THE SUDAN PAST AND PRESENT. 
685 
eventually surrounded by over 100,000 wild dervishes who, in one 
short quarter-of-an-hour, massacred nearly 10,000 well-armed but 
undisciplined and disheartened troops. Had the Hicks expedition 
never started, and had the troops of which it was composed been sent 
to garrison the various posts on the Nile to the south and east of 
Khartum, it is more than probable the Mahdi would never have arrived 
at being more than simple ruler of Kordofan and, perhaps, Darfur. 
The day previous to the annihilation of the Hicks expedition, the 
storm burst in the Eastern Sudan. Near Tokar, more than 600 miles 
from Shekan, Commander Lynedoch Moncrieff and 148 Egyptians lost 
their lives at the hands of Osman Digna’s forces and soon afterwards 
the Egyptian Government despatched Baker Pasha and a motley force 
to relieve the garrisons of Sinkat and Tokar, and open the road to 
Berber. A far inferior body of Arabs fell on this force of 3715 men 
and, in an amazingly short time killed 2373 of them ; this disaster 
was followed shortly after by the fall of Sinkat and the massacre of 
the gallant Tewfik Bey and the whole garrison. Tokar was believed 
to be still holding out, and on 24th February, 1881, a British force, 
under Sir Gerald Graham, landed at Trinkitat, to learn that the town 
had just fallen; but five days later he attacked Osman Digna’s force 
near El Teb and killed 3000 of them ; the loss on the British side 
being 189 killed and 155 wounded. The force then returned to 
Sawakin and on March 14th it again fell on the Arabs at Tamai, when 
the total British loss was 220 and that of the Arabs over 3000. These 
were two severe blows to Osman Digna, but the withdrawal of the 
British force a few days later gave him an opportunity which he did 
not fail to make the most of. The following extracts from his des¬ 
patches to the Mahdi describing these two actions are undoubtedly a 
lesson to us that withdrawal after a victory is tantamount to a defeat 
in the eyes of savage orientals. 
Writing on the battle of El Teb, he says :— 
“ The English soldiers advanced to the Mamurieh, but they did not 
stay there long ; God struck fear into their hearts, and they returned 
the next morning and went back to their steamers.” 
Then here is another extract showing the wild fanaticism by which 
his followers were possessed. He says :— 
“ In this battle we lost Magzub, he was a true and brave man and 
had no fear of death when fighting against the enemies of God. 
Before the battle he said to his friend f if I am wounded before I get 
close to the infidels, then drag me by the leg until you get close to the 
battle-field, perchance I may be able to satisfy the desire of my heart 
and plunge my spear into the enemies of God, even as I die, and at 
the last moment of my life ere I leave the world to enter Paradise.’ ” 
Osman Digna thus describes Tamai :— 
“ When the morning broke the English began firing their guns and 
rifles, the Ansar attacked them and fought them the whole day until 
both forces retreated ; the English returned to Sawakin with a loss of 
8000 men. In this battle the Ansar lost 2000 men and had a similar 
number wounded.” 
But it is out of the subsequent advance on Tamanieb that Osman 
