imself with his own hands to the appointed place. This was a cause of
great delight to the street-arabs, who heaped insults on the disgraced
individual by shouting after him "Shalhu!" ("He has taken it away!") But
as it was with the Mahdi, so it is with the Khalifa--at first orders are
obeyed with the greatest alacrity, and then people get as careless as
ever. Omdurman at the present time is by no means a particularly clean
or sanitary town.

The occasions on which the Khalifa appears in the greatest splendour are
when he rides to parade. In accordance with the Mahdi's orders, these
reviews have always taken place on Fridays, no matter what the weather
may be, rain, sunshine, or sandstorm. The review, or "Arda," as it is
called, is a religious ceremony, and those who take part in it are
supposed to obtain special blessings and advantages. The Mahdi of course
wanted to keep up the martial spirit of his followers, and therefore he
based his reviews on religious grounds. Sometimes Khalifa Abdullah is
absent from these parades, in which case his brother Yakub takes his
place.

[Illustration: A TROPHY OF ARMS, BANNERS AND DRUMS CAPTURED FROM THE
DERVISHES.]

On parade days the great war-drums begin beating two hours before
sunrise, and the slaves whose duty it is to beat them have two
varieties of cadence, whilst a small drum beaten in quick time completes
the call to arms. The people apply all sorts of expressions to the
beating in quick time, such as "Nakelkum" or "Naktulkum" ("We will eat
you up," or "We will kill you"), _i.e._ their enemies. In the stillness
of the night these drums are heard a very long way off, and in the
terrible times of the Mahdi wars their weird and monotonous roll created
a most sad and depressing effect on me.

Immediately after morning prayers the leaders proceed to the flag yard,
each takes his flag, and they all stand in line in the open space in
front of the beit el amana.

The flags of the Khalifas Abdullah and Ali Wad Helu are kept quite
apart. Khalifa Sherif seldom goes out, and keeps himself as much as
possible from appearing anywhere in public with Abdullah, with whom he
is on very bad terms, because he has been deprived of all authority.

The four drum-beaters stand in front of the flags, and gradually the
followers all collect round their respective leaders. As soon as the sun
rises they begin shouting, and then march to the parade ground. Arrived
here, the flags are all placed