A long and most interesting telegram in Friday's Daily Telegraph
sets forth the real situation in the Soudan, and explains much that was before unintelligible. Colonel Kitchener's able reconnaissance to Lake Sherkeleh—a place one hundred and forty miles from the Nile and in the direction of El Obeid—showed that the Khalifa had gathered there in a strong position the remnants of the Dervish power. He had with him several able Emirs, including Ahmed Fedil, who is a very cunning desert soldier. After Colonel Kitchener's necessary retreat—it is not the business of a reconnaissance to fight, but to diagnose the position—the K halifa's force seems to have marched to the Nile near Abba Island. If the Khalifa will only remain on the river and collect a large force ready to be attacked, we shall no doubt have little difficulty in treading out the last embers of Mahdism. If, however, he again retires to Lake Sherkeleh we may be placed in a very difficult position. We must, then, decide between letting him draw us into the desert, and allowing him to roam about the Soudan at will. Only Lord Kitchener, who is on the spot, can decide on the proper policy, but we sincerely trust that it may not be held necessary to leave the river and make a desert march. We would far rather make the Khalifa try Wad-el-Negumi's tactics and find his fate in another Toski outside Omdurman.
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