MAP OF THE SOUDAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7020, 17 May 1884, Page 6

MAP OF THE SOUDAN.

This map will be found of great valne at thi present "moment in forming a correct opinioi on the conrse of events in the Soudan, ant in following day by day the movements ol the rebels as.chronicled in our cable messages. War extends one's-.knowledge of geography, and ,-.tli«Lrc*?: Is . * n . 9 .- Soud»n , has made thousands • acquainted with; the charactei md history;, flf that country who otherwis< vould have- remained in ignorance of th< adstence ol even its whereabouts. Indeed; mtil the annihilation of Bicks Pasha's forc< ast November, very few persons could hav« uurwered eff-hand correctly questions relatng to the geography of the Soudan. Witt ie aid of the map which we publish to-daj inyoneof ordinary intelligence may make limself thoroughly familiar with the topo jraphy of the Soudan. The Soudan iB a vast »untry. It is as large as India. It stretches 1600 miles in one direction and 1300 ii mother. It extends from Egypt" on th< lorth to the Nyanza Lakes on the south, md from' the Ked Sea on the east to th( preatem;Badndary, of..Darfur on the west Khartoum, which is now the centre of atten Son, is about" equally "distant—that is to say, l>etween 1100 ;an3riZOo.ino.es as.the crow lies—from ih»northern bottndaryof. Egypt, ie Mediterranean/>acd,from the southern imit of tie Knedive'-s'equatorialdominions, :he Lake Victoria NyarLsa, and the Kingdom )f UgMdal'.From Khartoum to the ports oi Souakim and Massbwah'ori the Bed Sea, the •astward limit :o£; the-Soudan is.about 400 niles, and to-the westward limit, which is .he most indefinite of all, but is generally ixed at the western benndary of Darfur, it a nearly 800 miles. Going down the Nile irom "Khartoum, in the dixeetion of Egypt, ;he principal places are Berber, about 200, md Dongola, about 350 miles to the north. Che direct route from Khartoum to Egypt loes not, however, go through Dongola, but, eaving the Nile at Abu Hemet, 220 miles >elow Berber, where the river makes its great >end to the west in the direction of Dongola, t strikes across the desert to meet the river igain at Korosko, and to follow it thence lown to Assouan, the nearest point of Egypt, which by this route is about 850 anles from Khartoum. Berber is a point of ipecial importance, because it is here that ;he desert ronte from Souakim, the chief sort of the Soudan, strikes the Nile. From Souakim to Berber is 280 miles, and this ie ;he line of the proposed railway, which wonld >pen out all the Soadau country east of the S'ile, and bring it into direct communication irith Egypt and the commerce of the Red Sea. ye look in the other direction—namely, louthward—and follow the course of the CVhite Nils from Khartoum towards the 3quator, the principal places are El Daem, ■ather more than 100 miles ; Kashoda, iOO miles; and Gondokoro, 800 miles from Khartoum. These distances are measured as ;he crow flies. ■ By river the journey from Khartoum to Gondokoro is estimated by Sir Samuel Baker at 1400 miles. Gondokoro ind Ladb were the headquarters of Baker ind Gordon during the years in which, as Sovernbrs of the Equatorial Soudan, they were engaged in attempts to suppress the slave-trade. - The sovereignty of tne Soadau was first seized by Egypt in the year-1819. It has always been a troublesome cbnntry. The wild tribes which inhabit it have been in a constant state of rebellion. It was not, -however,, until the Mahdi appeared that' the insurrectionary movement really isßumed formidable proportions. He is the ion of a carpenter, and claims to be the Mahdi foretold, by Mahomet, and. to have a livine mission to reform Islam. In person ie is tall, slim; with a black beard and lightorown complexion. A sketch portrait of him ippeared in the Auckland Weekly News a ihort time ago. The Mahdi commenced derations in July, 1881. His career was a leries of successes and defeats. _ His following, however,'"continued to increase. In LBB3, the .Egyptian; Government became jeriously alarmed at phe situation. A heterogeneous .^army 1 was., hastily "collected andei the commarid'bf .Hicks Pasha, an English Dfficer.'and-serit'td-tfie Soudan. "For a time it was victorious,-bat.in November it was led into an t ambuscade,.through the treachery oi the native guides' and totally, annihilated. This crowning catastrophe set. the ; Sondan in i blaze. . The rebellion spread like wild-fire in all directions, and the position of the Egyptian garrisons in the Soudan-became precarious in the extreme. An attempt tc relieve Sinkat, made by a rabble force under Baker Pasha, disastrously failed. Then the British Government interfered and took the Soudan in hand. General Graham, with a British force, waß sent to Souakim, where he iefeated the rebels.. The.policy of the Bn;ish Government is to give up the Soudan to the Soudanese. General Gordon is the >fficer'selected to arrange for the evacuation )f the country. On the 18th January he was inmmoned to London.) At three o'clock in ;he afternoon he had an interview with-the Cabinet, and five hours Jater started on his nisaion. On the 18th of February he arrived it Khartoum. He is still there. One of his irst aotswaa toisaue a proclamation announng the independence of the Soudan. He has ailed, however, to suppress the rebellion or >acify the country. Hia.position at Khartum is full of danger.. The rebels, surround ihe town," and a'large portion of the inhabi;ants are in a state of rebellion. Gordon is )ractically a prisoner in Khartoum. An attempt which he made recently to escape ailed. It is stated that he has appealed to he British Government to send him assiattnce, but.none has yet been sent, nor is it lossible now," owing to the season of the year, o send British troops Until September. A notion censuring the British Government or the delay which has occurred in • attemptng his rescue and that of the garrison nnder lis command was'proposed'in the House of Commons this week, and was.only defeated' iy a narrow majority.