The evening times., 1899-09-25
SOLDIERS IN THE SOUDbB
The Black Warriors of the British
Army of Occupation.
Curious Superstftfons of the Natives
of the Dark COntinent-They Fre-
quentIy Ask Their White Officers
to Break Spells When They Be.
Heye They Have Been Bewitched.
(From the cornhill Magazine. J

and protesting a certain skill in arms; de-
scendants of the Mamelukes; burly Turks;
subtle, own-bred Egyptians, as well as
their heavier Fellaheen brethren; black
Soudanese, who had risen from the ranks;
Circasians; and admixtures of most OF
these races. The men were either Fella-
heen black Soudanese, who many of
them had been formerly Dervish Riflemen,
and had fought against us time and again,
had seen the fall of Khartoum, the de-
struction OF Hicks ill-fated army, the
debacle at Bakers Teb, and many other
stricken fields.
The Fellaheen, patient, enduring, oxlike
men, do not call for much comment;
though capable of being worked up to a
high state of efficiency and discipline, and
though second to none as workers, they
are not by nature soldiers. Their hearts
are in their native villages on the banks of
the Nile; they look forward longingly to
the day of their release from military SER
vice, when they may return to their TIL
lage, tend their cattle and their date
trees, look to their waterwheels and slum-
Der through the heat of the day in some
shady corner.
With the black it is far different. He is
by nature fighting man and soldier and
loves fighting for fightings sake. We had
representatives of many tribes in our
ranks, all with their tribal characteristics:
Trusty Shillooks. long, 1.-THE Dinkas rug
ged Nubas, Furs. of whom it is said that
every man is thief (no pun is intended
on the Latin equivalenD and every woman
no better than she need be. Then there
were members of the cannibal tribes. Ny
um-nyum and Fertile, and men from far
Bagirma and from the headwaters of the
Congo. Some of these men had been in
the old Khedivial army, and had even
in nf e
army at Tel-el-Kebir and had helped to
work the guns at Alexandria, and they had
almost TO man led lives teeming with
adventure and of the deepest interest
There was one old black officer in regi-
ment with which l served, by name Ali
Gifoon. of the Shillook tribe. He had
been captured by the Callaba slave traders
as boy. had been enlisted in the Khediv-
ial army, had gone with the contingent
sent to help the French arms in Mexico,
and now wears on his breast, in addition
to his numerous other decorations. the
Mexican medal and gold medal given by
the Emperor of the French for valor'
Another officer in the same battalion.
| named Omar, had accompanied Stanley
| through darkest Africa, and for his services
he was promoted from the ranks. Poor
Omar! He was an untamable savage, with
| hopeless liking for strong liquors, and !
t.
| among his belonging were two pygmies
With reference to these pygmies l remem-
| Der once or twice in the Soudan coming
| across slaves who, from their diminutive
| stature and physique, must have been very
| nearly related to those strange dwarfed in
habitants of the Central African forests
Our blacks were full of curious supersti-
| tions, with, strange TO say, an implicit be-
| lief in their white officers powers as avert
l ~
| known a staiwart nafar (private) come
before his commanding officer in the orderl!
room with the complaint that he had beer
bewitched. and go away quite happy with
| letter to the Hakeem TO give him some med
| cine TO break the charm. Often was on
told on the rife range by man that hi
| rifle was bewitched, and one broke the sup
| posed spell by loading it for him, or b.
firing round or two
l was always curious to find out exactl
how the inhabitants of the Soudan regard
ed the Mahdi, whether he was looked on q
an impostor or as a prophet who had ha
bad luck; but it was very difficult TO get
decided expression OF opinion. ''Wh
knows?" was the general answer Ny blac
bugler Faragalla, an ex-Dervish, was tn
most expansive. ''Wallahi," he would say
he was a great man. He knew how TO di
rect his own mems bullets straight, and ho'
to turn his enemies bullets to Harmless
rain. If he had lived, things would not hav
been as they are now What about Alb
Klea?" l said. He was not present; b
never saw defeat," was the reply. Thi
was so true that changed the subject, all
asked him what he thought of Osma
Digna 'Ottman Digna?' he said. "Ottma
Digna? He works by magic: he writes
the sand; and if the letters spell victory
: remains. but if they spell defeat he goes"
/, The black is an extremely uxoriou
, man, and in the Egyptian army they wei
all allowed to marry, and certain pei
; centage were placed on the marie
strength and received an allowance fC
the maintenance of their wives and fam
lies. With his wife and family near hin
the black is absolutely happy. The We
man waits upon him, cooks fer him II
savory messes his soul loveth, and mil
listers generally to his comfort: the chi
dren are his hearts delight, and he new
seems so happy as when he is playiI
with them. The surest way to a blaG
mans heart is through his family, an
with iudicious allowance for his feelin:
in this direction, he is the easiest ere;
| ture in the world to manage and contrC
| 1t is to be hoped that in the BLACK En-
pire'' of the future no man will thiY
} himself strong enough to arbitrarily sew
the black troops from their families.
. At Wadi Halfa, Assouan and Suakin Il
| black regiments had their married lin
:, outside their cantonments, and as soon
/. parade was over they were to be seen hui
, rying off to them. A certain number
/ each company were allowed to sleep the
every night, and on Fridays. the Mussu
mans Sunday, the "Haremat Lines he
< high carnival. The tomtoms banged u
ceasingly; the men sat on the shady sid
Il
|. drawers, with their families round the
] and in the evening there was nearly he
a "Dileuka'' or dance, the members
each tribe joining together and perforr
ing their tribal dance-as rule, cul
Gus, posturing shuttle descriptive of I
various incidents of love and war. AS t
, evening wore on the fun grew fast a
i furious, the torches fared, the druI
banged, the dancers shouted their wa
4 cries, until at last the bugles sound
q lights out" the revelry died away, a
o these happy savages went off to bed Ii
# tired children, to wake on the next d
. ready for the military routine of a n,
| week.
When the forward movement commenc
in the beginning of 1896, of course
e wives and families had to be left behiI
d But as we advanced into the Dervi
d country their black sisters hocked FRI
a slavery to join the troops, and as the d.
wishes retreated or were defeated tn
y left numbers of women and children
hind them, among whom our troops d
covered many sisters, mothers, and ey
former wives. The woman question so
became a serious one. The Mahomet
law allows a man plurality of wiv
our men had not seen their families
months, and were anxious to form n
ties; many women had died at Assou
and Halfa in the cholera epidemic, a