I:<;YPT. 



that the Egyptian treasury was powerless to pro- 

 vide. TheEgy: once ac< 

 with expression >ati..fitcti,.n. this arrange- 

 in, -tit. and on the same day the MUM in dilute. 

 which waaabou- ..000. was paid back to the 

 Caisae de la DeUe bv tin- 1 

 Finance. The French and Boavian dipl- ; 

 representatives protested agni: 

 intention of U.rrouing llu- m.m-> IP-IM 

 Britain, ami the Egyptian in. .uned that 

 il.l U .l..nr under n law authorizing the Gov- 

 ernment to obtain advances and wa> 

 to be in any way an infringement of international 

 engagemc: speaking 



!iat when the position . 



i (iiiuinal* had again to be reconsidered it 

 would U- necessary, from tin- point of view of inter- 

 national policy, to ili-.-i.le how far they should lie 

 permit'- i t . ml.-rf. re in political affairs. He gave 

 Doii( :iul Kussia tl, . i proposed 



to remain in occupation of K_'\|>!. M. Ilanoiaux, 

 in the French Chamber, said that, whatever might 

 take place in parliamentary <lel.at.-s. th,. jnterna- 

 situation would remain unchanged, and the 

 French <io\ eminent would tint modify it- d< !.-r:ni- 

 1 to any infringement of rights 

 based on public acts or repeated promi-c-. and. 

 above all. on the accord of the powers established 

 by international agreements. 

 'The Soudan Expedition. Knglish officers were 

 -d to be at their posts in readiness for n fresh 

 Soudan advance before the end of June. The 

 Egyptian troops were echelonned along the left 

 bank of the Nile so as to command the approaches 

 from Omdurmaii, Mviammch. mid lWIer. Tho 

 advance was planned to be made fr<>ni Merawi 

 about the mi. Idle of .In as the railroad 



across the desert from \Yady Haifa to Aim Named 

 should be completed halfway. The Khalifa was 

 expected to strengthen the garrison at Abu Ilamed 

 for the purpose of arresting the completion of the 

 railroad, and the plan of the British commander 

 was to capture Aim Ilamed so as to prevent the 

 dervishes from interfering with tin railroad con- 

 ;->n or fn-in attacking the steamers in the 

 difficult channels below that town. From Abu 

 Ilamed it would be easy to reconnoiter in i he direc- 

 tion of Ilerber. ami a farther advance to that place 

 was contemplated. The advantage of carrying a 

 railroad 230 miles across the Korosk :id so 



avoiding the great loop of 700 miles in the Nile, was 

 recognized for future commercial a- well a- fr 

 present strategical purposes. The line was first 

 started from Kornsko, but this route, winding 

 through roi-ky defiles swept by torrents af 

 rain. wa. abandoned, and a new start made from 



fa across the perfectly level < 

 Thr-r -KK) men, and afterward 3,000, era- 



jil-.y.-d in the construction, many of them Smi- 

 dancsw d.-rvishes taken prisoner- in Dongola. The 

 work, designed and superintended by F.nglish en- 

 gineer officer*, with Lieut, (iorringc at their head, 

 Ua permanent railroad, of :i-fcct-f-j rich gauge, not 

 alight military line, as first intended. It advanced 

 at the rate of a mile at first and subsequently two 

 miles a day. As far a* curves and grades are con- 

 cerned, it would rank as a first-class railroad in any 

 country. It traverses an utterly desert tract, a flat 

 waste of hard yellow sand, ribbed in places with 

 black crags, and in spots sprinkled with clumps of 

 camel thorn. 



