The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-18

| Crucibles and the rest. For a time the
| poor fellow succeeded. mainly by trick
cry, in impressing the authorities. but
at length the game was ~, and he re
| ceiVed such a sCOurging that he died
from the effects. So YOU see there
| We're touches Of comedy as we'll as
| tragedy even in Cmdurman.
Then it is not generally known that
! designed the famous Tomb of the
| Mahdi, having in my mind the Tomhs
OF the Caliphs at Cairo This work
together with the bogus refining OF
saltpetre and the constructing OF i'm
possible cartridge and powder making
| machines, gave me longish respites
from the terrible Umm Hagar OF
course, ! shall have a good deal to say
in my story about the last days OF
Omdurman. seen from the inside. so
to speak.
The Khalifa in those anxious times
changed his plans in the most extraOr-
binary and unaccOunJable manner. and
spies were constantly interviewing me
IN the hope of finding out what the
British would be likely to do. Here
again there were touches of comedy.
An Algerian turned up who said he
could make tOrpedOeS.' What he
meant was sub-aqueous mines in the
Nile which were intended to DESTROY
the gunboats. Naturally l was con-
suited (almOst every notable person
in the Soudan found himself in the
Safer at one time or another, and all
confided in me in the fullest possible
manner); and | am afraid the results
Of the experiments were disastrous
for the MahdiSts. a couple of old
boilers were filled with gunpowder. and
were intended to be exploded by cleo
tricity, but something went wrong
They exploded prematurely, and sent
headlong into the paradise of the
Prophet some fifty or sixty Dervish
Workmen, including the Algerian who
had originated the brilliant scheme
4 sometimes regret the frightful
and worry | caused the unfor-
tunate official who was personally re-
sponsible TO Abdullahi for the saltpe-
tire turned out by me. | met him in
Cairo recently, and he reproached me
sadly. My 'saltpetre' was, designedly. |
utter rubbish; and before passing it |
into the Beit-el-Mal the poor official
had to take large quantities of good |
saltpetre from the Dervish stores in |
order to mix with my impossible stuff. |
One of the most curious people |
met was the unfortunate Bohemian ba- |
ker, Joseph, who enieavOred to es-
cape, but was never heard Of again |
This poor demented fellow actually |
went to the khalifa and told him that |
was great general in Europe, and !
yet, Immediately after making this |
disastrous communication, he came |
back cOnfidingly as usual to share my |
scanty food.
Our usual food, by the way, was
asseeda, the Soudan dourra roughly |
pounded and mixed into a thick paste
1t was not nOurishing, but it was
heavy, and stayed the pangs of hun
ger. Sometimes we had a sauce with |
it made from the pounded seeds of the
Baami HIBISCUS, and that was consid
cred a perfect banquet. All the food
didn't reach them. What was snug
sled in was fought for in a positively
naniacal manner by the starving and
desperate prisoners. Those having
ong chains, connecting their ankles,
stood the best chance in the crazy fight
FOR food and life, as they were able to
AXE longer strides. In other circum-
stances the weird scenes might have
been amusing, as they possessed all
he elements Of a sack race in the old
country sports. One saw 80 or 40 liv
ng skeletons leaping and fighting;
but one after another they would fall
% the ground as the result of weakness
caused by starvation. Every day, for
the bodies of eight or ten
prisoners who had died of starvation
would be thrown into the Nile.
1t was in connection with the un
loading of some boats, shortly after | |
lad recovered from an attack Of typhus
tInt I
\ young gaoler had pestered me for
money. but | had none to give him;
and after some complaints and as
ashes Only 60 or 20 were admins
tered, however-at least, SO l was told,
for | lost consciousness.
Some of the floggings were fright
full to behold. On one occasion an old |
Egyptian soldier named MOhammed |
Ajjami was sent to me to be cured (fOr |
was doctor alSO) of the effects of
logging. He was carried into the pris-
on TO me with the fleshy part of his
back cut into ribbons, and his hip
bones exposed.
The punishmentS in Omdurman |
were indeed CHASTITY A married wom-
an who had broken the seventh COM
mandment would be stoned to death
pfOFldlnS Inat she confessed. such |
cases were rare, but they occurred |
from time to time. a hole was dug
in the ground. and the woman buried |
to the neck in it. The crowd then |
stood facing their victim at distance |
of about fifteen to twenty yards. Then |
a CHASTITY and devilish or
gle of cruelty. None of the stones !
thrown had singly, the force or weight |
to cause Inconsistencies or DEATH and |
the horrible and revolving spectacle |
was presented Of what appeared to be |
trunkless head jerking slightly back |
wards and forwards to avoid the |