Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-01-04

accompanied In his fight from cap
tivgty BY Slsters Caincarini and Ven
turlni. sAsd forty Europeans are still in
the hands OF the dahdIsts 81 OLldar-
man. He added that they are located
with manscIes and cruelty treated.
They are ~ closely watched that they
had lost all hope OF escaping. Among
the prisoners are nineteen Gree Ks, eight
Syriabs, eight Jews. two Austrian mis-
sionxrtes and siasln Bey aud Herr
SoufeId. The last nams q prisoner MAS
captured IN 1856 at Selma. Ills I'M
prudence was the CAUSE Of the capture
oy NeJunni vi the convoy of arms and
ammunition sent by Gen. Grenteli to
Seliah. the chief of the friendly Kaba-
bish tribe. He 10 now employed IN
making saltpeter.
ln telling of his mode Of life while in
captivity FIR. 0hrawalder said the
Mshdi granted no provision for the
subsistence OF the eaptives, but allowed
them satticient liberty 10 earn living
the best they could. FIR. OnrawAlder
lived by tailoring and weaving. and the
sisters by baking and selling bread.
The three refugees show the traces OF
the suffering which they have en-
dured during tfelr nine years cap
uvity, ard they state that the latest
news which they received from the
civilized world was in 1882 by an Arabic
newspaper relating TO tho lombard
ment of of.Aiexspdria.
During the last eighteen months the
fugitiyes lived IN mud huts. but prev
iousiy their only shelter was made
with their own hands from canes and
l.aizo stalks. They describe khar-
foum as all destroyed excepting only
the Austrian church and Gen. Cor
don's palace. and they say that vege-
tation 10 covering the sites OF the
houses. During two years famine and
smallpox made fearful ravages in the
Soudan. Maize rose to ten times the
normal value but now food is plentiful
and cheap.
According to FIR. Ohrawalder, Darfur
IS nearly deserted by the Dervishes, who
have steamer at Fashoda, but they
do not venture beyond q short distance
from the Nile bank. There are no Der
wishes to the south of Gebel Reggar.
A snort time ago the Shilluks killed 800
Dervishes at that place, and conse-
qucntiy reinforcemants have been sent
there from Omdusman. The Dervishes
have no authority in Bahr-el-G -Gazal.
The khedive's visit to the Egyptian
frontier last winter has produced a ias-
orable impression among the Soudan
tribes. The Deryishes still retain a
monopoly In the trade in gum, ivory
and feathers, which they sell at large
profits to merchants, who send the
goods to Suakim.
Advices from the Congo corroborate
FIR. Ohrawalder's report of the waning
power Of the Dervishes in the south
western part OF the S0udan. They
state that frequent conflicts have oc-
CURED between the Mahdists and the
native chiefs, and that the latter have
been often victorious.
FIR. Ohrawalder and the two elsters
travelled direct from Korosko to Cairo,
and dispatch received from the last
named city states that the priest in
speaking of affairs in the Soudan, had
said that the numerous widows of the
Mahdi are complaining that the Khal-
ifa Abdullah does not provide them
with maltenance befitting their station
and their gr r.evance has been support
ed by the Khafifa Ally Sherif. The
latter is also hostile to Abdu.lah's as
pration to make the succession heredi-
tary IN Instantly instead dofmaintaining
the order prescribed by the prophet
Mahomed. These dissensons are
Weakening the power of Mahdism, and
the, people generally, Fr. Ohrawaider
said, would welcome any change tring-
in2 relief from Its tyranny.