The province of Dongola. which was pictured as 

 the granary of Egypt before its reoccupation in 

 1886. was found to be a t TV. The culti- 



vated area, nev than 90,000 feddans, hod 



shrunk to 80.000 feddans. The famine resulting 

 from a low Nile and cattle disease in 1888 and the 



ish expedition of the following year. 

 which took aw "f the able-bodied male 



population and the cattle, left tin- province impov- 

 erished. Then pie lelt but women. 



old men. and children. The Khalifa had abolished 

 male slavery, and hence there \\ . n- f.-\\ cult i\ ;ti.>r-. 

 n that the only hope for an increase of production 

 was ill a supply of latior frm F^ypt. The number 



..Hi,, had fallen fn.i The 



abandoned fam up t.. wood-, popu- 



lation had fai ;:<;. ..f 



whoi: at i\es of the pn>\ Mice and 



the rest Soudanese and ' "' men 



absent in the Smdan ami in Fu'ypt. half of 

 them living m \Vady Haifa and not at all disposed 

 t.. return. I n-.|uiring owner-., ,f 



land to establish tie . I. lyi'.i. 



under pain of forfeiture. Following the example 

 of the Khalifa, the Kgyiitian (Jovernment abolished 

 the minor taxes exacted I ..ming only 



the land tax and the date-tree ' loui to the 



advance from Dongola a khedivial d< 



rnmeiit monopoly of the trade in 

 hers, and gum in the country south of 



. Haifa. The collection of these produe: 



placed under the regulation of the iJovernmeiit. 

 which purposed establishing depots to which they 

 should be brought for subse()iient sale to trader-. 

 This measure, ivint roducing the s\siem enforced 

 by (ten. (Jordon. was c..n-i'lered iiecosary not only 

 for revenue purposes, but also in order t f. 



,,f the trade by prevent ing the cxterminu- 

 tion by hunters ami trailers of the elephants, os- 

 triches. an<l gum tree<. which were already vanish- 

 ing under dervish rule. The Khalifa Abdullahi 

 was known to be concentrating In ' <>m- 



durman. and there \\a- every indication that he 

 would fight to the death, but whether he would op- 

 p'-e the Kgyptian advance on the \\av 01 await at- 

 tack at Omdurman remained in doubt and could 

 not be determined until after the council of war 

 was held, which he had appointed for the middle 

 of June. The dervish army withdrawn from 

 fur was ordered to move on from Fl obeid to Om- 

 durman as soon as the river should rise early in 

 .June. The railroad between Kerman and \Vady 

 Haifa was in operation, and of the one from Wady 

 Haifa to Abu Ilamed 5H miles were built, making 



Bf ',!<;:! miles c(,mjileled since tl,. 

 lition was decided upon in March, ls!i(J. It 

 was reported in .lune that the Khalifa had with- 

 drawn most of the troops garrisoned at Abu Ilamed 

 and P.erber. intending t.. make a stand at Omdur- 

 man. where he then had :{0,(MK) men. including 6,000 

 cavalry. If defeated there, he had a great number 

 of camels ready to transport his tiva-ure t.. Kordo- 

 fan. A rising in that province disappointed him 



fcljT, and he dispatched Mohammed Mahiuud 

 to the"s|.ot t - put down the disturb;, 



The dervishes under Osman Dii:na were raiding 

 in the vicinity <.f Suakin in Mav and June, but later 

 withdrew when the Khalifa collected hi> for 

 g.-l her. The trade of that port almost eeajed after 

 tin- Fu'yptian (iovi-rnment placed an embar 

 Soudanese product* m ls'.r. Sub-c(|iir-ntlv a large 

 quantity of gum arabic. the chief export of Suakin. 

 was allowed to be brought down to save it from 

 spoiling, but it was detained in the (Jovernment. 

 storehouses. The first skirmish with the dervishes 

 i Hamed occurred when a reconnoitering force 

 of WM) mounted men in the beginning of June pro- 

 ceeded from Mcrawi up the left bank of the Nile to 

 Salamat. which was being fortified. The Jaalin 

 tribesmen were ordered to supply Mahmoud's army- 

 wit h provisions at Metammeh, but. fearing that they 



Would be Stripped bare, they collected there to op- 



pose him. In the fighting that ensued the Jaalin 



