Chapter I: Preface

Prompted by the earnest entreaties of my friends rather than by any wish of my own to relate my experiences, I have written these chapters.

The few months which have elapsed since my escape have been so much occupied in resuming my official duties, compiling reports, and satisfying the kindly interest displayed by a large number of people in my strange fate, that any attempt at quiet and steady literary work has been almost impossible.

During my captivity I was unable to make any notes or keep any diaries; in writing, therefore, the following pages, I have been dependent entirely on my memory, whilst the whirl of the busy European world and the constant interruptions to which I have alluded, have given me little time to collect my scattered thoughts.

When, therefore, after having been debarred for so many years from intercourse with outside affairs, and entirely out of practice in writing down my ideas, I find myself urged to lose no time in publishing an account of my adventures, I must beg my readers to excuse the many defects they may notice.

My experiences have no pretence to being of any literary or scientific value, and the personal episodes I have described can lay claim to little importance; I have merely attempted to give to those interested in Sudan affairs a true and faithful account of my life whilst fighting and serving the Mahdists.

RUDOLF SLATIN.
LONDON, _October, 1895_.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
BY
FATHER DON JOSEPH OHRWALDER,

LATE PRIEST OF THE AUSTRIAN MISSION STATION AT DELEN, IN
KORDOFAN, AND FOR TEN YEARS A CAPTIVE IN
THE MAHDI'S CAMP.

The joy at meeting my dear friend and former comrade in captivity, Slatin Pasha, in Cairo, after his miraculous escape, was indeed great; and it is with extreme gratification that I comply with the wishes of those friends who are interested in his experiences, to preface them with a few remarks.

To have been a fellow-sufferer with him for many years, during which the closest friendship existed between us,--a friendship which, owing to the circumstances of our captivity, was necessarily of a surreptitious nature, but which, interrupted as it was, mutually helped to alleviate our sad lot,--is I think a sufficiently good reason for my friends to urge that I should comply with their wishes.

Apart, however, from these purely personal motives, I need only refer to the fact that the small scraps of information which from time to time reached the outside world regarding Slatin Pasha, excited the deepest sympathy for his sad fate; what wonder, then, that there should have been a genuine outburst of rejoicing when he at length escaped from the clutches of the tyrannical Khalifa, and emerged safely from the dark Sudan?

It is most natural that all those interested in the weal and woe of Africa should await with deep interest all that Slatin Pasha can tell them of affairs in the former Egyptian Sudan, which only a few short years ago was considered the starting point for the civilisation of the Dark Continent, and which now, fallen, alas! under the despotic rule of a barbarous tyrant, forms the chief impediment to the civilising influences so vigorously at work in all other parts of Africa.

Slatin Pasha pleads with perfect justice that, deprived all these years of intellectual intercourse, he cannot do justice to the subject; nevertheless, I consider that it is his bounden duty to describe without delay his strange experiences, and I do not doubt that--whatever literary defects there may be in his work--the story of his life cannot fail to be both of interest and of value in helping those concerned in the future of this vast country to realise accurately its present situation.

It should be remembered that Slatin Pasha held high posts in the Sudan, he has travelled throughout the length and breadth of the country and--a perfect master of the language--he has had opportunities which few others have had to accurately describe affairs such as they were in the last days of the Egyptian Administration; whilst his experiences during his cruel captivity place him in a perfectly unique position as the highest authority on the rise, progress, and wane of that great religious movement which wrenched the country from its conquerors, and dragged it back into an almost indescribable condition of religious and moral decadence.

Thrown into contact with the principal leaders of the revolt, unwillingly forced to appear and live as one of them, he has been in the position of following in the closest manner every step taken by the Mahdi and his successor, the Khalifa, in the administration of their newly founded empire.

Sad fate, it is true, threw me also into the swirl of this great movement; but I was merely a captive missionary, whose very existence was almost forgotten by the rulers of the country, whilst Slatin Pasha was in the vortex itself of this mighty whirlpool which swamped one by one the Egyptian garrisons, and spread far and wide over the entire Sudan.

