ere issued to the Soudanese whenever safe and necessary;
cartridges only when they were about to be used. Thus several millions
of warlike and savage people, owning scarcely any law but that of might,
and scattered about a vast roadless territory, were brought into the
firm grip of a single man.

The third principle of government which the Khalifa was compelled, or
inclined, to adopt was to keep the relative power of the various
tribes and classes conveniently proportioned. If an Emir rose to great
influence and wealth, he became a possible rival, and suffered forthwith
death, imprisonment, or spoliation. If a tribe threatened the supremacy
of the Taaisha it was struck down while its menace was yet a menace. The
regulation of classes and tribes was a far more complicated affair than
the adjustment of individuals. Yet for thirteen years the Khalifa
held the balance, and held it exact until the very end. Such was the
statecraft of a savage from Kordofan.

His greatest triumph was the Abyssinian war. It is not likely that two
great barbaric kingdoms living side by side, but differing in race and
religion, will long continue at peace; nor was it difficult to discover
a cause of the quarrel between the Dervishes and the Abyssinians. For
some time a harassing and desultory warfare disturbed the border.
At length in 1885 a Dervish--half-trader, half brigand--sacked an
Abyssinian church. Bas Adal, the Governor of the Amhara province,
demanded that this sacrilegious robber should be surrendered to justice.
The Arabs haughtily refused. The response was swift. Collecting an
army which may have amounted to 30,000 men, the Abyssinians invaded the
district of Gallabat and marched on the town. Against this host the Emir
Wad Arbab could muster no more than 6,000 soldiers. But, encouraged by
the victories of the previous four years, the Dervishes accepted battle,
in spite of the disparity of numbers. Neither valour nor discipline
could withstand such odds. The Moslems, broken by the fierce onset and
surrounded by the overwhelming numbers of their enemies, were destroyed,
together with their intrepid leader. Scarcely any escaped. The
Abyssinians indulged in all the triumphs of savagery. The wounded were
massacred: the slain were mutilated: the town of Gallabat was sacked and
burnt. The Women were carried into captivity. All these tidings came to
Omdurman. Under this heavy and unexpected blow the Khalifa acted with
prudence. He opened ne