Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-04-25
a TALK WITH EL MAHOI.
Mew the Mouth or Allah was En-
eeuutcrcd In the Desert by an
American Traveller.
lkansas City star.l

kansas City Star.l
DIR. Irwin B. Tenny, a widely
travelled and highly cultured gen
tleman of Baltimore, Md, who
has been visiting some weeks
with friends hero. is perhaps the
only American who ever saw El
Mshdi. Said DIR. Tenny yester.
day: ri saw him in 1878, before
he was heard of outside OF his
province, and / shall never forget
the profound impression that he
made upon me. 1t was one even
ing while I was near SEMINAR,
travelling with Rufoh, my inter
prefer. El Mahdi was then a
man OF should judge 33 or 81
years, and although he stood
some six feet high he was so spare
doubt II he would have weighed
over 1870 pounds. His complexion
was dark olive, his beard coal
black and his eyes deep set and
piercing. His bearing was severe
and there WAS undeniably that
intangible something called mag
netism about the man. He was
clothed in simply white tunic
that left the arms partly exposed
and fell from belt at the waist
straight to the feet. Around his
head was o many folded turban.
He gave a keen glance at my
European costume and then as
sumed his apparently vacant gaze
straight ahead. l had never seen
q real prophet before and was
rather embarrassed to know what
to say. Finally, in sheer dcsper'
alton, I told Rufoh to tell him
that / came from across the sea,
where we have no prophets.
"'Im not a prophet, he replied
through the interpreter; Il am
the mouth Of Allah.
"'What is the faith you teachY
1 asked of the mouthpiece OF tho
Deity.
"'That Allah will give to the
people what belongs to them.
'Tho prophet scrutinized me
sharply, and surmising that he
might take me for a spy sent there
to pump him on his political
views, 1 changed the channel of
my inquiry. What is mans
greatest faultP' l asked. From
the phrase that Rufoh used !
believe the prophet understood
me to ask what is mans greatest
tendency Of inclination, and an
swsred:
:" TO crafty his vanity
II put the question again, and
after pondering moment he said:
I" 'Selfishness.'
"These struck me as being
rather broad views for u humbug
Pagan seer to entertain, and |
asked him what he considered the
future of his creed and country.
+" There is one God, one
prophet and one people, he said;
I'VE will cover the face OF the
earth
"'There are several million
people in tho world | suggested.
"'There are millions Of drops
in the river, but they come at last
to one sea-
where do you converse with
the Deity ? 1 ventured.
"The prophet looked at me
proudly and exclaimed in loud
tone defantly for the benefit Of
the crowd:
al am with him always! He is
I, and I nm Hell
cat this tho crowd OF natives
began uttering loud cries, and q
great many of them threw them
selves upon the ground. We
were silent for a moment. and he
took up the string Of questions.
"'Where does my lord live p
"'Across the waters. Two
hundred times as far as from here
to Cairo replied, at venture.
"The prophet pondered for
some time over this immensity Of
space, and then asked:
What is the water like?'
"This rather stumped me, and
finally l pointed up to the sky
and told him that if it was re-
versed it would be something like
the ocean. A flash Of intelligence
shone in his eyes and he nodded
gravely.
"'How many people are there
in your country?'
Millions and millions, ;rich
and happy.
'The prophet evidently regard
ed this as deep-dyed falsehood,
and signifed with q wave of his
hand that the interview was at an
end. Turning then to the natives
he addressed them in n dull, one
keyed voice that grew louder and
louder in pitch, with strange and
sudden breaks, when he stopped
altogether and. closing his eyes,
seemed to be in trance. When
he was in the midst of this extra
ordinary proceeding, Rufoh all at
ono clutched my sleeve and hur-
ried me off.