The enemy had been defeated.  It remained to reconquer the territory.  The Dervishes of the provincial garrisons still preserved their allegiance to the Khalifa.  Several strong Arab forces kept the field.  Distant Kordofan and even more distant Darfur were as yet quite unaffected by the great battle at the confluence of the Niles.  There were rumours of Europeans in the Far South.

The unquestioned command of the waterways which the Sirdar enjoyed enabled the greater part of the Egyptian Soudan to be at once formally re-occupied.  All towns or stations on the main rivers and their tributaries were at the mercy of the gunboats.  It was only necessary to send troops to occupy them and to hoist the British and Egyptian flags.  Two expeditions were forthwith sent up the White and Blue Niles to establish garrisons, and as far as possible to subdue the country.  The first, under the personal command of the Sirdar, left Omdurman on the 8th of September, and steamed up the White Nile towards Fashoda.  The events which followed that momentous journey have already been related.  The second expedition consisted of the gunboats Sheikh and Hafir, together with two companies and the brass band of the Xth Soudanese and a Maxim battery, all under the command of General Hunter.  Leaving Omdurman on the 19th of September, they started up the Blue Nile to Abu Haraz.  The rest of the Xth Battalion followed as soon as other steamers were set free from the business of taking the British division to the Atbara and bringing supplies to Omdurman.  The progress of the expedition up the river resembled a triumphal procession.  The people of the riparian villages assembled on the banks, and, partly from satisfaction at being relieved from the oppression of the Khalifa and the scourge of war, partly from fear, and partly from wonder, gave vent to loud and long-continued cheers.  As the gunboats advanced the inhabitants escorted them along the bank, the men dancing and waving their swords, and the women uttering shrill cries of welcome.  The reception of the expedition when places of importance were passed, and the crowd amounted to several thousands, is described as very stirring, and, we are told, such was the enthusiasm of the natives that they even broke up their houses to supply the gunboats with wood for fuel.  Whether this be true or not I cannot tell, but it is in any case certain that the vessels were duly supplied, and that the expedition in its progress was well received by the negroid tribes, who had long resented the tyranny of the Arabs.

On the 22nd of September a considerable part of the army of Osman Digna, which had not been present at the battle of Omdurman, was found encamped on the Ghezira, a few miles north of Rufaa.  The Sheikhs and Emirs, on being summoned by General Hunter, surrendered, and a force of about 2,000 men laid down their arms.  Musa Digna, a nephew of Osman and the commander of his forces, was put in irons and held prisoner.  The rest, who were mostly from the Suakin district, were given a safe-conduct, and told to return to their homes—­an order they lost no time in obeying.