f.

All the principal towns and villages on the Blue Nile as far south as
Karkoj have been destroyed, such as Kemlin, Messalamieh, Wad Medina, Abu
Haraz, Wad el Abbas and Rufaa; the inhabitants of all these towns, men,
women, and children, under great fatigue, had to come to Omdurman, where
they settled in the north of the town near Khor Shambat.

All these severe measures quite alienated the people from the Khalifa;
wives were furious with their husbands for having so abjectly submitted
to his yoke, and it was now quite plain that they feared him greatly.
One word from him was sufficient to make them pull down their houses,
pack up their goods, load them on camels, donkeys, and mules, and
transport them to hated and dreaded Omdurman. How they longed for the
Government they had so bitterly abused. "Alf turba wala rial tulba"
("Thousands of graves are better than a dollar tax") had been their
watchword in the beginning of the revolt; it had proved true with a
vengeance, and how bitterly they repented of their folly when it was too
late! Khalifa Abdullah now gripped them in the palm of his hand, and the
utter disunion and discord which he created between tribes and
nationalities, made all hope of future liberty and freedom quite out of
the question.

Those who detested Mahdiism prior to 1888 had much greater cause to do
so in 1889 and 1890; the first of these years brought a terrible famine
on the land, and in 1890, though the actual period of want had passed
away, everything was excessively dear.

The 1888 harvest had turned out badly; during the summer of that year
the Khalifa had issued stringent orders that no one should keep more
than one ardeb of dhurra in his own house, under penalty of severe
punishment; all over and above that amount was ordered to be brought to
the landing-stage at Omdurman; and as there were but few transport
animals to carry the dhurra into the town, their owners charged
exorbitant rates for its carriage, consequently large stores of it lay
on the bank, and quantities were stolen.

Soon the price per ardeb rose from twelve to twenty dollars, and
latterly to sixty dollars. Even the most aged people, in the whole
course of their existence, had never seen such a famine as now fell on
the land. Continual wars had prevented cultivation, and want of rain
into the bargain were the main causes of this terrible calamity. In
1878, when there was a scarcity of rain, the price of dhurra never
exceed