GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 46

BAKER PASHA LANDING AT MASSOWAH.

During the sojourn of Syud-el-Maghrani at Suakim numerous sheikhs with their following of wild spear- armed warriorsflocked day after day into the town to do reverenceto theholyman and make theirprofessions of loyalty, but although his influenceundoubtedlydidmuch

towards checking open hostility, it afterwards became only too apparentthatthe majority of these leaders were merely waiting for providence to declare itself on the

stronger side. A curious incident at this epoch was a visitpaidby these so-called friendly sheikhs to the Eury- alvs,Admiral Hewitt'sflag-ship, which,although only a second-class cruiser, was the largest vessel that had ever enteredthe port of Suakim. It was to impress thedesert

warriorswith the aids to warfarewhich moderninvention and science have produced,that the Admiral was asked to receive the strange crowd that moved sedately along the broad decks of the Euryalus. As they stepped forwardand gazed around,wonderand astonishmentwere clearly depicted on their countenances. The contrast betweenthe sheikhs arrayedinflowingrobes, andthehalf

nakedand swarthy warriors who followedthem, with the neatblue-jackets and steadymarines that stood around,

was most striking. Their greetings with the Admiral over, they were taken to see the big guns, where even

Arab stoicismwas not proof at the sight of missiles as

chiefs to secure, if possible, their active co-operation against OsmanDigna; and Osman-el-Maghrani,theHoly

Sheikh or Syud, a famous Mussulman ecclesiastic from Cairo,wasdespatched to Suakim to exercisehis influence in the same direction. His arrival atBakerPasha's camp presented a picturesque andimposingscene. The whole route from the causeway to the General's tent, about a mile in length, was lined with troops. The Syud, dressed in a tunic of blue silk andmountedon a white horse, was preceded by the military band and a large company of men on foot and on horseback, some of

whom carried banners. The population of Suakim fol- lowed in the rear and on the right and left flanks of

the procession. The prevailing colour in the vast as- semblage was white, relieved by the blue, red, and yellow uniforms of the infantry and cavalry, and these

with the whitetents of the camps, the blueof thebreezy sky across which the clouds weredrifting,and the bright grey of the houses of Suakim fillingin the background, made the spectacle a singularly lively one. Onwards the processionslowly flowed, with waving of banners, amidst the shouts of the men, and the continuous,high- pitchedbird-trillof the Arab women, whilepeople rushed

out of the crowd to touch the hem of his Holiness's garments or to kisshis hand.