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[Illustration: Father Ohrwalder, The Sisters Catterina Chincarini
and Elisabetta Venturini and The Slave girl Adila

From a photograph by Stromeyer & Heyman, Cairo.

Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.]




  TEN YEARS' CAPTIVITY
  IN THE
  MAHDI'S CAMP
  1882-1892

  FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS OF
  FATHER JOSEPH OHRWALDER
  LATE PRIEST OF THE AUSTRIAN MISSION STATION AT
  DELEN, IN KORDOFAN

  BY
  MAJOR F. R. WINGATE, R.A.
  DIRECTOR OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE, EGYPTIAN ARMY;
  AUTHOR OF 'MAHDIISM AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN'

  _WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
  BY WALTER C. HORSLEY_

  THIRD EDITION

  LONDON
  SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY
  _LIMITED_
  =St. Dunstan's House=
  FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
  1892
  (_All rights reserved._)




  LONDON:
  PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
  STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.




PREFACE.


[Illustration: FATHER OHRWALDER.]

After the fall of Khartum in January 1885, various attempts were from
time to time made to effect the release of some of the European
prisoners who had fallen into the Mahdi's hands during the early stages
of the Sudan revolt.

These attempts were for the most part attended with little result. The
causes of their failure, and eventual success in one instance, are
fully described in the following personal narrative of Father Ohrwalder.

As Father Ohrwalder is the first European who has escaped from the Sudan
since 1885, I was fully occupied with him during the few days
immediately following his arrival in ascertaining, for official
purposes, the actual situation in the Sudan, and that completed, we had
many interesting conversations on the historical events which had
occurred in these revolted districts during the last ten years.

Having but recently completed a _resume_ of these events,[A] which had
been largely compiled from the statements of natives who had escaped, I
was not unnaturally desirous to verify, by the independent witness of
Father Ohrwalder, the accounts which they had given, and I further
begged Father Ohrwalder to carefully read over the book and point out
the errors. It was with considerable satisfaction that I learnt from him
that the facts had been faithfully recorded; but the flood of light
which he was enabled to throw on many obscure passages, and the great
interest attaching to the narrative of an active participator in so many
of these now historic occurrences, induced me to suggest that he should
set to work, while the memory of these events was fresh in his mind, to
write a personal narrative of his varied and terrible experiences, of
which the general public have hitherto learnt but the bare outline.

It should be borne in mind that the circumstances under which Father
Ohrwalder lived in the Sudan precluded him from keeping any written
record of his life; it was therefore agreed that I should supervise his
work which, I need scarcely add, it has given me great pleasure to do.
Father Ohrwalder's manuscript, which was in the first instance written
in German, was roughly translated into English by Yusef Effendi Cudzi, a
Syrian; this I entirely rewrote in narrative form. The work does not
therefore profess to be a literal translation of the original
manuscript, but rather an English version, in which I have sought to
reproduce accurately Father Ohrwalder's meaning in the language of
simple narration.

England and the British public in general have shown so much interest in
the stirring events which have occurred in the Sudan, and in which many
gallant British officers and men have lost their lives, that it is
Father Ohrwalder's desire that the narrative of his experiences should
be published in the first instance in England, as his modest tribute to
the nation which struggled so gallantly, and so nearly successfully, to
effect the relief of Khartum and the rescue of those unfortunate
Europeans who, like himself, had fallen into the hands of a cruel and
merciless enemy.

It seems almost incredible that such sufferings as the European captives
endured did not long ago bring to them the happy release of death they
so ardently longed for; but it was not to be. The door of escape, which
they had thought closed to them for ever, suddenly opened, and they did
not fear to risk the dangers and perils of that terrible desert journey,
with scanty food and water, and the sure knowledge that they must ride
for bare life; re-capture would have ended in certain death, or, at
best, perpetual incarceration in a prison, the horrors of which beggar
description. In spite, however, of all he has endured, Father Ohrwalder
longs for the time when it may be possible for him to return to the
Sudan and continue the Mission work so suddenly and hopelessly
interrupted since 1882.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Walter C. Horsley for the admirable manner
in which he has executed his portion of the illustrations. The remainder
are chiefly from photographs, taken by Mr. Lekegian in his photographic
studio in Cairo, of Dervish prisoners captured at the action of Toski,
and of refugees who have recently reached Cairo from Equatoria, through
the territory administered by the Imperial British East Africa Company.

