296 



EGYPT. 



allay the consternation of the inhabitants, 

 while an Egyptian regiment arrived to man 

 the fortifications. During the summer the 

 Arabs hovered around the town, picking off 

 the Egyptian sentries with their rities. A 

 company of English engineers was sent later, 

 with a quantity of rails and rolling-stock. The 

 plan of building a railroad to Berber could 

 have been accomplished in a short time and at 

 a slight expense. It was abandoned for the 

 political reason that it would entail the preser- 

 vation of Egyptian rule in the Soudan. Os- 

 man Digma raised the siege of Suakin in Sep- 

 tember to raid the tribes that were hostile to 

 the Mahdi. When the Mahdi descended upon 

 Khartoum, he returned to the siege. A force 

 of marines was landed about the 1st of Decem- 

 ber. They constructed zaribas, or fortified 

 camps, in the vicinity of the town. The Arabs 

 kept up nightly skirmishes, and the English 

 and Egyptians ventured on cavalry forays, but 

 the rebels were masters of the surrounding 

 country, while the town, under the protection 

 of the ships, was safe from attack. 



Treaty with Abyssinia. At the time when Gor- 

 don entered upon his mission, Admiral Hewett 

 was sent on an expedition to Abyssinia with 

 power to secure, by the cession of Egyptian 

 territory, the aid of King John in the removal 

 of the garrisons in the districts near his terri- 

 tory. The treaty concluded with that savage 

 Christian potentate, to which the Khedive un- 

 willingly agreed under English pressure, ceded 

 to him the district of Bogos, and gave him free 

 access to the port of Massowah. King John 

 engaged to send forces to relieve the garrisons 

 at Kassala, Gelahat, Gedari, and Girah, and to 

 facilitate their withdrawal. He promised also 

 to sign a slave-trade treaty with Great Britain. 



Massowah and Kassala. The garrison at Kas- 

 sala, though reduced to extremities in the early 

 part of the year, was able, later, to obtain pro- 

 visions. When the Mahdi made a general ad- 

 vance in the autumn, the town wa^ again close- 

 ly invested. The Abyssinian King was not able, 

 if he was willing, to dispose of a relieving 

 force, though he now promised anew to bring 

 succor. The port of Massowah was held by 

 an English naval force. Mason Bey was ap- 

 pointed governor. The English forces after- 

 ward retired from Massowah without attempt- 

 ing to relieve Kassala. 



The Berbera Affair. One of the annexed prov- 

 inces of Egypt the English betrayed the inten- 

 tion of taking into their immediate possession. 

 Berbera and the other Egyptian settlements 

 on the Somali coast are remote from the Sou- 

 dan and beyond the influence of the Mahdi. 

 Berbera, before it was improved by Ismail 

 Pasha, was the site of an annual market, 

 where 100,000 people congregated, and where 

 products of Central Africa to the value of $3,- 

 000,000 were exchanged for European wares 

 and products of India, Persia, and Arabia. At 

 other times of the year it was a naked strand. 

 Ismail laid out a town, with water-supply, 



warehouses, and a harbor, sifrrounded now 

 with blooming gardens, and containing about 

 10,000 inhabitants. With Berbera, the whole 

 Somali coast, and the rich inland province ot 

 Harrar, which contains, besides the nomads, 

 a population of over 2,000,000 souls, would 

 pass into the possession of Great Britain. The 

 rule of the Egyptians was welcomed in these 

 districts, and proved beneficial, for it freed the 

 industrious agricultural and mercantile popu- 

 lation, to a great extent, from the black-mail 

 of the wandering tribes. Nevertheless, an 

 English official appeared at Berbera, with three 

 vessels of war, and announced that her Britan- 

 nic Majesty had determined to take the people 

 under her protection, and release them from 

 the tyranny of the Egyptian administration. 

 He was provided with a petition to that ef- 

 fect, signed by three sheiks. He informed 

 the governor that he was clothed with au- 

 thority to take over the government and ad- 

 ministration in the name of the Queen. The 

 governor refused to acknowledge any com- 

 mands that did not proceed from the Khedive, 

 asked the English officer if he purposed to take 

 forcible possession of the place while Egypt 

 and England were in a state of peace, and of- 

 fered, since the British Government could be 

 so easily convinced by petitions, to obtain the 

 signatures of the same three sheiks, and as 

 many more as were wanted, to a declaration 

 of contrary purport. The people of the town 

 assembled when they heard of the purpose of 

 the English visitors, and manifested their in- 

 dignation in a manner that caused the Enj 

 lishmen hastily to take their departure. The 

 possession of Berbera and the dependent dis- 

 tricts would greatly strengthen the military 

 position of England on the Red Sea, becaus 

 Aden, which lies immediately opposite, draws 

 all its supplies of food from Berbera. The com- 

 mercial advantages are not less striking. Th< 

 commercial products of Harrar are valuable. 

 The climate is cooler than in any other region 

 in this part of Africa. The trade with equa- 

 torial Africa through this avenue is already im- 

 portant. Lord Edward Fitzmaurice declared 

 in Parliament that England must acquire Ber- 

 bera, and said that the British Governmer 

 had never recognized the sovereignty of th< 

 Sultan over this point, forgetting a treaty mad< 

 with Egypt, September 7, 1877, in which tl 

 right of Egypt to the Somali coast was 

 knowledged. The object of that treaty was to 

 prevent France from establishing one or two 

 settlements on the coast. After the Berbera 

 incident, England obtained a slight footing on 

 the Somali coast at Zeilah by sending 300 sol- 

 diers to re-enforce the Egyptian garrison. 



Military Precantions in Upper Egypt. The "nat- 

 ural frontier " that the British Government 

 proposed for Egypt was guarded only during 

 the first half of the year by a body of 1,5( 

 Bedouin Arabs, recruited by Majors Kitcbene 

 and Bundle from the Ababdeh tribe. It wae 

 hoped at one time that Major Kitchener could 



