n hangs in great folds
underneath his eyes; he has a strong clear voice, and though well
instructed in Arabic, he cannot conceal his Baggara dialect and accent.

His dress consists of the usual Dervish jibbeh and drawers, he also
wears sandals, and over his jibbeh, which is generally reeking with
grease and fat, he wears a tob or light cotton cloth; on his head is the
usual Mecca takia, round which a turban is bound.

As regards food, the Khalifa is more moderate and simple than the Mahdi;
he still adheres to his native dishes--asida (a sort of polenta), eaten
with milk or meat, over which a strong sauce full of spices and pepper
is poured. Sometimes he eats roasted chicken and drinks quantities of
milk and sugar, especially camels' milk, to which all Baggaras are
devoted. He has no fixed hours for food, but eats whenever he feels so
inclined; and it is perfectly astonishing the amount of food which a
Sudanese can consume at a sitting.

Like his master the Mahdi and all important persons in the Sudan, the
Khalifa is much addicted to harem life. Shortly after he had established
himself as supreme ruler, he thought to surround himself with all the
pomp and splendour of a Sudanese Sultan, of which the most important
item is a very extensive harem. As the Mahdi had done before, so did he
take to himself numbers of wives. Wherever a pretty woman is to be
found, he at once gets information about her from his spies, and she is
immediately brought to the harem.

Each of his wives has her own house, kitchen, and slaves quite apart
from the rest, consequently the expenditure of his household is
considerable. His first wife is head of all the other wives, who now
number one hundred and fifty. She is a Baggara woman, and is waited on
by numbers of eunuchs, who were formerly in the service of the Turkish
and Egyptian pashas; and although the making of eunuchs is strictly
prohibited by Mahdi law, nevertheless the Khalifa secretly employs
numbers of persons who arrange to supply eunuchs when required.

The chief eunuch is a certain Abdel Gayum, who is head of the entire
household. He has under his orders numbers of female slaves, who grind
dhurra and prepare the food; it is estimated that three ardebs of dhurra
a day are consumed in the Khalifa's household.

Abdullah is endowed by nature with a good constitution, but his
irregular mode of life has gone far to destroy it. Twice he has had
severe attacks which have all but killed