, 1885-07-01
convoy work n 1ns souDAn.
How FanaticaI Arabs Throw Themselves
Upon the British Square.

lcor. London Telegraph
As for the fourth feature of these
militant promenades - this scientific
bushwhacking-namely: the presence Of
suicidal soudanese, there is much TO be
said. These men, it appears to me,
fight 10 die. They do not fight to con-
quer. AS we march, immense numbers
are reported by Photograph to be mass
ing on this flank or that, in front or in
rear. But they do not attack. Our
minority m on, our volleys rapidly
reduce their numbers till they dwindle
away to threes, and twos, and single in
diyiduals. But these go on to the bit
ter end, and when the last poor fanatic
has been knocked over by the concen-
trated fire of a company the fighting
for the day is over.
There is no information available to
explain this reckless sacrifice of life; but
an explanation suggests itself. 1t is
this: that with every force of the the
enemy there is a proportion of profess
sional fanatics, African "Ghazis' in
fact; that these, whether drugged or not
for the occasion like their Afghan
equivalents, devote themselves to death
to encourage the others-that it is these
who rush upon our squares, and that
according to the result of the onset, the
rest either come on or hold back |
have seen two conveys attacked, and
the circumstances of the two were so
identical that | venture to infer that if
| were to sec 200 the procedure would
be the same. A multitude OF Hadendo-
was assemble on the line of our advance,
await the convoy, select one face for at
tack, and then withdraw out Of fire.
We knew they were there. The Hasheen
redoubt is flashing the news to us from
our right; the waterfront mirror is
twlnkiing the same news from the cal
But the enemy do not rush upon US
en- masse. They do not even fire a shot.
They lie by to see the result of the onset
of their fanatical vanguard. These creep
up as well as they can within charging
distance, and then, with gesticulations
suggestive of a war dance rather than
real conflict. come straight on, crying
upon Allah, ''the compassionate, the
merciful Healer of wounds If not
stretched out on the ground before
they reach the square they fling them
selves upon our bayonets with a daunt-
less intrepidity that only voluntary mar
tyrdom or madness a explain. Single
men, swapping their fingers, hopping
and skipping, barking and grunting,
would sometimes manage to come up
within spear length, but only to receive
at the rifles muzzle that death which
they seem with such light hearts to
seek. 1t is an amazing variety of war
fare, and we have only to put ourselves
in imagination in the place of the Ha-
dendowas to confess that it is one call
ing for the most reckless form of COur-
age.
Everybody knows that the fanaticism
of Islam has, all through the history of
Mohammedanism, made heroes of her
soldiers when they thought themselves
fighting for the Faith. But it is none
the less astonishing and p%erplexing to
find these barbarous Arabs finging
themselves on the level lines of British
bayonets fixed on rides which are roar.
ing out their messages of death all down
the steady rank. That they should
move up in a dense mass, and, by sheer
stress OF numbers, trust to breaking
through u squares and getting to close
quarters, is comprehensive. Such are
the tactics of savages everywhere. On
weight and impetus they rely for victory.
But it is quite another thing when they
come on in tri1ing numbers, scatter
themselves round a large force, and de-
liberately die.