The Towfikia steamer went up above Giraffe to-day, fired on some Arabs and captured a cow. Four of the captured soldiers of Obeyed escaped here; they had little to say, beyond that they had been very miserable, and that the Arabs hoped we would surrender.
I sincerely hope that Berber will surrender to Stewart’s party; it would be a great feather in his cap.
The majority of the soldiers who come in bring their rifles.
Haunting the palace are a lot of splendid hawks. I often wonder whether they are destined to pick my eyes, for I fear I was not the best of sons.[46]
“Enough for the day is the evil thereof,” but I cannot help feeling appalled at what is to happen; even if we do manage to extricate Kartoum from its troubles, we will have to quiet down all the countries around Sennaar and Kassala, and to withdraw from the Bahr Gazelle, and Equator (for I do not believe the Greek’s story about those lands being evacuated). Then comes the question of whether the prisoners in Kordofan are to be left to their fate. If Her Majesty’s Government has entered the field this is impossible, and if Her Majesty’s Government prevent Egypt extricating them, then it is virtually Her Majesty’s Government who leaves them to their fate. Besides this, there is the terrible outlay of money (which has to be met) for current expenses. Also who is to govern the country. All idea of evacuation en masse must be given up, it is totally impossible, and the only solution is to let the Turks come in, or else to leave me here, the very thought of which makes me shudder, or to send up Zubair Pasha;[47] in both cases a subsidy of £100,000 is needed per annum.
September 16.—The man left in charge of the Roman Catholic Mission’s garden is furious with the Austrian Consul for taking those $100 he sent to the captives at Obeyed. He says that had he known they had become Muslim he would have sent them poison. The $100 came from the sale of produce of the garden. Whether his anger is owing to his bigotry, or to the having to give up the $100, is a question. He says he cannot leave, for he is in charge of the Bishop’s robes. I expect he holds on to the garden, whose dates alone sold for over $1600.
A woman escaped from the Arabs this morning.
The notes to Sale’s Koran, chapter xix., entitled “Mary,” are very interesting, as containing the Muslim view of our Lord’s conception. The sixteenth chapter of Koran, entitled “the Bee,” is considered to allow Muslims to apostatise, if forced by violence to do so (vide Sale’s notes with regard to Moseilama), though it is more meritorious not to do so. So the Muslim here are well off in this respect, vis-à-vis, the Mahdi.
Faki Mustapha, who commanded on the left bank of the White Nile, and who retired into the interior, was expected to come over to us. He however has written a letter[48] in abusive terms to Cassim el Mousse, in which he maintains that Mahomet Achmet is the Mahdi. Another soldier came in with two rifles. Towfikia went up the Blue Nile, and took on board two runaway slaves. Another man came in with a letter from a man who is a prisoner with the Arabs, which letter says positively that 22,000 troops are at Dongola, and that the Mudir of Dongola is at Merowé, and is pushing on his men.