KdVI'T. 



279 



inhabitants hatodthe foreigners, Christians and 

 Turks. Muring a louver >t.-iy in the town of 

 er, Mr. .\achti;_'al found thiit tin- fear of 

 tin- Sultiui was well founded. In none of the 

 many African countries wliioh lie had visited 

 had !in t<> suffer BO much from the fanaticism 

 of tlu- inhabitants as in Darfour, and even 

 in tlu- very house of the Sultan he was not safe 

 from it. Their hostility to all foreigners, kin- 

 dleil l>y tlicir religious fanaticism, had become 

 still more intense by the fear of an imminent 

 invasion of their country by the Turks. Many 

 occurrences in the districts south of their coun- 

 try ju>tiiied this fear. There a certain Zabir 

 had estalilish.il his rule, and, though he still 

 respected the frontier of Darfour, had subjected 

 or plundered the dependent districts of the 

 Arabic i:'-/e_rat nnd the pagan districts of Tel- 

 kaiina, Kutuvaka, Hofva-t-m-nehas, Shale, and 

 Bina. Zabir is a Djalee by descent, and a man 

 of considerable learning, who several years 

 ago had left Khartoum, where he was employed 

 as a clerk, in order to associate with the 

 Baknra in the slave-trade. He entered the 

 services of AH Abu Omori, and subsequently 

 worked for his own account in the vicinity of 

 the Bahr-el-Ghasal, gathering, in the course of 

 time, a large number of fire-arms, and grad- 

 ually extending the sphere of his activity. In 

 the same territory, another adventurer soon 

 established himself, called the Bulal&wi Mo- 

 hammed, who was a native of the tribe of the 

 Abu Simmim, the original inhabitants of the 

 Fittri, and also had lived for some time in Egypt. 

 The Bulalawi Mohammed had insinuated to 

 the Egyptian authorities in Cairo and Khartoum 

 that he was able to conquer the states of the 

 eastern Soudan, between the Nile and the Tsade 

 Lake, and to incorporate them with Egypt. He 

 had consequently received from the Egyptian 

 Government soldiers, arms, ammunition, and 

 money, and it was generally known that lie was 

 in the service of Egypt. As the country be- 

 tween the southern frontier of Darfour and the 

 Bahr-el-Ghasal was soon utterly exhausted, a 

 conflict between the two rival adventurers be- 

 came inevitable. In this conflict the Bulalfiwi 

 Mohammed succumbed and was killed. This 

 happened in 1872. The Egyptian Government, 

 which regarded the Bulalfiwi Mohammed as 

 being in its employ, desired to punish Zabir, 

 but could not reach him, as he was too far away 

 from Kordofan. Zabir, in his turn, endeavored 

 to conciliate the Egyptian Government by re- 

 funding to it the expenses incurred in fitting 

 out the expedition of the Bulaldwi Mohammed, 

 and by giving to it an account of the conflict, 

 which was intended to show its true origin, the 

 absurd character of the plans of his rival, and 

 the utter incompetency of the latter to carry 

 out his plans. He also asserted that he was 

 willing to carry out the plans of the Bulalawi, 

 so far as they were practicable, if he were 

 placed at the head of the expedition. It seems 

 that at the time it was only promised to incor- 

 porate with Egypt the districts south of Dar- 



four; but It In probable that the raining of com* 



plications with th'- COM run.. nt .,f Mnrl'our ulil 



the annexation of the entire country were al- 

 ready taken into consideration. Zabir also 

 engaged to support the troops confided to him 

 by the Egyptian Government at his own ex- 

 pense, while the latter Government would en- 

 gage to furnish to him every thing necessary 

 at cost price. Zabir continued, after the death 

 of the Bulal&wi, to cultivate the friendship of 

 the Rezegat Arabs, through whose territory he 

 received men and arms from Kordofan, and 

 exported slaves and elephants' teeth. The 

 tribe of Rezegat Arabs had been for several 

 years under the rule of Darfour, and during the 

 reign of the late King, Mohammed-el-IIassim, 

 they had almost been annihilated. With Zabir 

 they had for some time lived in peace; but, 

 instigated by Darfour, they suddenly became 

 treacherous, and toward the close of 1873 they 

 plundered, at Shegga, a caravan belonging to 

 Zabir, murdering nearly all the persons belong- 

 ing to it. This act of treachery was soon followed 

 by condign punishment. Zabir surprised Sheg- 

 ga, established there his headquarters, and sub- 

 jected the greater part of the Arab tribe to his 

 rule. He offered to Egypt the establishment 

 of a new Egyptian mudirate (province) of Sheg- 

 ga, was appointed colonel and mudir, and now 

 received openly the command of Egyptian sol- 

 diers. To the Sultan of Darfour he wrote that 

 he had punished the Rezegat for their treason, 

 but had no intention to attack Darfour proper. 

 At the same time he established a military post 

 at Kalaka, a centre of the Habbania, another 

 Arab tribe living west of the Rezegat and sub- 

 jected to Darfour. If at this time the young 

 King had applied at Cairo or Constantinople 

 for peace, he might have been successful. He 

 preferred, however, to lead an army against 

 Zabir, under command of his vizier, Ahmed 

 Shetta. A lieutenant of Zabir was defeated 

 by Ahmed Shetta ; but, three days later, Zabir 

 obtained a complete victory, Ahmed Shetta 

 even losing his life. The Sultan suspected that 

 the Egyptian Government was backing Zabir. 

 and sent an embassador to Cairo to treat for 

 peace. 



While on his way from Darfour to El Obeid, 

 in Kordofnn, Dr. Nachtigal learned that the 

 Governor-General of the Egyptian Soudan 

 staid at El Obeid, and was on the point of 

 going to Shegga for the purpose of inspecting 

 the new mudirate. When he arrived, how- 

 ever, at El Obeid, he found the Governor-Gen- 

 eral ready to march at the head of an army 

 against Darfour. His army was but small, 

 numbering about 1,500 men, of whom 1,000 

 were infantry ard 500 cavalry, and three guns: 

 500 other cavalry troops were expected from 

 Khartoum. Zabir had under his command 

 8,000 men, with six cannon, and in July had 

 informed the Egyptian authorities that he did 

 not need any more men or cannon, but be- 

 lieved himself strong enough to defeat the 

 Darfourians, and that ho was on the point of 



