f
the arrival of the party at Korosko reached Cairo.--F. R. W.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PRESENT KHALIFA'S DESPOTISM IN THE SUDAN.

[The reader is reminded that all opinions expressed are those of
Father Ohrwalder.--F. R. W.]

Reflections on the situation in the Sudan--The horrors of the
present Khalifa's rule--How long shall it continue?

In the foregoing pages we have glanced at a bloody period in the history
of the Sudan--the rise of the Mahdi, his victorious career through
Kordofan, and his conquest of Khartum. We have sketched the development
of his mighty empire, founded in bloodshed and revolution, and we have
seen him honoured as a messenger of God by the millions of the Sudan;
glorified--nay, almost worshipped--by his own people, and watched by the
Muslim neighbours of his empire with an admiration mingled with the
keenest anxiety. Then, in the full enjoyment of his victories, at the
supreme moment of his power, while seated in his capital of Omdurman, he
revolved schemes of conquest of the whole world he knew; then dead--dead
of debauchery and disease, dead at an age when most lives' promises are
brightest. Then we have seen the empire tottering, Abdullah rising to
its support, slowly but firmly strengthening the trembling power, and,
with the strength of bigotry and ignorance, replacing a shattered
superstition by the iron rule of might.

Here I may properly submit some reflections on the general situation.

Mohammed Ali conquered the Sudan, and in the train of his conquest
followed all the triumphs of progress and civilization. Wide new
territories were discovered, fertile and thickly populated; explorers
and missionaries advanced to the very heart of negro-land; Nile's
solitudes were rippled by the advancing steamer. Far beyond the Equator
reached the telegraph, and the metropolis of the Sudan formed part of
the international postal system. Trade blossomed in security, and the
white man could march to the countries of the Niam Niam, and there join
hands with his brother from the Congo. European culture spread
throughout, and the religion of Christ planted the world-saving banner
in remotest frontiers.

The progress of fifty years was ruined by the Mahdi's revolt. The Sudan
fell back into the darkness from which philanthropy had rescued it.
Civilization was swamped in the flood of fanaticism. The sign of
salvation was blotted out, the bearers of it chained as slaves, and the
f