F. R. WINGATE.
CAIRO, _30th July, 1892_.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Published under the title of 'Mahdiism and the Egyptian
Sudan.' London: Macmillan & Co. 1891.




CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION.

FATHER OHRWALDER'S JOURNEY TO THE SUDAN.
                                                                    PAGE
  Description of Kordofan and Dar Nuba--The Mission Station
  at Delen                                                             1


CHAPTER I.

THE MAHDI AND HIS RISE TO POWER.

  The rise of the Mahdi--Early successes--Personal appearance
  --His   Khalifas described--Military organization--Makes new
  laws--He summons El Obeid to surrender                               6


CHAPTER II.

FATHER OHRWALDER AND HIS COMPANIONS TAKEN CAPTIVE.

  The storm rises in Dar Nuba--The Baggara begin to raid--
  Khojur Kakum of Delen--Mek Omar besieges Delen--The slave
  guard deserts the Mission--The priests and nuns surrender--
  They are sent to the Mahdi                                          22


CHAPTER III.

THE MISSIONARIES AND THE MAHDI.

  Description of El Obeid--Said Pasha's system of defence--
  The Mahdi's followers encircle the town--Townspeople desert
  to the Mahdi--Unsuccessful attack on Government buildings
  --Dervishes driven off with loss of 10,000 men--The
  missionaries brought before the Mahdi--Threatened with
  death--Preparations for the execution--Reprieved at the
  last moment--The Mahdi's camp described--Death of some
  of the missionaries--Illness of remainder                           34


CHAPTER IV.

THE SIEGE OF EL OBEID.

  Terrible sufferings of the besieged--The Kababish--Fall of
  Bara--Fall of El Obeid--The Mahdi enters the town--Fate
  of the El Obeid Mission--Cold-blooded murder of the brave
  defenders--The Dervishes live a life of ease in El Obeid--
  The Mahdi makes laws--He sends out proclamations--Prestige
  increased by capture of town--News from Khartum--Bonomi and
  Ohrwalder summoned before the Mahdi--The interview                  52


CHAPTER V.

THE MAHDI'S VICTORY OVER HICKS PASHA.

  The European captives learn that General Hicks is
  advancing--Slatin Bey's defence of Darfur--His heroism--
  The Mahdi prepares to resist Hicks--The march of the Hicks
  Expedition--Extracts from the diary of Major Herlth--Colonel
  Farquhar's gallantry at Rahad--Gustav Klootz deserts to the
  Mahdi--Klootz's interview with the Mahdi in which Ohrwalder
  and Bonomi act as interpreters--The expedition advances
  towards Shekan--Is surrounded and annihilated--Description
  of the battle--The Mahdi victor of Kordofan                         72


CHAPTER VI.

THE MAHDI'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO EL OBEID.

  Fall of Darfur--Slatin surrenders--The Mahdi's divinity
  credited after the annihilation of Hicks--King Adam of
  Tagalla--Stambuli's kindness to the European captives--
  Gordon writes to the Mahdi--Power's letter--The sisters
  seized and distributed amongst the emirs--They are
  tortured--The missionaries turned into slaves--The terrible
  journey to Rahad--The Greeks come to the help of the
  sisters--The proclamation concerning the treatment of
  priests and hermits by Mohammedans--The Mahdi at Rahad--
  Ohrwalder's interviews with the Mahdi concerning religion
  --The Dervishes attack the Nubas                                    91


CHAPTER VII.

