On The 22nd Of October Colonel Lewis, With Two Companies Of The Camel Corps
And Three Squadrons Of Cavalry, Started From Omdurman With The Object Of
Marching Through The Centre Of The Ghezira And Of Re-Establishing The
Egyptian Authority.
His progress was in every way successful.
The inhabitants were submissive, and resigned themselves with scarcely
a regret to orderly government.
Very little lawlessness had followed the
defeat of the Khalifa, and whatever plundering there had been was chiefly
the work of the disbanded irregulars who had fought at Omdurman under Major
Wortley's command on the east bank of the Nile. In every village Sheikhs
were appointed in the name of the Khedive, and the officers of the cavalry
column concerned themselves with many difficult disputes about land, crops,
and women - all of which they settled to their satisfaction.
Marching through Awamra, Haloosen, and Mesalamia, Colonel Lewis reached
Karkoj on the 7th of November, almost at the same time that Ahmed Fedil
arrived on the Dinder.
For the next six weeks the movements of the two forces resembled a game
of hide-and-seek. Ahmed Fedil, concealed in the dense forest and jungle
of the east bank, raided the surrounding villages and worked his way
gradually towards the Rosaires Cataract. Colonel Lewis, perplexed by false
and vague information, remained halted at Karkoj, despatched vain
reconnaissances in the hopes of obtaining reliable news, revolved deep
schemes to cut off the raiding parties, or patrolled the river in the
gunboats. And meanwhile sickness fell upon his force.
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