Communication by land was now established with Souakim, and on the 22nd Afafit was visited by General Grenfell, who reviewed the troops and congratulated them on their victory of the 19th.[148]
On the 2nd March the expeditionary force was broken up, and after leaving garrisons at Afafit, El Teb, and Trinkitat, the rest of the troops returned in triumph to Souakim.
Disturbances in the Eastern Soudan then for a while ceased; a general amnesty was proclaimed; the tribes hastened to offer assurances of their loyalty; trade revived; and steps were taken to resume the cultivation of the fertile lands in the Tokar district.
The concluding events in the Eastern Soudan, though not chronologically in their place in the present chapter, are here inserted to avoid recurring to the subject. They may be briefly stated as follows:—
In 1892 the indefatigable Osman Digna once more appeared in the neighbourhood of Souakim, with a force varying in number from time to time. His principal object was to raid the local Arabs. In the summer of that year he attacked the Egyptian post established at Temerin, but was driven off by Major Hunter, with a loss of seventy men. This and other attempts led to the strengthening of the Souakim garrison, and Osman made no further attempts.
Although in 1893 Osman was reported to have received considerable reinforcements and to be contemplating a fresh advance, it did not come off.
After a long interval, in 1895, Osman, from his position in the hills, made a raid into the now cultivated lands of the Tokar delta.
On the 15th April, 1896, an Egyptian force of 1,000 officers and men, under Colonel Lloyd, left Souakim to co-operate with a detachment of 250 soldiers, under Major Sidney, from Tokar, in supporting a party of friendly Arabs, headed by a sheikh called Omar Tita, at Horasab, in the Erkowit Hills, where Osman Digna and a number of Dervishes had established themselves.
The column, which marched in square formation, arrived at the Teroi Wells in the afternoon, having covered a distance of nineteen miles. Here the force bivouacked, and the animals were watered.
The cavalry, under Captain Fenwick, was then ordered to reconnoitre and to endeavour to establish touch with the Tokar force and inform the commanding officer that the Souakim force would remain where it was for the night, so as to enable the Tokar contingent to join. It had been arranged previously with Omar Tita that he should hold the heights and the pass of Khor Wintri while the two Egyptian forces concentrated.