The attack on Firkeh appears to have been an even
greater success than was at first reported. The number of killed, wounded, and prisoners is now estimated at two thousand, among whom were all the bravest Emirs in the Khalifa's service. Nothing is known as yet of the reception of the news in Omdurman, but in Dongola it had created the utmost con- sternation, and an outburst of rage, exhibited as usual in the arrest of the chiefs of all suspected tribes. The men of these tribes are submitting readily, and many of their slaves take service with the Egyptian troops. The railway is being steadily pushed forward, at the rate of about a mile in live days, and a fleet of boats is being organised on the river to support the next advance. According to some accounts Dongola will be abandoned, the Khalifa recalling all troops to defend Omdurman, but this is probably too optimistic a view. The dominant caste has no chance except to fight, for if it does not it will be assailed by its own slaves, with whom it can make no terms, and from whom it has nothing to expect except extirpation. The condition of the country ruled by the Baggaras is represented as frightful. Their rule has been purely destructive, so much so that for scores of miles the country on the river-bank, once covered with populous villages, has reverted to the desert. The Baggaras are as bad as Turks, and make, like them, a policy of cruelty. The Marquis de Mores, a French dare-devil, who left Paris recently in order to aid them, and travelled by way of Tripoli, has been attacked by a tribe which did not recognise distinctions among Europeans, and with thirty of his followers cut to pieces.