FATHER OHRWALDER'S VIEWS OF GORDON'S MISSION.

  Ohrwalder describes his treatment at the hands of various
  masters--The Nubas surrender and afterwards desert--News
  from Khartum--The capture of the English mail--Its
  arrival at the Mahdi's camp--The Mahdi decides to
  advance on Khartum--Brief review of events in Khartum
  and Berber--Ohrwalder's views on Gordon's mission--The
  Mahdi sets out for Khartum--Mohammed Ali Pasha's
  defeat and death--Colonel Stewart, Mr. Power, and others
  leave Khartum in ss. "Abbas"--Description of their
  wreck and treacherous murder                                       114


CHAPTER VIII.

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF KHARTUM.

  The surrender of Omdurman fort--Gordon's dispositions
  for defence--His great personal influence--The night
  before the assault--The attack and entry of the Dervishes
  --Gordon's death--The adventures of Domenico Polinari--
  The massacre in Khartum--How most of the Europeans died
  --Ruthless cruelty and bloodshed--The fate of the wives
  and daughters of Khartum--Ohrwalder's views on the
  situation in Khartum and the chances of relief by the
  British Expeditionary Force--His description of the town
  three months after the fall                                        131


CHAPTER IX.

THE MAHDI'S LAST DAYS.

  Ohrwalder's criticisms on certain events connected with
  the defence of Khartum--The Sudan devastated by small-pox
  --The Mahdi gives way to a life of pleasure--Description
  of his harem life--The Mahdi sickens and dies--The effect
  on his followers--The Khalifa Abdullah succeeds--Party
  strife and discord--Abdullah prevails--Events in Sennar
  and Kassala                                                        152


CHAPTER X.

THE ESCAPE OF FATHER BONOMI.

  Ohrwalder continues to describe his personal experiences
  -- Mahmud the emir of El Obeid--His unsuccessful attempts
  to entrap the Nubas--The arrival of Olivier Pain in El
  Obeid--His motives in joining the Mahdi--His journey
  towards Omdurman--His sad fate--Lupton Bey arrives
  at El Obeid from the Bahr el Ghazal--He is sent to
  Omdurman and thrown into chains--Life in El Obeid--The
  escape of Father Bonomi--Ohrwalder's solitude--The
  death of the Khojur Kakum                                          169


CHAPTER XI.

REVOLT AGAINST THE DERVISHES.

  The black soldiers of the old Sudan army--They revolt
  against the Dervishes in El Obeid--And march off to Dar
  Nuba--The emir Mahmud pursues and is slain--Ohrwalder
  quits El Obeid for Omdurman--Zogal and Abu Anga at
  Bara                                                               189


CHAPTER XII.

OHRWALDER'S IMPRESSIONS OF OMDURMAN.

  Ohrwalder's arrival in Omdurman--His first impressions
  of the Dervish capital--Khalifa Abdullah's intentions
  to conquer Egypt--Wad Suleiman of the beit el mal--Wad
  Adlan succeeds--Gordon's clothes, medals, &c.--Adlan
  reorganizes the beit el mal--The slave market, museum,
  mint, and system of coinage--Counterfeit coining--The
  lithograph press--The Khalifa's system of justice                  204


CHAPTER XIII.

THE KHALIFA DECIDES TO CONQUER ABYSSINIA.

  Events subsequent to the fall of Khartum--Capture of
  Gedaref and Galabat--Dervishes defeated by Abyssinians
  at Galabat--Abu Anga's victorious expedition to Tagalla
  --His triumphal return to Omdurman--The Khalifa's
  grand review--Destruction of the Gehena tribe--The
  Khalifa decides to send Abu Anga's army to conquer
  Abyssinia--The battle of Dabra Sin--Abu Anga sacks
  Gondar--The victorious Dervishes return to Galabat--
  Rejoicings at Omdurman                                             216


CHAPTER XIV.

KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA KILLED IN BATTLE.

