him; on both occasions he was
delirious, and his body became enormously distended. The last time he
was ill all hope of his recovery had been given up, and the doctor who
was attending him, and had given him a purgative, was on the point of
being beheaded, when at the last moment the medicine took effect, and
was the happy means of saving the lives of both the Khalifa and his
doctor.

The Khalifa's illnesses are always kept secret, so that whenever he
fails to attend prayers, it is generally thought that he is sick.
Fifteen days after the last crisis, and when all danger was over,
Abdullah summoned the other two Khalifas and the judges to show them
that he had recovered, whereupon Khalifa Ali at once offered up a prayer
of thanksgiving, though, if his real feelings had been analysed, it
would have been found that he was anything but thankful. After leaving
Abdullah, the Khalifas announced to the people in the mosque that he had
been very dangerously ill, but that God in His mercy had spared him.

This news was the signal for a wild shout of delight, which reached the
Khalifa's ears and pleased him not a little. Eight days afterwards he
appeared for the first time in the mosque, then the rejoicings knew no
bounds, and the shouts were heard miles off; all the emirs congratulated
him on his recovery, and the air resounded with the cries of "Allah
etawil Omrak!" ("May God prolong your life!") All this flattery pleased
the Khalifa immensely, and this eye-service is a particularly
highly-developed characteristic of the Sudanese.

And now a few words as to the Khalifa's character: he is an intensely
vain and proud man, very cruel and quick-tempered. Occasionally his
ideas are good, but he is surrounded by so many fanatics that his ideas,
however good they may be, generally die almost before they are born. He
is of a most distrustful nature, because he knows he is surrounded by
enemies--thus he is a curious mixture of resolution and inconstancy. He
listens eagerly to calumnies, and delights in hearing evil spoken of
other people; this causes his decisions to be changeable and capricious;
he is guided a good deal by what low slanderers tell him, but they have
to watch his temper very closely, and have become great adepts at
humouring him. He is fearful and jealous of his authority, and the very
smallest infringement of it is looked upon as a most serious crime and
punished accordingly. He has surrounded himself with spies, who