No other incident enlivened the monotony of November.  The Khalifa continued his defensive preparations.  Mahmud remained motionless at Metemma; and although he repeatedly begged to be allowed to advance against the force near Berber he was steadily refused, and had to content himself with sending raiding parties along the left bank of the Nile, and collecting large stores of grain from all the villages within his reach.  Meanwhile the railway was stretching further and further to the south, and the great strain which the sudden occupation of Berber had thrown upon the transport was to some extent relieved.  The tranquillity which had followed the advance to Berber was as opportune as it was unexpected.  The Sirdar, delighted that no evil consequences had followed his daring move, and finding that he was neither attacked nor harassed in any way, journeyed to Kassala to arrange the details of its retrocession.

The convenient situation of Kassala—­almost equally distant from Omdurman, Berber, Suakin, Massowa, and Rosaires—­and the fertility of the surrounding region raise it to the dignity of the most important place in the Eastern Soudan.  The soil is rich; the climate, except in the rainy season, not unhealthy.  A cool night breeze relieves the heat of the day, and the presence of abundant water at the depth of a few feet below the surface supplies the deficiency of a river.  In the year 1883 the population is said to have numbered more than 60,000.  The Egyptians considered the town of sufficient value to require a garrison of 3,900 soldiers.  A cotton mill adequately fitted with machinery and a factory chimney gave promise of the future development of manufacture.  A regular revenue attested the existence of trade.  But disasters fell in heavy succession on the Eastern Soudan and blighted the prosperity of its mud metropolis.  In 1885, after a long siege and a stubborn resistance, Kassala was taken by the Dervishes.  The garrison were massacred, enslaved, or incorporated in the Mahdi’s army.  The town was plundered and the trade destroyed.  For nearly ten years an Arab force occupied the ruins and a camp outside them.  Kassala became a frontier post of the Dervish Empire.  Its population perished or fled to the Italian territory.  This situation might have remained unaltered until after the battle of Omdurman if the Dervishes had been content with the possession of Kassala.  But in 1893 the Emir in command of the garrison, being anxious to distinguish himself, disobeyed the Khalifa’s instructions to remain on the defensive and attacked the Europeans at Agordat.  The Arab force of about 8,000 men were confronted by 2,300 Italian troops, protected by strong entrenchments, under Colonel Arimondi.  After a fierce but hopeless attack the Dervishes were repulsed with a loss of 3,000 men, among whom was their rash leader.  The engagement was, however, as disastrous to Italy as to the Khalifa.  The fatal African policy of Signor Crispi received a decided