Chapter I: Preface

After the fall of Khartum in January 1885, various attempts were from time to time made to effect the release of some of the European prisoners who had fallen into the Mahdi's hands during the early stages of the Sudan revolt.

These attempts were for the most part attended with little result. The causes of their failure, and eventual success in one instance, are fully described in the following personal narrative of Father Ohrwalder.

As Father Ohrwalder is the first European who has escaped from the Sudan since 1885, I was fully occupied with him during the few days immediately following his arrival in ascertaining, for official purposes, the actual situation in the Sudan, and that completed, we had many interesting conversations on the historical events which had occurred in these revolted districts during the last ten years.

Having but recently completed a _resumé_ of these events,[A] which had been largely compiled from the statements of natives who had escaped, I was not unnaturally desirous to verify, by the independent witness of Father Ohrwalder, the accounts which they had given, and I further begged Father Ohrwalder to carefully read over the book and point out the errors. It was with considerable satisfaction that I learnt from him that the facts had been faithfully recorded; but the flood of light which he was enabled to throw on many obscure passages, and the great interest attaching to the narrative of an active participator in so many of these now historic occurrences, induced me to suggest that he should set to work, while the memory of these events was fresh in his mind, to write a personal narrative of his varied and terrible experiences, of which the general public have hitherto learnt but the bare outline.

It should be borne in mind that the circumstances under which Father Ohrwalder lived in the Sudan precluded him from keeping any written record of his life; it was therefore agreed that I should supervise his work which, I need scarcely add, it has given me great pleasure to do. Father Ohrwalder's manuscript, which was in the first instance written in German, was roughly translated into English by Yusef Effendi Cudzi, a Syrian; this I entirely rewrote in narrative form. The work does not therefore profess to be a literal translation of the original manuscript, but rather an English version, in which I have sought to reproduce accurately Father Ohrwalder's meaning in the language of simple narration.

England and the British public in general have shown so much interest in the stirring events which have occurred in the Sudan, and in which many gallant British officers and men have lost their lives, that it is Father Ohrwalder's desire that the narrative of his experiences should be published in the first instance in England, as his modest tribute to the nation which struggled so gallantly, and so nearly successfully, to effect the relief of Khartum and the rescue of those unfortunate Europeans who, like himself, had fallen into the hands of a cruel and merciless enemy.

It seems almost incredible that such sufferings as the European captives endured did not long ago bring to them the happy release of death they so ardently longed for; but it was not to be. The door of escape, which they had thought closed to them for ever, suddenly opened, and they did not fear to risk the dangers and perils of that terrible desert journey, with scanty food and water, and the sure knowledge that they must ride for bare life; re-capture would have ended in certain death, or, at best, perpetual incarceration in a prison, the horrors of which beggar description. In spite, however, of all he has endured, Father Ohrwalder longs for the time when it may be possible for him to return to the Sudan and continue the Mission work so suddenly and hopelessly interrupted since 1882.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Walter C. Horsley for the admirable manner in which he has executed his portion of the illustrations. The remainder are chiefly from photographs, taken by Mr. Lekegian in his photographic studio in Cairo, of Dervish prisoners captured at the action of Toski, and of refugees who have recently reached Cairo from Equatoria, through the territory administered by the Imperial British East Africa Company.

F. R. WINGATE. CAIRO, _30th July, 1892_.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Published under the title of 'Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan.' London: Macmillan & Co. 1891.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

FATHER OHRWALDER'S JOURNEY TO THE SUDAN.
PAGE
Description of Kordofan and Dar Nuba--The Mission Station
at Delen 1

CHAPTER I.

THE MAHDI AND HIS RISE TO POWER.

The rise of the Mahdi--Early successes--Personal appearance
--His Khalifas described--Military organization--Makes new
laws--He summons El Obeid to surrender 6

CHAPTER II.

FATHER OHRWALDER AND HIS COMPANIONS TAKEN CAPTIVE.

The storm rises in Dar Nuba--The Baggara begin to raid--
Khojur Kakum of Delen--Mek Omar besieges Delen--The slave
guard deserts the Mission--The priests and nuns surrender--
They are sent to the Mahdi 22

CHAPTER III.

THE MISSIONARIES AND THE MAHDI.

Description of El Obeid--Said Pasha's system of defence--
The Mahdi's followers encircle the town--Townspeople desert
to the Mahdi--Unsuccessful attack on Government buildings
--Dervishes driven off with loss of 10,000 men--The
missionaries brought before the Mahdi--Threatened with
death--Preparations for the execution--Reprieved at the
last moment--The Mahdi's camp described--Death of some
of the missionaries--Illness of remainder 34

CHAPTER IV.

THE SIEGE OF EL OBEID.

Terrible sufferings of the besieged--The Kababish--Fall of
Bara--Fall of El Obeid--The Mahdi enters the town--Fate
of the El Obeid Mission--Cold-blooded murder of the brave
defenders--The Dervishes live a life of ease in El Obeid--
The Mahdi makes laws--He sends out proclamations--Prestige
increased by capture of town--News from Khartum--Bonomi and
Ohrwalder summoned before the Mahdi--The interview 52

CHAPTER V.

