Evening star., 1896-03-28

great triumph over Chinese Gordon at
ldhi. who is himself still sometimes mis-
takenly called the mahdi. but whose real
title is muntazer el mahdi. or successor of
the mahdi.
Rule of Iron.
The khalifa was one of the four generals
OF the late mahdi. and was by the latter pro-
claimed before his death as his successor.
He disposed of all his rivals and of the rela-
tives of the late mahdi by the usual oriental
method of slaughter or Imprisonment. His
favorite command. when any of the tribes
of dervishe5 or hillmen were suspected of
chafinS under his authority. has been to
send them orders to come into Omdurman,
and the orders have seldom been dlsoheyed
I he result has been that the mahdist capi-
tai has become thronged with men who were
once raising dates and millet in the oases of
the far desert, with the natural result that
food in the Sudan has fluctuated In prices
greatly during the last few years. At times
they nave risen to literal famine rates, and
then the bodies of pesple who have died of
starvation were as common in Omdurman
fSelf, not TO speak of the deserted villages
of the interior, ever they were in the
most disastrous pestilences of the middle
ages.
No one knows what the population OF the
Sudan may row be, but it is hot doubted
that it has decreased 80, Co., possibly even
a. per cent. within two decades; but though
less 1T absolute size, il is far more concen-
command great arches of resolute men,
bound TO him net less ny interest than by
religious fervor, for while he has marsiIess-
ly classified every clan that he has even
suspected CT meditating revolt, he has
loaaed with rewards the strong military
tiibes upon whose devotion his empire
rests And about his low-wailed palace, in
the heart of Onldurnan. he tas drawn as a
safeguard against attack or assassinatio
many thousands of desert warriors
Thus the khalifa is strong, but his
strength is of the sort that would WELD
readily TO a determined attack The fanati-
cism OF the followers Of the lnahdi bimself
when, fifteen years ago. they hurled their
naked bodies against the lines of well-dril,-
ed soliiery. has declined with the discovery
that tie promised victory over all the
world has not come to pass. There is dis
content. too, among the tribesmen whom
the knalifa has turnei from their homes.
among the river boatmen whose dahabeias
he has confiscated under the name of taxa
tlon. among the merchants of the Arab
race whose former business along the great
caravan lines leading from Khartoum to
Assouan, kassala. lower Egypt, and the
nea ns sea, ne has almost entirely destroyed.
tant armies which, from Dongol4 the
northern province of the deryishes. con-
front the Egyptian advance at wady Ealfa.
A Feeling of Revolt.
These tribes are charged quite as
much with the duty of allowing no one to
leave as of allowing no one to enter the
Sudan. because such has been the misrule
of the khalifa, and the suffering 1t has
caused, that a large proportion of his sub
jects would, If permitted. gladly leave the
country. For this reason a resolu.e ad-
vace made by the armies Of Egypt might
encounter sharp fighting for a time. but II
they were successful IN capturing Don
COLA, the birthplace of the mahdi himself
and now the northernmost possession OF