If, therefore, there should be any discrepancies between the account published some three years ago of my captivity and the present work, the reader may safely accept Slatin Pasha's conclusions as more correct and accurate than my own; the opinions I expressed of the Khalifa's motives and intentions, and of the principal events which occurred, are rather those of an outsider when compared to the intimate knowledge which Slatin Pasha was enabled to acquire, by reason of his position in continuous and close proximity to Abdullahi.

In concluding, therefore, these remarks, I will add an earnest hope that this book will arouse a deep and wide-spread interest in the fate of the unhappy Sudan, and will help those concerned to come to a right and just decision as to the steps which should be taken to restore to civilisation this once happy and prosperous country.

That the return of Slatin Pasha from, so to speak, a living grave should bring about this restoration, is the fervent prayer of his old comrade in captivity and devoted friend,

DON JOSEPH OHRWALDER.
SUAKIN, _June, 1895_.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

In preparing the edition in English of Slatin Pasha's experiences in the Sudan, I have followed the system adopted in Father Ohrwalder's "Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp."

F. R. WINGATE.
LONDON, _October, 1895_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

PAGE
My First Journey to the Sudan--Return to Austria--My Second
Journey--Corruption in the Sudan--Appointed Governor of
Dara--Gordon in Darfur--He suppresses the Slave-trade--Zubeir
Pasha and his Son Suleiman--The Gellabas, Jaalin, and
Danagla--Retrospect of the First Causes of the Revolt in Bahr el
Ghazal--Gessi's Campaigns--The Flight of Rabeh--Execution
of Suleiman Zubeir--Effect of the Campaign on the Local Arabs 1

CHAPTER II.

RESIDENCE IN DARFUR, AND EARLY HISTORY OF
THE PROVINCE.

Arrival at Om Shanga--Matrimonial Difficulties--A Sudanese
Falstaff--Description of El Fasher--The Furs and the Tago--A Tale
of Love and Perfidy--Founding of the Tungur Dynasty--Conquest of
Darfur by Zubeir Pasha--The Rizighat Tribe--Quarrel between
Zubeir Pasha and the Governor-General--Both recalled to
Cairo--Gordon Governor-General of the Sudan--I take up my Duties
at Dara--Zogal Bey the Sub-Governor--I undertake a Campaign
against Sultan Harun--Niurnia, Harun's Stronghold in Jebel
Marra--I defeat the Sultan at Rahad en Nabak--Death of Harun--My
Meeting with Dr. Felkin and the Rev. Wilson--My Boy
Kapsun--Gordon's Letter from Abyssinia 30

CHAPTER III.

THE GOVERNMENT OF DARFUR.

Government Administration in Dara--My Difficulties with the
Gellabas--Manners and Customs of the Arabs--Arrival at
Shakka--Madibbo Bey Sheikh of the Rizighat--My Visit to
Khartum--Arrival of Gessi in Khartum--I return West with Bishop
Comboin and Father Ohrwalder--Am appointed Governor-General of
Darfur--Hostilities between the Maharia and Bedeyat Arabs--I
proceed to the Bedeyat Country--Strange Manners and Customs of
the Bedeyat--Saleh Donkusa and Heglik Tree--The Ceremony of
Taking the Oath of Fidelity--Return to El Fasher--Troubles at
Shakka and Death of Emiliani--I leave for Dara 90

CHAPTER IV.

THE KHALIFA'S PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE RISE
OF THE MAHDI.

Early Life of Mohammed Ahmed, the Mahdi--The Religious
Tarikas--Mohammed Ahmed quarrels with his Religious Superior--He
is refused Forgiveness, and joins a Rival Sheikh--He is joined
by Abdullahi et Taaishi--The Mahdi secretly tells Abdullahi of
his Divine Mission--The Failure to seize Mohammed Ahmed
on Abba Island--The Mahdi's Hejra to Jebel Gedir--He nominates
his Khalifas--The Defeat of Rashed Bey and Yusef Pasha
Shellali--Effect of the Mahdi's Victories in Kordofan--The
Mahdi's Intrigues with the Inhabitants of El Obeid--Futility of
the Steps taken by the Government to cope with the Revolt 122

CHAPTER V.

