The Anaconda standard., 1899-08-15

NOTED from the ranks. Poor Omar! He
was an untamable savage, with hope
less liking for strong liquors, and ] am
AFRAID he was of little use as an officer.
Among his belongings were two pyg-
mics. With reference to these pygmies
L remember once or twice in the Sou
dan coming across slaves who from
their diminutive stature and physique
must have been very nearly related to
those strange dwarfed inhabitants OF
the Central African forests.
l was always curious to find out ex-
actly how the inhabitants of the Sou
dan regarded the mahdi-whether he
was looked on as an impoSter or as
prophet who had had bad luck but it
was very difficult to get a decided eX-
preston of opinion. who knows?" was
the general answer. My black bugler,
Fargalla. an ex-dervish, was the most
expansive. "Wallahi," he would say.
he was great man. He knew how to
direct his own mems bullets straight
and how to turn his enemies bullets
to harmless rain. If he had lived things
would not be as they are now" What
about Abu klea?' l said. He was not
present: he never saw defeat!" was the
reply This was SO true that l changed
the subject and asked him what he
thought of Osman Digna. "Ottman
Digna?" he said. "Ottman Digna? He
works by magic; he writes in the sand,
and if the letters spell victory he re-
mains, but IL they spell defeat he goes"
The black Is an extremely uxorious
man, and in the Egyptian army they
We're all allowed to marry, and GER
tain percentage We're placed on the
married strength and received an al
lowance for the maintenance Of their
wives and families. With his wife and
family near him the black is absolutely
happy. The woman waits upon him,
,o1yc &c, ,, ft,n v01nc G
soul loveth and ministers generally to
his comfort. The children are his reart's
delight, and he never seems so happy
as when he is playing with them. The
surest way to a black mans heart is
through his family, and, with judicious
allowance for his feelings in this di-
rection, he is the easiest creature in
the world to manage and control. 1t is
to be hoped that in the black empire
of the future no man will think him
self strong enough to arbitrarily sever
the black troops from their families.
At Wadi Halfa. Assouan and Suakin
the black regiments had their mar
ried lines outside their cantonments,
and as soon as parade was over they
We're to be seen hurrying off to them
A certain number In each company
We're allowed to sleep there every night
and on Fridays. the Mussulman's Sun
day. the "Haremat lines" held high
carnival. Inc tom -tOnlS banged u1l-
ceasingly; the men sat on the shady
sides of the houses, clad in snowy snlrt
and drawers, with their families around
them, and in the evening there was
nearly always held a ''deliuka" or
dance. the members of each tribe join
ing together and performing their
tribal dance-as a rule a curious, pos
turing shuttle, descriptive of the Var-
Gus incidents of love and war AS the
evening wore on the fun grew fast and
furious, the torches tiared, the drums
banged, the dancers shouted their war
cries, until at last the bugles sounded
"lights out" the revelry died away and
these happy savages went off to bed
like tired children, to wake the next
day ready for the military routine of
new week.
When the forward movement COM
menced in the beginning of 1896 of
course the wives and families had to
be left behind. But as we advanced
into the dervish country their black sis
ters flocked from slavery to join the
troops, and as the dervishes retreated
or We're defeated they left numbers of
womn and children behind them, among
whom our troops discovered many sis
ters, mothers and even former wives.
The woman question soon became a