d of me, as I was tired and exhausted by trying
to govern people who did not care for me; but the Mahdi told me not to
lose heart, and that he would give me power to please all; the Mahdi
also told me that he was quite satisfied with my ruling. He afterwards
took me into the presence of God, who also showed pleasure at knowing
the Khalifa of the Mahdi."

All true Moslems who heard this extraordinary tissue of lies were very
angry that he should dare to take God's name in vain in this way, and
thoroughly understood his reasons for having such absurd and blasphemous
pretensions.

On another occasion he was told that the two Khalifas were very
dissatisfied with his arbitrary ruling, and resented being excluded from
a share in the government of the country. This induced another vision,
in which he declared that the Mahdi had told him he should live eight
years more, after which the Prophet Jesus would appear. In this way he
gave them to understand that they had not much hope of being given any
authority; but this vision appeared to have exactly the opposite effect
on the Khalifas, who became more clamorous than ever. He therefore
instructed his "vision secretary" to withdraw this vision from
circulation, and added that should any one ever be heard talking on this
subject again, he would be punished by the loss of a hand and a foot.
And then he tried to justify his action by declaring that it was the
fault of his secretaries, who had put an entirely different construction
on the vision to what he had intended, and indeed to what he had
actually seen!

After noonday prayers he ordered extracts to be read from the book
dealing with the early wars of Islam. This was quite a new departure. To
keep any book on religion or religious history, it was necessary, in the
first instance, to obtain the Khalifa's permission; and indeed it was
very difficult to keep any such books safe from the wild fanaticism of
the Dervishes. It was the Mahdi's intention to destroy, as far as
possible, everything which would serve to remind his people of the old
days, so that they should believe the more readily in his revelations
only.

The Khalifa will not accept written petitions, as he himself cannot
read. If any one has a complaint to make, he must call out, as the
Khalifa enters the mosque for prayers, "Khalifat el Mahdi!" or "Sidi!"
or he may cry out, "Ya Sidi ana mazlum!" ("Master, I am oppressed!")
Abdullah then listens to what he has to sa