CLOSE OF CAMPAIGN. 237 Around the Mahdi’s tomb were great splashes of human blood. On the previous evening I had seen many dead dervishes lying in that vicinity. In their credulous faith in Mohamed Achmed they had flocked there for -safety, only to be killed by our fire. Of 120 who were praying around the tomb whena 50-Ib. Lyddite shell burst, but eighteen escaped alive, and these were sorely wounded. The tomb, carefully stuccoed over inside and out, was built of stone and well-burned bricks.

The base of the square wall from which the coneshaped dome sprang was over six feet thick, the vaulted roof tapering to about eighteen inches at the apex. Great holes had been knocked in the north-east side, and the rubbish had tumbled in, breaking the brass and iron grille round the catafalque. Beneath, covered by two huge blocks of stone, lay Mohamed Achmed’s remains. Early that day violent hands were laid on the brass rails in the outer windows and grille. The catafalque was stripped of its black and red cloth covering, and the wood-work was totally destroyed. All the yellow lettered panels, with texts from the Koran and the Mahdi’s prayer-book, as well as the blue and yellow scroll work, were smashed or carried off by relic-hunters. The false prophet was so_ speedily discredited that not a dervish amongst the tens of thousands but regarded these and the subsequent proceedings with complete indifference. To destroy utterly the legend of Mohamed Achmed’s mission, when the British troops had returned to Cairo the Mahdi’s body was disinterred. It had been roughly embalmed and the features were said to be recognis-