THE SUDAN PAST AND PRESENT. 
679 
of a considerable portion of territory and largely increased bis army, 
be moved further west and established himself on the banks of the 
Share River, which flows to Lake Chad. Here he became master of a 
large portion of the country to the south and east of Bagirtni. 
The present ruler of the Sudan has made frequent attempts to secure 
the alliance of this quondam Egyptian subject, but the latter has 
remained firm, and now the most recent intelligence points to the 
western dominions of the Khalifa of the Sudan being threatened by 
the advance of Rabeh and his followers, who represent a force of well- 
armed fighting blacks, which may well occasion Abdullah et Taishi 
some uneasiness. 
But to revert. Gordon returned to Cairo in 1 879, and was succeeded 
by Rauf Pasha, whom he had thrice dismissed for misrule and oppres¬ 
sion. 
As far as it is possible to estimate from imperfect records, the Sudan 
garrison were, in 1881, distributed as follows :— 
Berber 
... 2170 
Khartum 
... 7470 
Kordofan ... 
... 5830 
Sennar 
... 2350 
Karsala 
... 3910 
Dongola 
950 
Amadib 
920 
Galabat 
... 1610 
Senheit 
... 1900 
Gera 
800 
Gedaref 
200 
Harrar 
... 3470 
Darfur 
... 4863 
Bahr el Gliazal 
886 
Equatoria ... 
... 2131 
Total ... 
• • • 
• • • 
... 40,490 
The bulk of these troops were Egyptian, but there was also a fair 
percentage of Bashi-Bazuks, and a sprinkling of black soldiers. 
The Egyptian troops were as bad as bad could be, and what wonder ! 
The Sudan had for years been a place of exile for all persons whose 
presence in Egypt was not required, and in those despotic days crowds 
of officers, officials, and others, were sentenced to perpetual banish¬ 
ment to those distant regions. 
As for the troops themselves, the bulk of them had been conscripted 
and enlisted in the ordinary way, but once a regiment was sent to the 
Sudan it might as well have been removed from the roster as regards 
it chances of relief. As a matter of fact, a regiment once despatched 
thence seldom, if ever, returned, and much the same remarks applied 
to its commander and subordinate officers. 
What wonder then that a recruit should be accompanied from his 
village by his wailing relatives and friends. Was it a strange thing 
that the procession should be characterised by all the signs of Oriental 
grief which constitute a funeral ?—when, indeed, in the majority of 
