A man came in from the Arabs; he says Seyd Mahomet Osman has sent 300 camels to bring his family from Shendy to Kassala (this is a bad sign); he says the English have advanced towards Berber.
October 7.—Ibrahim Ruckdi has fallen from £60 per month to £30. Sixteen soldiers with their arms came in to-day from the Arabs, also one slave; they had not much to say. Arabs had three guns against the steamer yesterday; they kept one gun at Giraffe, where they keep small detachments all night. The Arabs pursued the men escaping, and fired a few rounds, but did no harm; with these men came in four women of theirs, quite a flock.
I really think the Arabs on the south side keep such a way off because they are afraid of the captured soldiers deserting. The sixteen men who came in were splendid fellows, all nearly six feet; they say a body of forty others have made up their minds to come in a mass either to-day or to-morrow.
An Arab of Kartoum came in from Omdurman; says grass huts are being made for the Mahdi’s arrival there; man says the Arabs report “English and Turkish troops at Debbeh.” Towfikia went up the White Nile; saw a few Arabs, who fired on her.
Another soldier has come in—the Arabs will be furious; he says nine others have made up a party to leave the Arab camp. The Arabs spread reports that I kill all who come in; but the whole of the soldiers of the Soudan know me of old, and so the reports are not believed. This soldier was at Berberah when last I saw him. I had moved all the black soldiers from there to Senheit, as the climate did not suit them. It is odd that Berberah, Zeila, and Harrar suits the Egyptian and chocolate faces; not the blacks, who suffer from pulmonary complaints in those parts.
The sputtering of musketry on the lines this morning quite reminded me of old times. The Arabs fired a good deal at the runaways.
Some of the officers are very anxious to go out against the Arabs, but I do not see it. We are not safe off the river banks, and there is no good risking matters; besides which, we can never, with our force, give them a crushing defeat, which will alone settle the question; and we might, by a small defeat, drive them into the desert, where one could not reach them if other troops come up. We are now thus placed (see Map), and in four days I shall have four steamers between Shoboloha and Kalakla. In a month I hope two more steamers will be ready: total, nine. Arabs have two at Berber, one at Wad el Medinet; of those at Berber only one is fit for work, the Fascher.
I will mention a secret in all Egyptian administrations, i.e., if you give an order, it is totally inefficient in three days’ time if not repeated again and again at intervals; it seems as if its essence evaporated in the heat of these countries. The officers would laugh you to scorn if you said, “Why, I gave a standing order respecting this or that.” It would be to them perfectly ridiculous and absurd to expect a “standing order” to be obeyed, unless repeated at intervals. In most services, standing orders are regarded, but certainly not in Egypt; this is the reason why all those beautiful proclamations and laws issued by the control and their successors, are dead letters after ten days; they are constructed for the European Press. What is needed, is continual hammering at seeing your orders obeyed. Saleh Pasha sent a man in with a message to me: “Mahdi is coming with 40,000 men, etc., etc., etc.” This is all rubbish. All Kordofan could not produce this number; and if it could, the country could not support them in food for five days.
Fearful row to-night because, after one-and-a-half days’ warning, the Bordeen was going to start for Halfeyeh, no soldiers were found on board, and this after repeated orders to Ferratch Pasha. Men may say what they like, but one is bound to lose one’s temper in such cases. This is the story Saleh Pasha’s man tells: “Mahdi with 40,000 men is coming to Omdurman, and will take it; he will then plunge into the river and take Kartoum before the English come.” I reply that “the Mahdi is not a fool to think that by plunging into the river he will take Kartoum, neither can he have 40,000 men with him. Put Saleh Pasha’s messenger into chains as a spy of the enemy.” We have spies direct from the Mahdi’s camp, who say “he has not 3000 with him.” This business was going at the same time as my row with Ferratch Pasha—certainly one is not on a bed of roses in this place.