SPREAD OF THE REVOLT IN SOUTHERN DARFUR.

I arrive at Dara--Despatch of an Officer to Shakka--Character of
Zogal Bey--Return to El Fasher--Causes of my Unpopularity
with the Officers--Disturbances at Om Shanga--The Southern
Tribes join the Revolt--I make Dara my Headquarters--The
Power of a Woman's Tongue--Immorality of the Maalia Tribe--Sheikh
Madibbo threatens Shakka--Cowardly Conduct of Mansur
Helmi--I proceed to his Assistance--I commence my Campaign
against the Southern Arab Tribes--The Night Attack on
Madibbo's Camp--Mansur Helmi's Cowardly Retreat from Shakka--He
deserts his own Men--Courageous Conduct of Ali Agha
Juma--I decide to retake Dara at all Costs--Difficulty of
enforcing my Orders 148

CHAPTER VI.

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF EL OBEID.

Said Pasha, Governor-General of Kordofan, prepares to defend El
Obeid--The Mahdi attacks the Town, but is repulsed with Great
Loss--The Missionaries at Delen fall into the Mahdi's Hands--The
Siege and Fall of Bara--The Horrors of the Siege of El
Obeid--Said Pasha is forced to surrender--His Interview with the
Mahdi--The Search for Treasure--The Mahdi's Miracles--Effect
of the Fall of El Obeid on the General Situation 171

CHAPTER VII.

VAIN EFFORTS TO STEM THE TIDE OF MAHDISM
IN DARFUR.

I advance on Shakka--The Battle of Om Waragat--Besieged in
the Zariba--My Retreat on Dara through the Enemy's Country--The
Illness and Death of Gottfried Rott--I despatch Secret Emissaries
to Kordofan--My Difficulties with the El Fasher Garrison--The
Revolt of the Mima Arabs--I learn of the Fall of El Obeid--The
Death of Sheikh Afifi--My Campaign against the Mima and
Khawabir Arabs--Discovery of a Plot amongst the Troops in Dara--My
Officers and Men ascribe our Defeats to the Fact that I am
a Christian--I decide to nominally adopt the Mohammedan Religion--I
decide to send Zogal Bey to El Obeid--My Campaign against the
Beni Helba--Beshari Bey seeks Death and finds it--Gravity of the
Situation in Darfur 181

CHAPTER VIII.

HICKS PASHA'S EXPEDITION.

The Execution of Said Pasha and the Brave Defender of El
Obeid--Spread of Belief in the Mahdi's Divinity--Sheikh Sennusi is
offered, but refuses, the Position of Mahdi's Khalifa--The Mahdi
begins to organise his Government--The Spread of the Revolt in
the Gezira--Criticisms on the Attitude of the Egyptian
Government--The Despatch of Osman Digna to the Eastern
Sudan--Hicks Pasha's Expedition enters Kordofan--Incidents on
the March--Gallantry of Colonel Farquhar--The Diaries of Farquhar
and Vizetelly--The Desertion of Gustav Klootz--The
Mahdists harass the Expedition--The Final Attack on the
Doomed Square--Incidents after the Battle--Extracts from
O'Donovan's Diary--The Mahdi's Triumphal Entry into El Obeid 228

CHAPTER IX.

THE FALL OF DARFUR.

Dara besieged by Madibbo--I make a Successful Counter-Attack--The
Overthrow of Darho--I decide to remain at Dara--The Defeat of
Kuku Agha--A Strange Expedient for concealing Letters--An
Armistice proposed and accepted between Myself and the
Besiegers--I resort to Stratagem to gain Time--Zogal writes from
El Obeid, and describes the Annihilation of the Relief
Expedition--I review the Situation and decide to
surrender--Interview with Zogal at Shieria--The Mahdists enter
Dara--Madibbo and his War-drums--Horrible Tortures inflicted on
the Inhabitants who had concealed Money--The Siege and Fall of El
Fasher--Letters from Egypt--The Dreadful Fate of Major
Hamada--The Fall of Bahr el Ghazal--I leave for El Obeid 244