274 
THE EASTERN SOUDAN. 
Fm»tiiei* We decided at once to push on. On the morning 
of the 21st September the eighty blacks under 
Ruthven, who were well in front of our forces, came 
wadAkabu. across some Dervish horsemen and drove them in; 
we were then about twenty miles from Gedarif and west of Tomat. 
Meeting with no further opposition we bivouacked that night ten 
miles from Gedarif and south of Wad Akabu, which is a long saddle 
back running east and west. All the country round Wad Akabu is flat, 
the Dervishes had established a look-out post here to watch the 
Mugatta—Kassala roads. This post retired before us; we found it 
unoccupied on the afternoon of the 21st and bivouacked three and a half 
miles south of it. I would mention that the march between Mugatta 
and Wad Akahu was exceedingly difficult owing to the intense heat 
and lack of water; most of the marching had to be done in single 
file through thick bush. The wells at Wad Akabu had been filled in; 
there was some muddy rain-water collected in empty grain pits, and 
we were able to fill up our water skins from these pits. At midnight 
on 21st a deserter came in from the Dervishes to say that the Dervish 
force of 3,500 men had marched out of Gedarif and were in their 
“ dem ” or bivouac waiting for us in a valley two miles north of Gedarif. 
It was an anxious time; we were 7 British officers 
in all with 1,400 to 1,500 troops made up of Egyp¬ 
tians, Soudanese, Hadendowas, Shukriyeh and other 
tribes. How this combination would work together 
we had as yet no experience ; the only thing to do 
was to keep together and close up as much as possible. The gallantry 
of the Arabs was undoubted having been repeatedly tested; but 
whether three British officers could control and keep in hand more 
than 800 of them in the heat of a hotly contested engagement had 
yet to be proved. The three officers in charge of these Arabs were 
Colonel Lawson, R.E. Major Wilkinson of the Lincolnshire Regiment 
and Lieutenant Morant of the Durham Light Infantry. 
Marching just before daylight on the 22nd Septem¬ 
ber from our bivouac, at about 7 o'clock in the 
morning, Ruthven and I could see the Dervish 
forces in their “ dem ” in an irregular column formation flying their 
banners and beating their drums. They appeared to be more 
numerous than we had been led to believe from reports received from 
the Nile and other sources. Our main body came up to the hill from 
which the Dervish position was observed at about 7.30 in the morning. 
Collision, judging by the distance the opposing forces were apart, must 
take place in about half an hour. We thought we could seize the 
saddle back on which the action took place before colliding; it was 
no good fighting in the valley which was rocky and overgrown with 
long grass six feet high. It was a country we knew nothing about 
and the Dervishes understood thoroughly. We doubled across. The 
Dervishes were then advancing. The question was, could we get across 
before the Dervishes launched their attack. We just managed it. As 
soon as we reached our position the Dervishes deployed to their left. 
Composition 
of -tin© 
Egyia-fcisLm. 
Force. 
Battle of 
Gedarif. 
