THE SUDAN PAST AND PRESENT. 
689 
At about this period, the Khalifa was probably at the zenith of his 
power, and was induced to enter upon a prolonged campaign against 
Abyssinia, in which several battles were lost and won on both sides. 
In the great battle of Galabat, fought on 9th March, 1889, King John 
personally commanded the Abyssinians, but in the moment of victory 
he fell mortally wounded ; his force retreated, was pursued and heavily 
defeated by the dervishes, who captured the King's body and an 
immense quantity of loot. 
Whilst the Abyssinian Campaign was going on, a serious revolt 
broke out in Darfur, headed by a certain Abu-Gemaizeh, who was 
erroneously identified as a son of Sheikh Senussi. For a time great 
success attended this movement, but on the death of its leader from 
small-pox, it was without difficulty suppressed. 
Successful to the south, east, and west; the Khalifa now turned his 
attention more seriously to the invasion of Egypt. On the evacuation 
of Dongola in 1885, the wave of Mahdiism had poured into that pro¬ 
vince, but received a severe check at Ginnis, where a combined British 
and Egyptian force, under General Sir F. Stephenson, utterly routed 
the advanced guard of Mohammed el Kheir's force, but the Frontier 
Field Force retired subsequently to Haifa and Assuan. Nejunu—per¬ 
haps the most celebrated of the Mahdiist emirs—succeeded to the 
command of the Northern Dervish Army on the death of El Kheir, 
and in November, 1886, his advanced guard occupied Sarras. On 
28th April, 1887, they were driven out of this position by an Egyptian 
force under the command of Colonel Chermside, and from that date 
up till July, 1889, the Egyptian frontier was perpetually harassed by 
dervish raids and attacks which the Frontier Force under the command 
of Colonel Wodehouse, R.A., was exclusively employed in successfully 
combatting; for in May, 1886, English troops had evacuated Haifa 
and Korosko, and the last small detachment was finally withdrawn 
from Assuan in January, 1888. 
It may truthfully be said that this trying work on the frontier and 
also at Sawakin (to which I shall presently refer) was the means of 
making the Egyptian Army what it now is. And here, perhaps, is a 
fitting opportunity to briefly describe some of the principal features 
of this small force which has justly achieved some fame as a reliable 
fighting machine. 
The first question that will naturally arise is, “ How is it that the 
same class of soldiers who so completely failed to hold Egypt and the 
Sudan a few years ago has now so entirely changed The answer is 
simple :—The material is the same, but the treatment, training, and 
command, are absolutely different. 
One of the first reforms which the original Sirdar, General Sir 
Evelyn Wood, took in hand was a strict adherence to the laws of con¬ 
scription and recruiting ; the terms of service were definitely arranged, 
and, with a slight modification, rigorously maintained. A soldier no 
longer serves indefinitely in the army : after six years' service with 
the colours he is transferred to the police, which is the first class army 
reserve, and after five years' police service he is transferred to the 
general reserve for four years; this means that he will return to his 
