after a prolonged battle, defeated the
Abyssinians, captured their camp, and marched on Gondar, the ancient
capital of Abyssinia, which he sacked, and then returned into
Gallabat. King John, the negus of Abyssinia, burning to avenge this
defeat, marched, in February 1889, with an enormous army to Gallabat,
where the amir Zeki Tumal commanded the khalifa's forces, some 60,000
strong, and had strongly fortified the town and the camp. On the 9th
of March 1889 the Abyssinians made a terrific onslaught, stormed and
burnt the town, and took thousands of prisoners. A small party of
dervishes still held a zeriba when King John was struck by a stray
bullet. The Abyssinians decided to retire, fighting ceased, and they
moved off with their prisoners and the wounded negus. That night the
king died, and the greater part of the army having gone ahead with the
prisoners, a party of Arabs pursued the rearguard, which consisted of
the king's bodyguard, routed them, and captured the king's body, which
was sent to Omdurman to confirm the report of