THE MAHDI'S VICTORY OVER HICKS PASHA.

The European captives learn that General Hicks is
advancing--Slatin Bey's defence of Darfur--His heroism--
The Mahdi prepares to resist Hicks--The march of the Hicks
Expedition--Extracts from the diary of Major Herlth--Colonel
Farquhar's gallantry at Rahad--Gustav Klootz deserts to the
Mahdi--Klootz's interview with the Mahdi in which Ohrwalder
and Bonomi act as interpreters--The expedition advances
towards Shekan--Is surrounded and annihilated--Description
of the battle--The Mahdi victor of Kordofan 72

CHAPTER VI.

THE MAHDI'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO EL OBEID.

Fall of Darfur--Slatin surrenders--The Mahdi's divinity
credited after the annihilation of Hicks--King Adam of
Tagalla--Stambuli's kindness to the European captives--
Gordon writes to the Mahdi--Power's letter--The sisters
seized and distributed amongst the emirs--They are
tortured--The missionaries turned into slaves--The terrible
journey to Rahad--The Greeks come to the help of the
sisters--The proclamation concerning the treatment of
priests and hermits by Mohammedans--The Mahdi at Rahad--
Ohrwalder's interviews with the Mahdi concerning religion
--The Dervishes attack the Nubas 91

CHAPTER VII.

FATHER OHRWALDER'S VIEWS OF GORDON'S MISSION.

Ohrwalder describes his treatment at the hands of various
masters--The Nubas surrender and afterwards desert--News
from Khartum--The capture of the English mail--Its
arrival at the Mahdi's camp--The Mahdi decides to
advance on Khartum--Brief review of events in Khartum
and Berber--Ohrwalder's views on Gordon's mission--The
Mahdi sets out for Khartum--Mohammed Ali Pasha's
defeat and death--Colonel Stewart, Mr. Power, and others
leave Khartum in ss. "Abbas"--Description of their
wreck and treacherous murder 114

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF KHARTUM.

The surrender of Omdurman fort--Gordon's dispositions
for defence--His great personal influence--The night
before the assault--The attack and entry of the Dervishes
--Gordon's death--The adventures of Domenico Polinari--
The massacre in Khartum--How most of the Europeans died
--Ruthless cruelty and bloodshed--The fate of the wives
and daughters of Khartum--Ohrwalder's views on the
situation in Khartum and the chances of relief by the
British Expeditionary Force--His description of the town
three months after the fall 131

CHAPTER IX.

THE MAHDI'S LAST DAYS.

Ohrwalder's criticisms on certain events connected with
the defence of Khartum--The Sudan devastated by small-pox
--The Mahdi gives way to a life of pleasure--Description
of his harem life--The Mahdi sickens and dies--The effect
on his followers--The Khalifa Abdullah succeeds--Party
strife and discord--Abdullah prevails--Events in Sennar
and Kassala 152

CHAPTER X.

THE ESCAPE OF FATHER BONOMI.

Ohrwalder continues to describe his personal experiences
-- Mahmud the emir of El Obeid--His unsuccessful attempts
to entrap the Nubas--The arrival of Olivier Pain in El
Obeid--His motives in joining the Mahdi--His journey
towards Omdurman--His sad fate--Lupton Bey arrives
at El Obeid from the Bahr el Ghazal--He is sent to
Omdurman and thrown into chains--Life in El Obeid--The
escape of Father Bonomi--Ohrwalder's solitude--The
death of the Khojur Kakum 169

CHAPTER XI.

REVOLT AGAINST THE DERVISHES.

The black soldiers of the old Sudan army--They revolt
against the Dervishes in El Obeid--And march off to Dar
Nuba--The emir Mahmud pursues and is slain--Ohrwalder
quits El Obeid for Omdurman--Zogal and Abu Anga at
Bara 189

CHAPTER XII.

OHRWALDER'S IMPRESSIONS OF OMDURMAN.

Ohrwalder's arrival in Omdurman--His first impressions
of the Dervish capital--Khalifa Abdullah's intentions
to conquer Egypt--Wad Suleiman of the beit el mal--Wad
Adlan succeeds--Gordon's clothes, medals, &c.--Adlan
reorganizes the beit el mal--The slave market, museum,
mint, and system of coinage--Counterfeit coining--The
lithograph press--The Khalifa's system of justice 204

CHAPTER XIII.

THE KHALIFA DECIDES TO CONQUER ABYSSINIA.

Events subsequent to the fall of Khartum--Capture of
Gedaref and Galabat--Dervishes defeated by Abyssinians
at Galabat--Abu Anga's victorious expedition to Tagalla
--His triumphal return to Omdurman--The Khalifa's
grand review--Destruction of the Gehena tribe--The
Khalifa decides to send Abu Anga's army to conquer
Abyssinia--The battle of Dabra Sin--Abu Anga sacks
Gondar--The victorious Dervishes return to Galabat--
Rejoicings at Omdurman 216

CHAPTER XIV.

KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA KILLED IN BATTLE.

