484 LETTEES TO DR. SCHWEINFURTH. 



sliould be sent to B5r to bring the men from there, if it were still 

 practicable. A corporal overtook me at Beden, who had been 

 captured near Amadi by the Danagla, and had escaped. He 

 asserted that they had lost a great many men both at Amadi 

 and before Rimo, and also that their ammunition was coming 

 to an end. They were busily engaged in collecting slaves 

 and sending them to the Bahr-el-Ghazal. Keremallah had 

 issued orders from Kamari to make preparations for retiring 

 to the Bahr-el-Ghazal ; he was coming shortly himself. A 

 large number of men who actually came from there had already 

 marched off. The twenty-six soldiers who had been made 

 prisoners were to be chained, and employed in the trans- 

 port of goods. When the corporal heard this, he made his 

 escape with three of his comrades, but he could not say where 

 the others were, for he had swum across the river at Amadi and 

 left them behind. He said that the prisoners were neglected, 

 and suffered severely from want. The Danagla had fired twenty- 

 live cannon-shots to celebrate the taking of Khartum. This 

 was the first statement received from an eye-witness. Some 

 days later, the corporal's three companions arrived at Kiri, 

 having also succeeded in escaping, and they confirmed the 

 accounts I had received in all essential particulars. 



I next went to Muggi, where I made a longer stay, and 

 succeeded in sending off to Lado a good quantity of corn and 

 some ground-nuts for making oil. Meanwhile, several fugitive 

 soldiers from Amadi had arrived in Lado, all of whom agreed 

 in stating that the Danagla were getting ready to march off to 

 the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and were in a great hurry about it. This 

 could only be explained by the supposition that their ammunition 

 was really almost exhausted, and that they had no desire to wait 

 here for the rainy season, when the swollen rivers would cut 

 off their retreat from this country, which is already famished ; 

 possibly, also, they wished to go to Khartum as soon as they 

 could. Again, it was quite within the bounds of possibility 

 that the Mahdi had at last sustained a defeat, and was drawing 

 his men together. We cannot, of course, decide the question 

 at present. We first heard of the definite departure of the 

 Danagla when at Lahore, but no particulars reached us. I 

 stopped at Khor Ayu, near Lahore, till June 23, fully occupied 



