3i8 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

From time to time, men, renowned in their own localities for their knowledge of the sacred law, and their strict obedience to its rules and precepts, go about exhorting their neighbours to revert to the true faith in Allah, as propounded by his Prophet, to eschew all association with unbelievers, to have no fellowship with Mahometans who smoke or drink the wine that is red, and to refuse obedience to any other law than that of the Koran. Such men either claim to be Mahdis, or are credited with being Mahdis by their adherents. Some are fanatics, others are impostors ; the great majority are a compound of both characters. Under a wise native Government, they are allowed to pray and preach and exhort with impunity, so long as they confine themselves to denouncing any falling off from Islam ; but the moment they try to carry theory into practise, and refuse to obey the orders of the ruling power, they are crushed out of existence.

Some dozen years or so before the period of which I write, there appeared, under the reign of Ismail, a Mahdi in a village not far from the banks of the Nile, in the neighbourhood of Keneh. The Mahdi in question was a holy man, who gained many followers by his exhortations. In an evil hour for himself and his neighbours, he encouraged his adherents to refuse to pay taxes to a ruler who, as he alleged, consorted with Christians, and was himself no better than an unbeliever. The advice was followed ; and the next time the tax collectors appeared in the Mahdi's village,