September had occupied and garrisoned Wad Medani, Sennar, Karkoj and Roseires. In the meantime Colonel Parsons marched with 1400 men from Kassala on the 7th of September, to capture Gedaref. He encountered 4000 dervishes under the amir Saadalla outside the town, and after a desperate fight, in which he lost 50 killed and 80 wounded, defeated them and occupied the town on the 22nd. The dervishes left 500 dead on the field, among whom were four amirs. Having strongly entrenched himself, Parsons beat off, with heavy loss to the dervishes, two impetuous attacks made on the 28th by Ahmed Fedil. But the garrison of Gedaref suffered from severe sickness, and Colonel Collinson was sent to their aid with reinforcements from Omdurman. He steamed up the Blue Nile and the Rahad river to Ain-el-Owega, whence he struck across the desert, reaching Gedaref on the 21st of October, to find that Ahmed Fedil had gone south with his force of 5000 men towards Roseires. Colonel Lewis, who was at Karkoj with a small force, moved to Roseires, where he received reinforcements from Omdurman, and on the 26th of December caught Ahmed Fedil’s force as it was crossing the Blue Nile at Dakheila, and after a very severe fight cut it up. The dervish loss was 500 killed, while the Egyptians had 24 killed and 118 wounded. Two thousand five hundred fighting men surrendered later, and the rest escaped with Ahmed Fedil to join the khalifa in Kordofan.
On the 25th of January 1899 Colonel Walter Kitchener was despatched by his brother, in command of a flying column of 2000 Egyptian troops and 1700 Friendlies, which had been concentrated at Faki Kohi, on the White Nile, some 200 m. above Khartum, to reconnoitre the Operations in the Sudan, 1899. khalifa’s camp at Sherkela, 130 m. west of the river, in the heart of the Baggara country in Kordofan, and if possible to capture it. The position was found to be a strong one, occupied by over 6000 men; and as it was not considered prudent to attack it with an inferior force at such a distance from the river base, the flying column returned. No further attempt was made to interfere with the khalifa in his far-off retreat until towards the end of the year, when, good order having been generally established throughout the rest of the Sudan, it was decided to extend it to Kordofan.
In the autumn of 1899 the khalifa was at Jebel Gedir, a hill in southern Kordofan, about 80 m. from the White Nile, and was contemplating an advance. Lord Kitchener concentrated 8000 men at Kaka, on the river, 380 m. south of Khartum, and moved inland on the 20th of October. On arriving at Fongor it was ascertained that the khalifa had gone north, and the cavalry and camel corps having reconnoitred Jebel Gedir, the expedition returned. On the 13th November the amir Ahmed Fedil debouched on the river at El Alub, but retired on finding Colonel Lewis with a force in gunboats. Troops and transport were then concentrated at Faki Kohi, and Colonel Wingate sent with reinforcements from Khartum to take command of the expedition and march to Gedid, where it was anticipated the khalifa would be obliged to halt. A flying column, comprising a squadron of cavalry, a field battery, 6 machine guns, 6 companies of the camel corps, and a brigade of infantry and details, in all 3700 men, under Wingate, left Faki Kohi on the 21st of November. The very next day he encountered Ahmed Fedil at Abu Aadel, drove him from his position with great loss, and captured his camp and a large supply of grain he was convoying to the khalifa. Gedid was reached on the 23rd, and the khalifa was ascertained to be at Om Debreikat. Wingate marched at midnight of the 24th, and was resting his troops on high ground in front of the khalifa’s position, when at daybreak of the 25th his picquets were driven in and the dervishes attacked. They Death of the khalifa. were repulsed with great slaughter, and Wingate advancing, carried the camp. The khalifa Abdullah el Taaisha, unable to rally his men, gathered many of his principal amirs around him, among whom were his sons and brothers, Ali Wad Helu, Ahmed Fedil, and other well-known leaders, and they met their death unflinchingly from the bullets of the advancing Sudanese infantry. Three thousand men and 29 amirs of importance, including Sheik-ed-din, the khalifa’s eldest son and intended successor, surrendered. The dervish loss in the two actions was estimated at 1000 killed and wounded, while the Egyptian casualties were only 4 killed and 29 wounded. Thus ended the power of the khalifa and of Mahdism.
On the 19th of January 1900 Osman Digna, who had been so great a supporter of Mahdism in the Eastern Sudan, and had always shown great discretion in securing the safety of his own person, was surrounded and captured at Jebel Warriba, as he was wandering a fugitive among the hills beyond Tokar.
The reconquest of Dongola and the Sudan provinces during the three years from March 1896 to December 1898, considering the enormous extent and difficulties of the country, was achieved at an unprecedentedly small cost, while the main item of expenditure—the railway—remains a permanent benefit to the country. The figures are:—
| Railways | £E.1,181,372 |
| Telegraphs | 21,825 |
| Gunboats | 154,934 |
| Military | 996,223 |
| Total | £E.2,354,354 |
Towards this expense the British government gave a grant-in-aid of £800,000, and the balance was borne by the Egyptian treasury. The railway, delayed by the construction of the big bridge over the Atbara, was opened to the Blue Nile opposite Khartum, 187 m. from the Atbara, at the end of 1899. (R. H. V.)
EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED (1795–1876),
German naturalist, was born at Delitzsch in Saxony on the 19th
of April 1795. After studying at Leipzig and Berlin, where he
took the degree of doctor of medicine in 1818, he was appointed
professor of medicine in the university of Berlin (1827). Meanwhile
in 1820 he was engaged in a scientific exploration conducted
by General von Minutoli in Egypt. They investigated parts of
the Libyan desert, the Nile valley and the northern coasts of
the Red Sea, where Ehrenberg made a special study of the corals.
Subsequently parts of Syria, Arabia and Abyssinia were examined.
Some results of these travels and of the important
collections that had been made were reported on by Humboldt
in 1826; and afterwards Ehrenberg was enabled to bring out
two volumes Symbolae physicae (1828–1834), in which many
particulars of the mammals, birds, insects, &c., were made public.
Other observations were communicated to scientific societies. In
1829 he accompanied Humboldt through eastern Russia to the
Chinese frontier. On his return he gave his attention to microscopical
researches. These had an important bearing on some
of the infusorial earths used for polishing and other economic
purposes; they added, moreover, largely to our knowledge of
the microscopic organisms of certain geological formations,
especially of the chalk, and of the modern marine and freshwater
accumulations. Until Ehrenberg took up the study it was not
known that considerable masses of rock were composed of
minute forms of animals or plants. He demonstrated also that
the phosphorescence of the sea was due to organisms. He
continued until late in life to investigate the microscopic organisms
of the deep sea and of various geological formations. He
died in Berlin on the 27th of June 1876.
Publications.—Die Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene Organismen (2 vols. fol., Leipzig, 1838); Mikrogeologie (2 vols. fol., Leipzig, 1854); and “Fortsetzung der mikrogeologischen Studien,” in Abhandl. der k. Akad. der Wissenschaft (Berlin, 1875).
EHRENBREITSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the right bank of the Rhine, facing Coblenz, with which it is connected by a railway bridge and a bridge of boats, on the main line of railway Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne. Pop. (including the garrison) 5300. It has an Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a Capuchin monastery, tanneries, soap-works and a considerable trade in wine. Above the town, facing the mouth of the Mosel, on a rock 400 ft. high, lies the magnificent fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, considered practically impregnable. The sides towards the Rhine and the south and south-east are precipitous, and on the south side, on which is the winding approach, strongly defended. The central fort or citadel is flanked by a double line of works with three tiers of casemate batteries. The works towards the north and north-east
