By 11.30 The Whole Island Was In The Possession Of The Troops.
It Was, However, Still Swept And Commanded By The Fire From The West Bank.
The Company Which Had Been Detached To Subdue The Dervish Riflemen
Were Themselves Pinned Behind Their Scanty Cover.
Major Fergusson
was severely wounded and a third of his men were hit.
To withdraw this
company and the wounded was a matter of great difficulty; and it was
necessary to carry the Maxims across the river and bring them into action
at 400 yards. Firing ceased at last at three o'clock, and the victors
were left to measure their losses and their achievement.
There was neither time nor opportunity to count the enemy's dead,
but it is certain that at least 500 Arabs were killed on the island.
Two thousand one hundred and twenty-seven fighting men and several hundred
women and children surrendered. Five hundred and seventy-six rifles,
large quantities of ammunition, and a huge pile of spears and swords
were captured. Ahmed Fedil, indeed, escaped with a numerous following
across the Ghezira, but so disheartened were the Dervishes by this crushing
defeat that the whole force surrendered to the gunboat Metemma at Reng,
on the White Nile, on the 22nd of January, and their leader was content
to fly with scarcely a dozen followers to join the Khalifa.
The casualties among the troops in the action amounted to 41 killed
and 145 wounded, including Major Fergusson; and the Xth Soudanese, on whom
the brunt of the fighting fell, suffered a loss of 25 non-commissioned
officers and men killed, 1 British officer, 6 native officers, and 117
non-commissioned officers and men wounded, out of a total strength of 511.
The rest of the loss was among the irregulars, 495 of whom took part
in the engagement.
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