276 
THE EASTERN SOUDAN. 
Surrextdei’ 
Of Wxar 
On entering Gedarif at mid-day, this Emir Nar 
Angora handed to me a little piece of paper, which 
was a slip written in Arabic, sent by Slatin 
Angora. from Omdurman, telling him briefly the game was up 
and that he had better surrender. This paper was concealed in the 
handle of a spear, carried from Omdurman to Gedarif in that way. 
It was 14 inches square in size. A noted man was this Emir, very black, 
a native of Dongola, and between fifty and sixty years of age. He 
formerly served under Slatin, also under Gordon, and under Zebehr 
Pasha in Darfur, about 300 miles west of El Obeid; he had been 
wounded thirteen times and had seventy wives, (sixty-five of whom 
were at Gedarif), and 110 children. He informed us that his sons 
were all scattered over the Soudan, and those who were old enough 
to carry arms were doing so by his orders. He held an important 
command at the action of Agordat against the Italians, and was 
wounded there. He had been fighting all his life. I asked him, “ Were 
you at Abu Klea ? ” “ Yes,” he said, “ but I was not fighting.” 
“ What were you doing ? ” “I went to bury the dead,” he said, 
ct by order of the Khalifa.” This was not a truthful statement, as he 
held an important command against us throughout. This Emir proved 
to be of very great value; he thoroughly knew the country, and knew 
all the inhabitants, and was the channel through whom we communicated 
with the Arabs and Abyssinian Emperor Menelik, to whom letters were 
sent announcing our arrival at Gedarif. Colonel Wingate, in his book 
on “ Mahdism,” says that “ this Emir was thought highly of by Gordon, 
“ was known to be a man of courage and ability, and had taken a very 
“ eminent part in Soudan affairs and it would be interesting to watch 
“ his career.” He was mainly instrumental (among many services 
rendered) in bringing in to us deserters from FediTs force, 
esgsnatisa** Totalling up our losses on the 22nd September, 
losses. we found we had lost altogether between fifty and 
sixty killed and eighty wounded, and the Dervishes 500 killed. These 
numbers were not guessed at, but reported as being correct by Dervish 
deserters who were present at the fight, and who subsequently sur¬ 
rendered. 
We had fired an enormous quantity of ammunition, 
of which therewere unfortunately three kinds, viz.. 
Martini, Remington and Yitelli. Our reserve am¬ 
munition was at Mugatta, where a post had been 
formed before making the forced march on to 
Gedarif. It was important to get up this ammuni¬ 
tion as quickly as possible. On the 24th September, two days after 
we got into Gedarif, I decided on going to Kassala to get to the end 
of the wire and hurry up the ammunition from Mugatta as I passed. 
When six hours out of Gedarif at Wad Akabu, I received a note 
from McKerrell, who was in temporary command at Gedarif, to say 
Nur Angora thinks Fedil, who is at Abu Haraz, will try and re-take 
Gedarif. The question then was, could we get to Mugatta and back with 
the ammunition before Fedil could come from Abu Haraz to Gedarif 
Ammunition 
runs sliort- 
E&. ca.ea.sfi'a to 
lYEugga.'trtei for 
tHe reserve 
sxvjc>^>lsr. 
