They Knew That
White Men Were Said To Be Coming, And They Did Not Realise That There Were
Different Races Among The Whites.
Marchand was regarded as the advance
guard of the Sirdar's army.
But when the negroes gradually perceived that
these bands of white men were at enmity with each other - were, in fact,
of rival tribes - they immediately transferred their allegiance to the
stronger force, and, although their dread of the Egyptian flag was at first
very marked, boycotted the French entirely.
In the middle of October despatches from France arrived for Marchand
by steamer; and that officer, after reading them, determined to proceed to
Cairo. Jackson, who was most anxious that no disagreement should arise,
begged him to give positive orders to his subordinate to maintain the
status quo, as had been agreed. Marchand gladly consented, and departed for
Omdurman, where he visited the battlefield, and found in the heaps of slain
a grim witness of the destruction from which he had been saved, and so on
to Cairo, where he was moved to tears and speeches. But in his absence
Captain Germain, who succeeded to the command, diverged from his orders,
No sooner had Marchand left than Germain, anxious to win distinction,
embarked upon a most aggressive policy. He occupied the Dinka country
on the right bank of the river, pushed reconnoitring parties into the
interior, prevented the Dinka Sheikhs from coming to make their submission
at Fashoda, and sent his boats and the Faidherbe steam launch, which had
returned from the south, beyond the northern limits which the Sirdar
had prescribed and Marchand had agreed to recognise.
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