We were all naturally most anxious to hear about Emin, and the men who brought the despatches informed us that they had arrived at Regaf in October; this place they took by storm, and had sent down to Omdurman one of the clerks they had taken prisoner there. As to Emin, they stated that he and an Englishman (we thought this Englishman must be the intrepid Stanley) had been put in chains by the mutinous soldiers, because the Englishman wanted to bring Emin to Egypt, as the Khedive had sent him there for that purpose. Omar Saleh had seized this opportunity to take possession of the province, but he had been driven back by the mutineers; this last news was not told the Khalifa, but we heard it in confidence. Omar had begged the Khalifa to send back the steamer without delay, and in consequence it went south again a few days afterwards.
A NATIVE WOMAN OF MAKARAKA, THE WIFE OF ONE OF EMIN PASHA'S OFFICERS, WHO REACHED EGYPT FROM UGANDA IN JUNE 1892.
A long time after this another steamer arrived from Equatoria, but it brought no important information. It seemed that Emin had left the provinces, that on his departure the country had fallen into a state of anarchy, and that the blacks had massacred all the Arabs. The Khalifa despatched two emirs, Hasib and Elias Wad Kanuna, to Regaf in the steamer; and as it was reported that the Dervishes there suffered a great deal from the climate, he decided to make it a place of exile, and afterwards sent only bad characters there.
In 1891 the Emir Hasib arrived in Omdurman; he came as a fugitive, and reported that he was with two of the steamers which had been sent to a place two days' journey from Regaf to collect ivory; they made a zariba, and one steamer was already loaded up when they were suddenly attacked by the blacks, who killed everyone in the zariba, and he had retreated with the remaining empty steamer, but the other had fallen into the enemy's hands.
Some of the blacks who came to Omdurman with Hasib said that they had heard Emin had returned to the province and had stirred up the blacks to revolt against the Dervishes; but Hasib was of a different opinion, and believed the attack to have been purely a local affair.[M]
Khalifa Abdullah now felt some alarm for the safety of his posts at Lado and Regaf, more particularly as he was now at war with the Shilluks, and his post at Fashoda was hemmed in by this warlike tribe; he therefore despatched another steamer south to obtain more information, but the Dervishes he wished to send refused to go, and had to be dragged on board in chains.
In my opinion the Khalifa will have some difficulty in retaining his posts on the White Nile. When I left Omdurman, the head of the Shilluk King was hanging on the gallows, and his brave people revolted against this act of treachery which had deprived them of their chief. The revolt had assumed large proportions, and the Emir Zeki had been despatched to Fashoda from Galabat, and had been heavily pressed by the infuriated blacks.