The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-30
TIE so-olLLED FALSE PROPHET
An African who has Done Much to Trouble
the Government Of Egypt.

Fom ms Christtan Union.
Mohnmmed Achmet, the false prophet OF
the Soudan. is the product at once OF an in
system Of Government. circumstances have
favored him in the Soudan much MS thoy have
the head Of a revolution which for tho Esyp-
tian Soudan. is IA great. IL not greater, than
again defeating the troops i, IS sent against him,
no is at last complete master OF tho situation.
Egypt has. for the present at least, lost her
VI they eyer belong to her again. or II they are
eyer again opened to commerce.. or to any civ
iti2ing and religious influence. must be recon
querod with large army and much oxpendi-
ture of life and money.
vast and vaguely defined region Of Central
Africa lying between the equator on the south
and the Great Desert on the north and
continent, The Egyptian Soudan is generally
supposed to begin at Assouan. or the first cata-
more properly be said TO commences ut tho point
where the Nile makes its great westward bend;
from kbyssina on the east. to and inclusive OF
Darfur and the provinces of tho Bahr I'll Qua
times larger than Egypt itself, was not con-
Guered by the Egyptians all Mt once but has
been an1exed pioee by piece and IT. no time can
fully occupied. The Egyptian Government at
Cairo was continually short of funds, and
der Of Egypt was the victim Of many abuses.
The GoyorniGnt assumes W ne mW;93nopoly OF al,
nOSt everything Oh inc Nhlle Mic. SunJThctS
were sublct to the farmers of taxes, Each
agent s made ga handsome profit for himself so
e eS o Mr9 I
which raised the water from the Nile. were
paid BY, the laborer; they were many times
ment. and We oven heard OF cases on the White
Nilr where the same taxes were collected two
and three times over by different officials.
Such being the methods of the Government.
made douhly obnoxious by the corrupt officials
who carried them ont. it is not to be wondered
mt that there general spirit of dis
Gomdsrt but Esver h"d 6hsfsb apFearad
could maintain u successful opposition to
the Egyptian Goycrnm mt till Mohammod
Achmet proclaimed himself tho Mundi. or sue,
teacher and savior OF the people This claim
was suggested by tho general belief c2iating
among tho Moslems that toward the end of
the world q successor aud GNnounier Of the
Prophet, and II fuller revealer of the will of
God, was to nppear. This belief i founded on
various pass.lgcs and intimatiOns i'll tho Koran.
like the following: Say unto those Of Mecca.
This is my way; invite You unto God by an
evident demonstration: both and he Who fol-
loWrth mo-" The popular superstition pre-
serib"s certain signs. and c.idenrns by which
this prophet il to be identified. some o. whicn
while he has failed in oihHre Several such
prrtendcrs have already appeared. one in tho
Vicinity OF Tunis, another in southern Arabia.
but none of them have succeeded like Moham-
This man was born in the, region of Dongola.
on tho western bank Of tho Nile where 1t makes
its great bend G w9S po2r man e"rpGn
into noLoricty on tho large island OF ADbas,
situate! about 200 miles, south q Khar,,9lm.
mon, he withdrew from society. and devoted
himself to prayer and meditation. Ho soon
has SEG prSTh" a nMi Of hs
pie. He wrote letters MI over the country
announcing himself and his mission, While
ropu'!lated him. others. moved both by
reigionss and political motives. and who,
way to escape the payment Of their taxes,
lotked around bis standard. He was secretly
ernmcnt residing at khaitoum. His presnnce
in So commanding u position on the Milo soon
became obnoxious to ne aHtIhio,rit,ioa md an
detachment of 100 men of the regular army
was sent against him on the, island. These
were armed with the best Remington rifles. while
Mohammed Achmct and his baud had only their
inst ~ they landed. Ill! not one Of the 1870 was
left. Not y shot was fired II was slaughter
or &c course alter this lis exploit ii Mohanmed
remain where i, he W1s iiS theretor9 nthercd
children. cattle, and PROVISIONS. crossed tho
Nile to thGi we5l bank and ilod 70 Wild noun;
the Island Of Abbas. and about ninety miles
| northwest Of the penal colony and military
Ended and almost inarcGssbo mon G' he
took up his nbode. The BaHgara Arabs now
bcgan 70 flock TO his standard in great num-
hunters OF the White Milo
We saw great numbers Of them with their
tho ban IS With Iheir hoIsSs and their "'attio to
join Mnhammrl Adjunct in his mountain fnst-
ernnent TO lot the rebels atone, now that they
Ind left the river. thinking that they would
h's H MS S OF ap G
had been appointed who considered It his duty
SSnaS as s mo by S5 nnR aa9ar SA t
| orders from kh0rtoum he gathered the mill
tary forces from knkn, Fnanoda, and TIN, sta
! Of the regular army. With those he ioinod 200
| men of the largo native tribo of the Shilook9,
told, Win these he marched six days across
tho desert by forced marches, On the seventh
he and Tn an ts or 0s be
again Victorious. Tho hghl was turned into a
r"GS 9o s ES' Ss aNsn Pbr by panns
Tor II md nll the rrcSt wnrn slain. Tho Cover
were both Killed. mus - '''' '''''"0'"'
500" %5n %sT as s9GS as his hfa2 ~
%%h.ro The soILIcra anlSdond whoro hey were
| cupiel by n colony Of chattorinR monkeys: the
| hut whore Achmot commenced his career, and
| We found Kaka in a state Of siege by the Shll-
| looks. who had taken the killing of their king
9%ng ~ IL" yoke sSS So SSn hat
had never wholly, subdued them. When
"" landed at Fashoda, we f2aad tHe
saw the wounded and hoard the loud
| thoir slain At tho Sobat we found the Shil-
| looks hostile. Twice on our way buck We were
| waylaid and, partially surrounded 10y Moham-
| med Achmcts, men. and owed our escape only
| to tho merciful providence OF God and our own
| presence Of mind and agility. On our return
| 10 the Khnrloum We learned that Raout Pisha
had been, recalled, q new method ot governing
| tho Soudan from Cairo instituted, and that
GicGlcr Pasha had been authorized to. proceed
| with more vigorous measures against the
| rcbels, While We were there, an army Of some
$500 mon w.r4 gathered aud sent forward
under lousuf pasha. We saw them drilling
| after II fashion. nearly every day. From the
| first they had but little hope of success. About
| 100 deserted just before the departure. None
| Of thcm had the first idea OF discipline few OF
| them had ovor fred off the guns, and 500
| OF thcm were raw recruits who, did not know
which were tho dangerous ends Of their rifles
| Tho Government throughout ,undcrestimnted
| tho earnestness and strength Of the rebels
Mthis time they probably numbered near 10000
| men. And now tho news Is confirmed that tho
| army, whose defeat was expected by all who
| knew much about it. has boon totally cut TO
,tt,, N nnn aI,t a M "a