successor. Mahmud therefore, in
August 1885, left El Obeid with a large number of followers.

FOOTNOTES:

[H] Father Bonomi arrived safely in Dongola, and Mr. Santoni,
who is now director of posts at Assiut, was rewarded by His Holiness
Pope Leo XIII. with the Order of Gregory the Great, in recognition of
the humane service he had rendered.

[I] _I.e._ the official in charge of the beit el mal or Dervish
storehouse and treasury.

CHAPTER XI.

REVOLT AGAINST THE DERVISHES.

The black soldiers of the old Sudan army--They revolt against the
Dervishes in El Obeid--And march off to Dar Nuba--The emir Mahmud
pursues and is slain--Ohrwalder quits El Obeid for Omdurman--Zogal
and Abu Anga at Bara.

The old Sudanese soldiers of the Egyptian army were perhaps, of all
others, the most dissatisfied with Mahdiism. These brave blacks who, as
they say in the Sudan, "had eaten the Khedive's bread," were now in a
wretched state compared with the once miserable Gellabas, who now
galloped about proudly on horseback, while in former years they had
scarcely a donkey to their name. Several of these soldiers had been to
Egypt, some had been servants to Europeans, and most of them had been in
the various fights which had previously taken place in the Sudan. Sherif
Mahmud, it is true, treated them with some deference, and gave them corn
when he refused to give it to the Gellabas who were starving; but in
spite of this, their previous condition was infinitely preferable to
their life under Mahdiist rulers. There were about two hundred of these
soldiers in El Obeid; shortly afterwards, a number of slaves arrived,
and quite recently their numbers had been further increased by the
addition of a company sent by Zogal.

Many of these men had fought under Munzinger Pasha, and under Slatin
Bey, and were distinguished for their bravery; their total number was
now three hundred, under the command of an Egyptian mowallid,[J] named
Abdullah. These men used to complain of being always placed in the
forefront of the battle; and they were further irritated by the arrogant
way in which they were treated by the Danagla and their unbearable emir
Wad el Hashmi, who used to call them "abd" (_i.e._ slave); they
therefore decided to revolt against this tyrannical rule, and in this
their emir supported them. It was agreed that they should await the
great Dahiyeh festival, and when they were all out on parade, and the
Dervishe