Many of these ugly
reptiles had swam down from the south to Khartum, where they found an
abundance of food, for the river teemed with corpses, not only of the
people who were slaughtered after the capture of the city, but also of
those who died of diseases which raged amidst the Mahdists and
particularly among the slaves. The commands of the caliphs prohibited,
indeed, "the contamination of the water," but they were not heeded, and
the bodies which the crocodiles did not devour floated with the water,
face downward, to the Sixth Cataract and even as far as Beber.

But Idris thought of something else, and after a while said:

"This morning we did not get anything to eat. I do not know whether we
can hold out from hunger until the hour of prayer, and who will feed us
later?"

"You are not a slave," replied Tadhil, "and can go to the market-place
where merchants display their supplies. There you can obtain dried meat
and sometimes dochnu (millet), but for a high price; as I told you,
famine reigns in Omdurman."

"But in the meantime wicked people will seize and kill those children."

"The soldiers will protect them, and if you give money to any one of
them, he will willingly go for provisions."

This advice did not please Idris who had a greater desire to take money
than to give it to any one, but before he was able to make reply the
boat touched the bank.

To the children Omdurman appeared different from Khartum. In the latter
place there were houses of several stories built of brick and stone;
there was a "mudirya," that is, a Governor's palace in which the heroic
Gordon had perished; there were a church, a hospital, missionary
buildings, an arsenal, great barracks for the troops and a large number
of greater and smaller gardens with magnificent tropical plants.
Omdurman, on the other hand, seemed rather a great encampment of
savages. The fort which stood on the northern side of the settlement
had been razed by command of Gordon. As a whole, as far as the eye
could reach the city consisted of circular conical huts of dochnu
straw. Narrow, thorny little fences separated these huts from each
other and from the streets. Here and there could be seen tents,
evidently captured from the Egyptians. Elsewhere a few palm mats under
a piece of dirty linen stretched upon bamboo constituted the entire
residence. The population sought shelter under the roofs during rain or
exceptional heat; for the rest they passed their time,