=Tamaai.=--This battle, which took place on March 13th, 1884, again afforded the "handymen" an opportunity of demonstrating their worth. Undismayed by what should have been a salutary lesson at El-Teb, the Mahdists began to preach a strenuous crusade against the infidel. It became necessary, therefore, to again set in motion the force which had returned to Suakin, and to march on Tamaai, where the Arabs had concentrated their forces. On the evening of the 12th the army, in two squares, halted a couple of miles from Tamaai, and it was thought there was little possibility of a night attack, but at 1 a.m. the enemy began to fire upon the British camp, and continued to do so all through the night, until at 8 o'clock the army, arranged in two brigades, advanced--the first under General (later Sir) Redvers Buller, and the second under General Davis, in which the naval brigade and marines were included. The latter, after the skirmishers had fallen back, met the enemy with a rattling fire from their machine guns and rifles, and then the "Black Watch," charging the enemy with considerable impetuosity, left a gap in the formation through which the tribesmen rushed, and all was soon confusion--friend and foe being so mixed, and all so closely packed together, that they could hardly use their weapons; and when they had extricated themselves, hand-to-hand fighting of a most ferocious character took place. In this unfortunate episode the naval guns had to be abandoned for a time, with the loss of 3 lieutenants and several men. Buller's brigade coming up turned the tables, and the guns were retaken and turned upon the fleeing Mahdists. The troops then marched upon Tamaai, took possession of the place next day, and destroyed it together with Osman Digna's camp. In this battle 5 officers and 101 men were killed, and 8 officers and 103 men wounded, but the Mahdists had lost over 3,000 killed. For this engagement a bar inscribed TAMAAI was issued, and to those who had also taken part in the previous battle of El-Teb one inscribed EL-TEB--TAMAAI.