Note 280 — THE INSURRECTION OF THE FALSE PROPHET, 1881-83, TO THE DEFEAT OF HICKS’S ARMY.[277]

This opinion hardly agrees with that of a military correspondent of the Times, who, writing from Kartoum, on the 24th July, 1883, states that to preserve tranquillity at ordinary times, 9,000 troops, exclusive of the garrison of Kartoum, would be necessary, even supposing the provinces of Kordofan and Darfur to be abandoned, as has been recommended by several high authorities. He suggests that the 9,000 troops should be distributed as follows—viz., 4,000 between Kartoum and Jebel Ain, on both sides of the White Nile, 1,000 at Fashoda to keep the Denka tribes and Shilluks in order, and 4,000 on the Blue Nile, between Kartoum and Karkoj.