to be appointed Governor-General of the Soudan. On the 4th of March Colonel Hicks (late of Bombay Staff Corps), with 6 other English officers, arrived at Khartoum. Colonel Hicks had been appointed Chief of the Staff of the Army of the Soudan, with the local rank of Major-General. It was really intended that he should direct and be responsible for all preparations and movements. Practically, he was commander-in-chief, though ostensibly holding a subordinate position. The Mahdi's movement being, theoretically at least, a religious one, it was not considered advisable to place a foreigner and a non-Mussulman in command of the Egyptian forces, as the insurgent leader might use this circumstance to arouse the fanaticism of his adherents.
Suleiman Nyasi, whose military career dated back to the time of Mohammed Ali, was named commander-in-chief, but with the understanding that he was to follow and execute implicitly General Hicks' instructions and plans. Suleiman was old, stupid, and lazy, and also hostile to the work before him, and jealous of General Hicks. The result was, that he frequently acted quite contrary to the spirit of the instructions he had received at Cairo.
On the 18th March Major Farquhar, Hicks' companion officer, returned to Khartoum from a reconnoissance up the White Nile, and reported that the people along the western bank of the river were hostile. Four thousand five hundred rebels and 1,800 Baggara Arab cavalry were assembled at Marabieh and Abu Dynma, while at Jebel-Ain there was a considerable force from Kordofan. The news came from the latter country that the Mahdi's force was 100,000 strong; it was scattered at various points, but could be speedily brought together. The chiefs met at El Obeid once a week for orders and consultation, but the sheikhs of the Baggara tribes did not attend these meetings, owing to a quarrel with the Mahdi concerning the booty taken at El Obeid. At the loot of El Obeid, in
