THE RISING OF THE MAHDI Insurrection in the Soudan — Abolition of slavery in Egypt by Khcdivial decree in 1881 — Mahdi rising at Keneh.

The Arabi mutiny had hardly collapsed before the attention of the Egyptian Government was called to a far more serious insurrection which was rapidly gaining ground in a remote part of the kingdom. At the end of July, 1881, the Khedive, at the ui[ent instance of the British Government, issued a decree, nominally abolishing slavery throughout the territories of Egypt. I use the word nominally, because, so long as an Oriental country remains under native administration, domestic slavery, in one form or another, is a necessity of Oriental life. As a matter of theory, all slaves in Egypt could, under the law of 1881, get themselves set free whenever they pleased. They had only to present themselves at the State Bureau; and there they obtained, free of charge, a paper, emancipating them from any obligation towards their former masters or mistresses. But in practice, comparatively few slaves availed themselves of the