Destruction of the Kababish tribe and death of Saleh
Bey--Events in Darfur--Revolt of Abu Gemaizeh--His
death and destruction of his army--Rabeh Zubeir--King
Theodore's son visits Omdurman--The conspiracy of
"Sayidna Isa"--Death of Abu Anga--King John of
Abyssinia attacks Galabat--Success of Abyssinians, but
the king killed--Victory turned to defeat--The king's
head sent to Omdurman 232

CHAPTER XV.

DEFEAT OF NEJUMI AT TOSKI, AND OF OSMAN DIGNA AT TOKAR.

The Khalifa's intentions regarding Egypt--Wad en Nejumi
despatched north--Various operations on the Egyptian
frontier--Battle of Toski--Defeat and death of Nejumi--
Subsequent events in Dongola--Osman Digna's operations
against Sawakin--Is defeated at Tokar--Emin Pasha and
events in Equatoria--Recent events in Uganda and Unyoro 254

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FAMINE AT OMDURMAN--1888-1889.

Ohrwalder describes Omdurman--The Mahdi's tomb, and how
it was built--Pilgrimage to Mecca forbidden--A description
of the great mosque--The Khalifa's palace--The markets--
The population--The Khalifa's tyrannical rule--The terrible
famine of 1888-1889--Awful scenes and sufferings--The
plague of locusts 273

CHAPTER XVII.

THE KHALIFA AND HIS GOVERNMENT.

The Khalifa's system of government--His household--An
outline of his character--His system of prayers in the
mosque--His visions and dreams--His espionage system--His
household troops--His great activity and circumspection--
The great Friday review described--The emigration of the
Baggara and western tribes to Omdurman--The flight of
Sheikh Ghazali--Management of the beit el mal--System of
taxation 293

CHAPTER XVIII.

A CHAPTER OF HORRORS.

The revolt of the Batahin tribe--Revolt suppressed with
appalling cruelty--Wholesale executions--Method of
hanging--Punishment by mutilation--The execution of
Abdel Nur--Trade with Egypt--Wad Adlan the emin beit el
mal--His imprisonment and death 315

CHAPTER XIX.

SOCIAL LIFE AT OMDURMAN.

System of public security and justice in Omdurman--The
court of small causes--Bribery and corruption--The
story of the slave and her mistress--How the Khalifa
deals with quarrelsome persons--Thieves and pickpockets--
The story of Zogheir--Usurers and their trade--The chief
of police--Brigandage--Disproportion of males to females
in Omdurman--How the Khalifa overcame the difficulty--
Immorality--The marriage ceremony 328

CHAPTER XX.

THE KHALIFA'S TREATMENT OF THE WHITE CAPTIVES.

Description of the prison, or "Saier"--The "Abu Haggar"
--The imprisonment of Charles Neufeld--Terrible
sufferings of the prisoners--Domenico Polinari--The
danger of corresponding with the European prisoners--
Neufeld threatened with death--He is given charge of the
saltpetre pits--The fate of Sheikh Khalil, the Egyptian
envoy--The Khalifa's treatment of the "Whites"--Exile
to the White Nile 344

CHAPTER XXI.

LUPTON BEY AND THE AMMUNITION.

The Khalifa's powder and ammunition begin to fail--Lupton
Bey makes fulminate--Unsuccessful attempts to make powder
--Yusef Pertekachi at last succeeds--The explosion in the
powder factory 366

CHAPTER XXII.

AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE IN THE MAHDI'S KINGDOM.

Remarks on the agriculture and commerce of the Mahdiist
kingdom--A sandstorm in Omdurman--The paucity of cattle--
System of taxation on imports--Provincial beit el mals--
Local manufactures--Slavery and the slave-markets--Torture
of slaves 376

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE BAGGARA MASTERS OF THE SUDAN.

Relations between Abdullah and the rival Khalifas--
Mahdiism practically dead--The Khalifa's son Osman--His
marriage to Yakub's daughter--His intentions regarding
the succession--The Baggara and the Aulad-Belad--The
Baggara masters of the Sudan--Examples of their tyranny
--Emigration of the Rizighat tribe--Hostility between
the Khalifa's and the late Mahdi's households--The
Ashraf conspiracy--Witchcraft--The dispute between
the Khalifas--Riots in Omdurman--The Mahdi's widows 387

CHAPTER XXIV.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FLIGHT.

Ohrwalder forms plans for escape--The fate of other
Europeans attempting to fly--Stricter surveillance--
Ohrwalder's means of livelihood--Letters from Cairo--
The faithful Ahmed Hassan discloses his plan--Archbishop
Sogaro--Miseries of captivity in Omdurman--Death of
Sister Concetta Corsi--Preparations for flight 408

CHAPTER XXV.

ON CAMELS ACROSS THE GREAT NUBIAN DESERT.

Father Ohrwalder and Sisters Venturini and Chincarini
escape--The ride for life--The rencontre with the
Dervish guard near Abu Hamed--Alarm of the party--The
journey across the great Nubian desert--Five hundred
miles on camel-back in seven days--Arrival at the
Egyptian outpost at Murat--Safe at last--Arrival in
Cairo 424