“ In 1822, however, Ismail and his chief followers were treacherously burnt to death at Shendi by order of the mek (ruler) of the town, in revenge for the cruelties committed by the Egyptians. Later in the same year an Egyptian army from Kordofan razed the town to the ground, most of the inhabitants being massacred. From that period until the establishment of Anglo-Egyptian rule in 1898 Shendi was but a poor village. Its subsequent growth has been comparatively rapid. There is a considerable area of fertile land on either side of the Nile in the neighbourhood. ”