[121] Appendix P.
[122] It would be interesting if some Member of Parliament would ask Her Majesty’s Government for information on this subject.—Ed.
[123] Appendix P.
[124] I.e., the priest.—Ed.
[125] Appendix Q.
[126] Many of General Gordon’s “instincts” have been no less remarkable than many of his escapes. In a telegram to Sir Evelyn Baring, dated March 1st, he said, “I will do my best to carry out my instructions, but feel convinced I shall be caught in Kartoum.”—Ed.
[127] It is worth while to note how readily Her Majesty’s Government, who had declined all General Gordon’s suggestions while he lived, accepted this posthumous piece of advice.—Ed.
[128] In his ‘Wild Tribes of the Soudan,’ Mr. F. L. James gives an account of how he and his party were treated by Ala-ed-Deen and the Bey at Senheit. This Bey was no other than Ferratch Pasha, who is said to have opened the gates of Kartoum. “We had engaged camels at Senheit,” says Mr. James, “for some weeks’ shooting in the vicinity. On our return, a steamer was leaving Massowah for Suez, which we could only catch by taking the same camels on to the coast. Our Shaggyeh drivers objected, saying the road to the sea was out of their country, and their camels were tired—perfectly valid excuses. We offered them half as much again as the proper fare, but they still demurred, fearing that the Governor of Massowa would take their camels, make them carry for the Government, and probably never pay them. On obtaining a letter for the Bey at Senheit (Ferratch), asking (as we fondly imagined) Ala-ed-Deen, who was at that time Governor of Massowah, to let them go free, they consented to accompany us. On our arrival we presented the letter, which, we found, merely stated that the garrison of Senheit was in want of salt, and that he had better load up the camels with some, and return them to him.”—Ed.
[129] Appendix Q.
[130] The Mahdi declared that the Archangel Gabriel had twice appeared to him and commanded him to unsheath the sword of faith in order to reform the bad Moslem and to found a Mussulman Empire which would be followed by universal peace.—Ed.