  Destruction of the Kababish tribe and death of Saleh
  Bey--Events in Darfur--Revolt of Abu Gemaizeh--His
  death and destruction of his army--Rabeh Zubeir--King
  Theodore's son visits Omdurman--The conspiracy of
  "Sayidna Isa"--Death of Abu Anga--King John of
  Abyssinia attacks Galabat--Success of Abyssinians, but
  the king killed--Victory turned to defeat--The king's
  head sent to Omdurman                                              232


CHAPTER XV.

DEFEAT OF NEJUMI AT TOSKI, AND OF OSMAN DIGNA AT TOKAR.

  The Khalifa's intentions regarding Egypt--Wad en Nejumi
  despatched north--Various operations on the Egyptian
  frontier--Battle of Toski--Defeat and death of Nejumi--
  Subsequent events in Dongola--Osman Digna's operations
  against Sawakin--Is defeated at Tokar--Emin Pasha and
  events in Equatoria--Recent events in Uganda and Unyoro            254


CHAPTER XVI.

THE FAMINE AT OMDURMAN--1888-1889.

  Ohrwalder describes Omdurman--The Mahdi's tomb, and how
  it was built--Pilgrimage to Mecca forbidden--A description
  of the great mosque--The Khalifa's palace--The markets--
  The population--The Khalifa's tyrannical rule--The terrible
  famine of 1888-1889--Awful scenes and sufferings--The
  plague of locusts                                                  273


CHAPTER XVII.

THE KHALIFA AND HIS GOVERNMENT.

  The Khalifa's system of government--His household--An
  outline of his character--His system of prayers in the
  mosque--His visions and dreams--His espionage system--His
  household troops--His great activity and circumspection--
  The great Friday review described--The emigration of the
  Baggara and western tribes to Omdurman--The flight of
  Sheikh Ghazali--Management of the beit el mal--System of
  taxation                                                           293


CHAPTER XVIII.

A CHAPTER OF HORRORS.

  The revolt of the Batahin tribe--Revolt suppressed with
  appalling cruelty--Wholesale executions--Method of
  hanging--Punishment by mutilation--The execution of
  Abdel Nur--Trade with Egypt--Wad Adlan the emin beit el
  mal--His imprisonment and death                                    315


CHAPTER XIX.

SOCIAL LIFE AT OMDURMAN.

  System of public security and justice in Omdurman--The
  court of small causes--Bribery and corruption--The
  story of the slave and her mistress--How the Khalifa
  deals with quarrelsome persons--Thieves and pickpockets--
  The story of Zogheir--Usurers and their trade--The chief
  of police--Brigandage--Disproportion of males to females
  in Omdurman--How the Khalifa overcame the difficulty--
  Immorality--The marriage ceremony                                  328


CHAPTER XX.

THE KHALIFA'S TREATMENT OF THE WHITE CAPTIVES.

  Description of the prison, or "Saier"--The "Abu Haggar"
  --The imprisonment of Charles Neufeld--Terrible
  sufferings of the prisoners--Domenico Polinari--The
  danger of corresponding with the European prisoners--
  Neufeld threatened with death--He is given charge of the
  saltpetre pits--The fate of Sheikh Khalil, the Egyptian
  envoy--The Khalifa's treatment of the "Whites"--Exile
  to the White Nile                                                  344


CHAPTER XXI.

LUPTON BEY AND THE AMMUNITION.

  The Khalifa's powder and ammunition begin to fail--Lupton
  Bey makes fulminate--Unsuccessful attempts to make powder
  --Yusef Pertekachi at last succeeds--The explosion in the
  powder factory                                                     366


CHAPTER XXII.

AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE IN THE MAHDI'S KINGDOM.

  Remarks on the agriculture and commerce of the Mahdiist
  kingdom--A sandstorm in Omdurman--The paucity of cattle--
  System of taxation on imports--Provincial beit el mals--
  Local manufactures--Slavery and the slave-markets--Torture
 