ome of the Darfur
sheikhs had gone as far as to apply to the Sultan of Borgo for help, but
he had refused to interfere in any way with Mahdieh. Then a man suddenly
appeared amongst the Masalit about whose origin little was known; he
represented himself as the arch-enemy of the hated Dervishes, who, under
the guise of Mohammedanism, robbed, plundered, ravished, and murdered
all they could lay their hands on.

Such influence did this fiki, or religious teacher, gain over the
superstitious masses of the west that some said he must be the true
Mahdi; others said he was the fourth Khalifa (Osman); then again many
said he was the celebrated Sheikh es Senussi, the great religious head
of all the North African tribes, and whose influence has extended far
into Central Africa. Several asserted that he was merely a delegate from
the great Senussi.

This religious reformer and adventurer styled himself "Abu Gemaizeh"
(Gemaizeh is the Arabic name for the sycamore fig-tree), because it was
said that the shade of this tree always accompanied him. At Omdurman all
sorts of extraordinary stories were current about his supernatural
gifts. Some said that he had the power of miraculously increasing food;
an ordinary plate-full he would make sufficient for hundreds of people;
others said that they had seen him produce milk from his finger-tips,
and it was said that he could produce, in a moment, all sorts of things
pleasant to the palate. He could raise a palm-tree out of barren
ground, which, in the space of an hour, would become covered with fruit.
In his sermons and letters he reproached the Khalifa for having
oppressed and slaughtered Moslems, and having taken their wives for
himself--a crime only committed by the "unbelievers"--and with God's
help, he declared his intention of coming to Omdurman to annihilate
"God's enemies," as he called the Dervishes.

The sayings and doings of this extraordinary being attracted great
attention throughout the entire Sudan. The Mahdi had first appeared in
the west, and now an anti-Mahdi had sprung up from the west. Immense
numbers of adherents flocked to his standard. Not only did the Furs,
thirsting for vengeance, join him, but people from Bornu, Borgo, and
Wadai collected around him.

Osman Wad Adam despatched a force against him, which was annihilated,
and he now begged the Khalifa to send him reinforcements. In answer to
this appeal a number of Beni Jerrar Arabs were sent to him, but these
als