xxiv INTRODUCTION. 



This accounts for his new difficulties, and these letters were 

 written whilst he was engaged in the arduous task of freeing 

 these new districts from the active slave-traffic that was going 

 on. He was completely successful, and it was only after the 

 Mahdi's rebellion that he was compelled to withdraw his 

 troops from these outlying districts, where the slave-trade then 

 recommenced. 



Speaking of the Mahdi's rebellion, a very concise and in- 

 teresting account of its commencement and progress is given 

 by Emin Pasha in Part vii. 6 (p. 432), and the later letters 

 also refer to it, in its effects upon the Equatorial Province. 



Emm's dealings with the natives are worthy of notice. He 

 has always been patient in the extreme with them ; he has a 

 high opinion both of their intelligence and their capabilities ; 

 he respects their peculiarities, their modes of thought, and 

 their beliefs, and the influence which he is able to exert upon 

 native chiefs is very remarkable. His dealings with Mtesa 

 and Kabrega were characterised, not only by a keen sense of 

 justice, but also by a thorough appreciation of their various 

 needs. Mtesa had the highest respect for him, and on several 

 occasions he expressed to me his appreciation of the way in 

 which Emin had preserved his independence, when it was 

 threatened by the injudicious action of Nur Bey, who had 

 marched to his (Mtesa's) capital with three hundred Egyptian 

 soldiers with the intention of annexing Uganda to Egypt. 

 This action of Nur Bey's, by the way, was in direct opposition 

 to Gordon Pasha's orders. Emin's power over the natives may 

 also be gathered from the fact that he entered into friendly 

 relationships with so many of the petty native chiefs whose dis- 

 tricts adjoined his province. One after another began to trade 

 with him, and sooner or later, with very rare exceptions, they 

 asked him to extend Egyptian authority over their lands, and 

 without a shot being fired they became tributary chiefs. They 

 recognised that it was to their advantage to do so, for, once 

 having placed themselves under his beneficent rule, they 



