--women, children, and
flocks--all bound for Omdurman; they plundered the inhabitants of the
various countries through which they passed, and forcibly seized their
camels for transport. The Dar Hameda tribe alone, through whose country
they passed, lost 4,000 camels. When they reached El Obeid, a special
tax was levied for their maintenance, but, quite regardless of this,
they broke into the houses, and laid hands on all they could find.

From El Obeid they passed on to Tayara and Shatt, whence the Khalifa had
them conveyed in steamers to Omdurman. There were, in all, 7,000
warriors, exclusive of women and children; their arrival in Omdurman was
viewed with a certain amount of alarm, and not without reason. As the
Arnauts and the Bashi Bazuks were utilized by the Government in the old
days, so were the Taisha to be now utilised under the Khalifa's rule; he
favoured them in every possible way, the beit el mal was made
responsible for their maintenance and pay. After they had partially
settled down, and some had been given the richest patches on the Nile
banks, as well as several of the islands, the others were then removed
to Berber, Abu Hamed, Dongola, and the Gezireh.

In all these places they very soon made themselves masters of the
situation, and the Khalifa gave them the most important Government posts
to fill; but notwithstanding all this favoured treatment, still they
were not content: the more they had, the more they wanted. Upwards of
4,000 of them deserted from Omdurman, to proceed to their own country;
but they were overtaken, and, as an example to the remainder, the right
hand and left foot of three of them were cut off, though it was with the
greatest reluctance that he ever punished his own countrymen in this
way. Two hundred of the deserters were put in prison, where some of them
died in a few days: the horrors of this prison so impressed these wild
children of the desert, that to this day they tremble at the thought of
it.

The sheikh of the Taisha was a man named Ghazali, who was by no means
happy in his new position; and though he was well received by Abdullah,
still he could not brook the feeling of being under the authority of a
man who at one time had been one of his lowest menials. It was reported
to the Khalifa that he was discontented, he was therefore summoned
before him, and addressed as follows:--

"When you were sheikh in your own country, were we not obliged to kiss
your hand, and show yo