t before we could put it to
our mouths it was full of flies. In the meantime a certain George
Stambuli, who had joined the rebels with the other inhabitants of El
Obeid, came in, and through him the Mahdi endeavoured to place before us
the great advantage of the Islam religion. The Mahdi himself never asked
us to adopt the Moslem faith, because he feared that we should answer in
the negative. He then stretched himself out on the mat as if he were
preparing to behold a vision.

Mohammed Ahmed was a powerfully built man, of dark-brown complexion and
carefully kept skin; he had a pleasant smile, which showed to advantage
the curious slit between his front teeth. By constant training he had
acquired a gentle manner in speaking, and with these exceptions there
was nothing unusual in his appearance. He wore a dirty jibbeh, on which
parti-coloured strips of cotton had been sewn; on his head the white
skull cap or "takia," round which a broad white turban was bound; he
also wore a pair of loose drawers and sandals.

After he had lain for some time with closed eyes, he rose and offered
us some more kamar-ed-din, from which he himself began to take out the
flies; but finding it absolutely useless to do so, he gave it up, and
then went back to his tent, probably to hold a council. After a short
time he again returned, wearing a clean jibbeh patched with pieces of
the vestments belonging to our Mission church at El Obeid. He then began
to recount to us the history of the numerous conversions which had taken
place in the early days of the Prophet. Seeing that we took little
interest in what he said, he got up and ordered us to be taken before
the Khalifa Abdullah (the present ruler of the Sudan), while he himself
retired to his own tent.

On our arrival at Abdullah's hut, we found ourselves in company with
twenty robbers who were chained hand and foot. An enormous crowd stood
round, and amongst the faces I noticed some of our Delen friends, who
had evidently followed us to see what the end would be. Our guard, armed
with Remington rifles, stood around us, and close to us was the Khalifa
Abdullah's horse, which always remained saddled--a witness to his
unbounded energy. A short distance off, about eighty flags were planted
in the ground, and beside them were the war-drums. Hardly had we seated
ourselves when the Khalifa Abdullah entered. He was at that time a man
of about thirty-three years of age, of middle height, very thin--in