GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 25

the sheikhsby government officials, constitute the lever

whichmoves thepeople to rebellion. Thepresent revo- lution is not so much the result of religious fanaticism,

as of a universal hatredof theruling powers."

The British consul,Mr. Frank Power, gave it as his opinion thatit wasthe cruel system of taxationcurrent

throughout the Soudan, and not theMahdi,that was the maincause of the rebellion. According to him, every Arab must pay atax for himself, forhis children, and for his wife or wives. This he has to paythree timesover—

the thirteen-hundredth yearof the Hegira,namely,1883. He would bear the same name as the Prophet,and his

father and mother the same names as the Prophet's father and mother. Now the Prophet was called Mahomed Ahmed, his father Abdallah,and his mother

Amina, and these are respectively the names of the Dongolawi fakir who assumes to be the Mahdi,and ofhis

father and mother. Mahomed Ahmed, the pretended Mahdi,is saidto be no Arab,but a genuine Nubian,born

accordingto some at Hannek near the third cataract of

HANNEK ON THE NILE, THE REPUTED BIRTi-.PLACE OF THE MAHDI,

once for theKedowi, once for the tax collectors, or local beys,and once for the Governor-General. The two last areillegal,but stillscrupulously collected to the piastre. Ifa Soudanese wishes to grow corn he mustpay £3 per annum for the permission to do so, and another£7 per annum for liberty to take water from the broad Nile (without which the land is asand desert), or he must go into prison for life and have his hut burnt. He has further to pay for liberty to sellhis corn. If the crop is a good one he pays double taxes, one to the Government, and the other for the privatepurse of thepasha. If he has a trading boat and does not continually fly the Egyptian flag, he is fined £4, besides paying £4 for the privilegeof flying it. Everyone must payfor the right of working to earn money,as well as for being idle. If he cannot pay the taxes he is kourbashed and put into prison. No matter in whatwayhe makes a few piastres,

the dragoman of some bey or pasha will steal it for his master, and willfrequentlypull down huts,and tear up yards and fields to find where the coins are hidden. Ifa peasant buys a fewrags forhis wife or child, or mends a holein his hut tokeep out the sun,he is told he must have money somewhere, andis doubly taxed; yet, after all,his sole possessions are a hut madeof mudand river reeds, a rush bed, a rush mat, and an earthenpot.*

AccordingtoMahomedantradition,thetrueMahdi,that is,"the God-directed," but which maybe approximately rendered "the Messiah," was to make his appearancein

the Nile, in the year 1843,but according to others in the island of Napt Arti oppositeOrdehor New Dongola, the capital of the province of that name, and some fifty mileshigher up theriver. He is of middle height, slim, but welldeveloped,ofdarkbrowncomplexion,and wearsa blackbeard. Hehas,onboth cheeks, threeparallelscars.

When he first proclaimed himself as the Mahdi,he was forty years old, which is regardedas the prophetical age among the Mussulmans, from its being the age when Mahomedrevealedhimself. The scars, too, are the same which marked Mahomed, and which must mark every true prophet.

From his earliest childhood the so-called Mahdi is said to have shown signs of a decided vocation. At

twelve years of age he knew the Koranby heart. As a boy he was apprenticed to his uncle Sherif-ed-deen, a boat-builder at Shakabeh, an island opposite Senaar.

Having one day been beaten by him,he ran away and went to Khartoum, wherehe joinedthemedressu or free- school of a fakir, (a learned man, head of a sect of dervishes,) at Hoghali,a village close to the city. This school is attached to the tomb of SheikhHoghali, the patron saintof Khartoum, who is greatly reveredby the

inhabitants of the town and district. Here the young Mahomed Ahmed remained for some time studying religion,but not making any very great progressin the more worldly accomplishments of reading and writing. He next proceeded to Berber, where he joined another

school,kept by a Sheikh Ghubush, andlikewise attached to ashrinemuch venerated by the natives,with the view "Letters from Khartoum,"by Frank Power,pp. 38, 39, 91.

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