The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-10-26
THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.
The Unwarltke Character Of tho Fell.
laheen-sccnes " tho Conssrip

"A correspondent OF the LOndOn Times
in Egypt writes: "There exists a consid-
cradle diversity of opinion about the
character of the fellaheen, but on one
point all Authorities have been hitherto
agreed--that the fellah is one of the
most unwarlike types of mankind and
heartily detests military service. Any
body who travels in Egypt during the
time of the CONSUMPTION must be paiu-
fully impressed with the fact. In the
villages he may be often reused at night
by y violent alteration outside, which
begins with gruf, bass male voices and
eliminates in sbrill, hysterical. f~aIsetto
tones. Tho first time he is 80 disturbed
he probably assumes that it is a case of
burglary or m~arslaughter, and rushes
out with the intention of supporting Wig
orously the party Of law and ordsr, but
he finds to his disappointment that it is
nothii g seriously than the captur-
ing ola recruit for the khediyial army and
thou it may be quite true, as the women
declare, thatthe village sheikh IN making
the choice of his victim, has been in
Huenced by considerations of baksheesh
the arguments produced pro and con in.
volve contradictory statements of fact
and snch complicated consld era'ions of
Ia. and morals that as a stranger he can
hardly feel justified in interfering with
the actibu OF the authorities. In the
principal towns, where the results are
collected. similar scenes take place on q
larger SCALE. The cotscripts are brought
into the public square under an escort
of kayasses, armed with sticks and
switches, to be examined by the medical
officer and the military authorities,
Among them are a good many repre-
s -nh.tives oil the halt, the malmed, and
the blind, and these, alter being separa-
ted from the others are allowed to re-
turn to their homes. OF the remainder
q few conduct themselves with the
ahathetic, dignlfied air of the true Mus
sulman, but the majority endeavor to
prove by wordy arguments, solemn as
servations, expressive gestures, or re-
voting corftortions that they are totally
untitled for military service; and. when
arguments fail, importunate ~intreaties,
tests are employed. In vain the
kayasses, with the aid Of their sticks
and switches, endeavor to keep order
and imposed silence the obstinately in.
Fortunate persistently break from the
ranks and have to be putback into"their
places by force, till at last \ rough as
sortment has been made. Those who
have no glaring corporal defect and who
have not succeeded in privately concil-
lating the authorities are then marched
oil to prison, to be kept there until the
arrival of the train or steamer which, is
to transport them to Cairo. When the
moment ofdeparture arrives the most
extraordinary h~eartrending scenes are
to be Witnessed. Here i. is net the con
scripts, who appear resigned to- their
fate, but the women, young and old,
that play the chief part. Each consclipt
has an iron collar, they are bound to-
gether in groups of ten or a dozen.
Around them stand their female rela-
tives, weeping a1t1wailing. Z As the mo
ment OF separation approaches the ex-
element of the women increases their
moails become lou Ell and their shrieks
more shrill, until, as the train or steam
er moves of, there is q terrible moment
of climax. The wives, mothers, and sis
tsrs sit down on the ground, throw dust
upon their heads, ejaruiate, shrek, and
g%esticulate like mailiacs, while the more
excitable, if fiotrestrained, literally rend
LAsC XII lIlV1ll5 SilLu BLOW n Ntl
the symptoms of the widest
despair. A spectator ignorant of the
cause of all this excitement and grief
would naturally suppose that the men
IN chains a b. en- condemned to death
and we're being taken to Cairo to be ex-
.scuted. }Hit el if5tri So
gThls repugnance to serve in the army
is not q thing of yesterday. When Me.
hamet Ali, in order to get rid of als tur-
bulant Abanjans by whom he had de-
stroyed the Manedukes first endeav.
ored to create a naive army he ncoun
tered'in the resistance of the Fellaheen
the chief obstacle TO the real, cation of
his plans. With the assistance Of Col.
Seves, better known as >olyinan Pasha,
and a considerable number of Turks and
Circassians, he succeeded in forming
and drilling several regiments, but as
soon as they were required for active
the men begun to mutiny and
desert. One regiment when ordered to
Arabia to act against the WahaLees
openly. revolted, killed its officers, and
had to be .decimated and disbanded, the
survivors being INCORPORATED in other
regiments. When the expedition tau
reached the Hedjaz and vas in face of
the enemy a second regiment mutinied,
massacred the officers, and alter being
brought TO reason by Turkish troops,
was sent back to Cairo. Mean
while many of the conscfipts sought to
escape the CONSUMPTION by cutting of
theR forefinger or putting out their
until they found that the pasha,
Walh a view TO checkmating- such expe-
dents, formed companies of one-eyed
recruits, and made those who had mu-
tilated their right hand pull the trigger
with the fingers that remained. Grad
ually, however, the fellahs submitted to
their fate, and showed in the Hedjaz,
the Morea, the Soudan, Syria, and Asia
Minor, that they coulo, when properly
handled, fight well and even gain vic-
toSaes; but in all these victorious cam,
paigns they we're led by: Turkish and
Cftassian officers and behind them were
,htafed bands of Bashi-Bazooks, who
shot down any one who attempted to
run away. The first to employ Inen Of
,fellah extraction as officers was Said
Tasha, who made the army a plaything,
and imagined that his picked troops, by
being .pampered, had become so at
tat,hed to the service that they would
not lie Y 1t if they had the choice. This
Illusion Of his WAS destroyed in a way at
once comicai and characteristic. One
day when encamped on the borders OF
the desert, near Lake Mareotis, he was
relating to his friends how devoted his
we're, and, noticing an expression
OF incredulity on the face of one OF his
hearers, he proposed to supply an un
proof Of what he had said
by giving the troops an opportunity OF
d1sband'ng ifthey chose. Immediately
a general order was issued informing
the soldiers that bis hiyhness had de-
cided To allow all those who we're desir-
Gus Of leaving the service to return at
to their homes. The khedive, &C
companied by his friends and armed
with a feid-glass. took his stand on a
position overlooking the camp and
awaited confidently the result of the ex-
pertinent. He had not long to wait. AS
soon as The soldiers heard the welcome