The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-08-10
Interesting Career of Leader of
British Troops.
LIFE INFLUENCED BY GORDON.
Horrors of Captivity Under the
KhaIffa VIII Head the Fight
to Regain Lost Ground - Eng
land Must Hold the Sudan.

The following interesting review o
the life of Slatin Pasha in the DarI
Continent is given in a recent issue o.
the Victoria Colonist:
The sound of the ombeya-the Su-
danese war horn, made from an ele-
plants tusks-was for years a chal-
Ienge to which Slatin, at the head OF
his brown and black soldiers, cheerfully
responded. At that time during the
four years from 1879 to 1889 he was
military governor of Darfur, and clev-
erly held the province for his employer
the Egyptian Government. But during
the twelve next following years 1889
to 1880 the same potent and melan-
choly notes gave warming of the eXpe-
ditions of his own companions, for he
was the Dervishes' captive and the
Khalifa's servant. Last year he escaped
and today he is with the Anglo-Egypt-
ian forces advancing up the Nile. He
is again to penetrate that most outland-
ish inland, that region of the elephants
tusk war horn, the bloody heart of the
Dark Continent.
Reviewing his life thus far, we first
recall the fact that he was a lieuten
ant in the Austrian army, serving in the
regiment of the unfortunate Crown
Prince Rudolf, when General Gordon
wrote inviting him to try his luck in
Central Africa. The invitation was ac-
cepted, and as soon as his engagements
permitted Slatin placed himself at Cor
don's disposal.
Evidently the beginning was full of
interest, of exhilaration. Gordon him
self was an uncommonly attractive
man-warm-hearted cool-headed, gen
son; moving so rapidly from place to |
place wherever his presence was re-
quired, that he baffled the combinations |
of his enemies, yet, when the fight was
at its worst, finding time to light a Gig |
arctic. Stimulated by Gordon's eX-
ample upheld by his friendship, Slatin
took the first steps in a career that !
promised very great and very quickly |
earned reward. He was in high spirits.
When he had headache and a native
doctor who had been called in to attend |
him squeezed the sufferers head be-
tween his black hands, and to exercise !
the headache devil, spat in the patients I
face, Slatin could see the humor of it
after he had knocked the doctor down
And with not less genial tolerance he
could remark that sulphur was one of
the choice perfumes of the country, /
though the field of operations lay be-
tween the 10th and 18th degrees, his
troops suffered from the intense cold /
Everything seemed to be coming his
way, and presently he found himself in
an important command as Governor
General of the province of Darfur. Then
commenced the difficulties and reverses
to understand which we must take note
of the political situation.
EGYPTIAN POLITICAL SITUATION.
For more than sixty years the Egypt
ians and Turks had held the Sudan.
From Darfur, in the extreme west, to
AbySsinia in the east, and as far south
as Equatorial, roughly speaking. their
sway extended. Military and trading
posts had been established, the roads
were comparatively safe for travel, for
eign missionaries were at their work,
and to enthusiasts it seemed that the
Sudan would be the starting point for
civilizing and Christianizing the whole
continent. To the gods it seemed 9TH
erwise. Two great mistakes had been
made-taxation was both excessive and
inequitable, and the slave trade (the
very spice of African life, the very SAVIOR
of salt to it, and the zest in its every
enterprise) was discouraged. Well
there was no question about the discon- :
tent that this impOlicy had aroused. :
Discomfort was patent and almost uni ,
verSal; there were stormy outbreaks
from time to time but there was no
storm center. The Sudanese are Arabs
and blacks belonging to many tribes j,
and nations, living as though still in
pages of the Old Testament or the .
Arabian Nights, without single mod :
ern idea of cooperation or confedera- =
ton.
Such was the state of things that :
made an opportunity for Mohammed !
Ahmed, religious sheik, who styled {
himself the Mahdi-Prophet of God, g
next TO MOhammed, in all history the :
most important person but one. Il de- =
stroy this world and l construct the =
world to come" said the Mahdi. And !,
again, in conversation: Drink of the -
water of my words, and that will be of ..
inestimable benefit to you" Self-con- -
fident, virile, magnetic, this Mohammed g
Ahmed imposed himself upon the peo- =
pie, an obsession put in place of an OPP "
preston. A mighty wave of fanaticism O
gathered, black, combining with re- n
ligious frenzy. He preached a doctrine II
the people could understand and he h
promised their hearts desire Certain "
irksome restraints were enjoined, it is "
true; tobacco and alcoholic drinks were y
but he did not scrutinize n,
like Pharisee nor practice too right -
eously. In private life he and his Offic- II
ers allowed themselves every excess, m
and the pet weakness of the Sudanese
Tar from befr~ restrained was encour- h.
aged, and he proclaimed a holy war. 4;
Slatin implies that Abdullahi, the re-
E<halifa, next in authority and in order Sc