2h AMONG THE PAGANS OF .THE SOUTHERN SUDAN and statesmanship that in those few years he succeeded in suppressing the slave trade for the time being, and in bringing something like order out of chaos. The improvement, however, was shortlived, for with the resignation of Gordon it came to an ends. _ Two .syears. later. -there appeared in the Sudan Mohammed Ahmed, the man who was afterwards acclaimed by the Moslems as their Mahdi, or expected leader, whose coming is foretold in the Koran. Although of poor family and having but little education, he was a man of great force of character and fervent religious zeal, combined with much political shrewdness. His fame as a religious leader and holy man spread.far and wide, and when he proclaimed a jihad (holy war) against the Egyptian Government, men flocked to his standard from all parts of the Stian He and his followers gained victory after victory, until in 1884 practically the whole of the Eastern Sudan was his. Egypt, realizing that it was lost to her, concentrated her efforts on withdrawing her troops, 40,000 of whom were scattered throughout the country in isolated garrisons. To accomplish this she called to her aid General Gordon. It was an impossible task, and he was left to do it alone.

His heroic defence of Khartoum, where he was hemmed in by the Mahdists, stands out as one of the finest deeds in the history of sour: “Empires The yonly Englishman in the city, for 321 days (12 March, 1884, tO 20 January, 1885) he bravely stood to his post, striving to inspire his incompetent officers and the listless population with his own steadfast courage, and waiting with dwindling hope for the relief force which arrived too late. Then came the end—the night attack, the javelin throw—sand Gordon died as he had lived, a Christian soldief and ‘‘a very gallant gentleman.”’

It was not until 1898 that the power of the Mahdi was finally and completely shattered by Colonel (afterwards Lord) Kitchener at the battle of Omdurman. Since that time the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has been under the joint control of Great Britain and “Egypt. Yor purposes of government the country is divided into fifteen provinces,