The garrison of El Obeyed was reported to be still fairly well supplied with food on the 12th December, and to be in good spirits. A few days previously it had sallied out and attacked Sheikh Mennoo, the leading rebel chief in the neighbourhood, killing about 70 of his people.
At Bara,[299] the garrison was badly off for food, and in a depressed condition. Some of the irregular officers with their men had deserted to the rebels. The Mahdi, with the bulk of his forces, was encamped round the town. His ranks had been much thinned by desertion and sickness, but, on the other hand, he was gaining fresh adherents every day. For the moment he had ceased to take the offensive, and was contenting himself with blockading Bara and El Obeyed, while the Makashef operated with a large force on the Nile.
Darfur was so far quiet, though the Mahdi was reported to be doing his utmost to stir up the tribes.
16th December.
Arrival of Lieut.-Col. Stewart, 11th Hussars, at Kartoum.
On the 16th December, Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, of the 11th Hussars, arrived at Kartoum.
1882.
Owing to the absence of any trustworthy information, he had been sent by the British Government to inquire into the true state of affairs in the Soudan.
December.
Two battalions of reinforcements from Egypt (the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 1st Regiment) reached Kartoum early in December, and formed a camp at Omdurman on the left bank of the Nile, opposite Kartoum.