Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp 1882-1892

by Josef Ohrwalder; Sir F. R. Wingate

His dress consists of the usual Dervish jibbeh and drawers, he also wears sandals, and over his jibbeh, which is generally reeking with grease and fat, he wears a tob or light cotton cloth; on his head is the usual Mecca takia, round which a turban is bound.

As regards food, the Khalifa is more moderate and simple than the Mahdi; he still adheres to his native dishes—asida (a sort of polenta), eaten with milk or meat, over which a strong sauce full of spices and pepper is poured. Sometimes he eats roasted chicken and drinks quantities of milk and sugar, especially camels' milk, to which all Baggaras are devoted. He has no fixed hours for food, but eats whenever he feels so inclined; and it is perfectly astonishing the amount of food which a Sudanese can consume at a sitting.

Like his master the Mahdi and all important persons in the Sudan, the Khalifa is much addicted to harem life. Shortly after he had established himself as supreme ruler, he thought to surround himself with all the pomp and splendour of a Sudanese Sultan, of which the most important item is a very extensive harem. As the Mahdi had done before, so did he take to himself numbers of wives. Wherever a pretty woman is to be found, he at once gets information about her from his spies, and she is immediately brought to the harem.

Each of his wives has her own house, kitchen, and slaves quite apart from the rest, consequently the expenditure of his household is considerable. His first wife is head of all the other wives, who now number one hundred and fifty. She is a Baggara woman, and is waited on by numbers of eunuchs, who were formerly in the service of the Turkish and Egyptian pashas; and although the making of eunuchs is strictly prohibited by Mahdi law, nevertheless the Khalifa secretly employs numbers of persons who arrange to supply eunuchs when required.

The chief eunuch is a certain Abdel Gayum, who is head of the entire household. He has under his orders numbers of female slaves, who grind dhurra and prepare the food; it is estimated that three ardebs of dhurra a day are consumed in the Khalifa's household.

Abdullah is endowed by nature with a good constitution, but his irregular mode of life has gone far to destroy it. Twice he has had severe attacks which have all but killed him; on both occasions he was delirious, and his body became enormously distended. The last time he was ill all hope of his recovery had been given up, and the doctor who was attending him, and had given him a purgative, was on the point of being beheaded, when at the last moment the medicine took effect, and was the happy means of saving the lives of both the Khalifa and his doctor.

The Khalifa's illnesses are always kept secret, so that whenever he fails to attend prayers, it is generally thought that he is sick. Fifteen days after the last crisis, and when all danger was over, Abdullah summoned the other two Khalifas and the judges to show them that he had recovered, whereupon Khalifa Ali at once offered up a prayer of thanksgiving, though, if his real feelings had been analysed, it would have been found that he was anything but thankful. After leaving Abdullah, the Khalifas announced to the people in the mosque that he had been very dangerously ill, but that God in His mercy had spared him.

This news was the signal for a wild shout of delight, which reached the Khalifa's ears and pleased him not a little. Eight days afterwards he appeared for the first time in the mosque, then the rejoicings knew no bounds, and the shouts were heard miles off; all the emirs congratulated him on his recovery, and the air resounded with the cries of "Allah etawil Omrak!" ("May God prolong your life!") All this flattery pleased the Khalifa immensely, and this eye-service is a particularly highly-developed characteristic of the Sudanese.

And now a few words as to the Khalifa's character: he is an intensely vain and proud man, very cruel and quick-tempered. Occasionally his ideas are good, but he is surrounded by so many fanatics that his ideas, however good they may be, generally die almost before they are born. He is of a most distrustful nature, because he knows he is surrounded by enemies—thus he is a curious mixture of resolution and inconstancy. He listens eagerly to calumnies, and delights in hearing evil spoken of other people; this causes his decisions to be changeable and capricious; he is guided a good deal by what low slanderers tell him, but they have to watch his temper very closely, and have become great adepts at humouring him. He is fearful and jealous of his authority, and the very smallest infringement of it is looked upon as a most serious crime and punished accordingly. He has surrounded himself with spies, who pander to his jealous and tyrannical nature.

These spies are everywhere, they get into private houses, attend every meeting, and often start a discussion against the Khalifa and against Mahdiism, merely to draw the unwary into a trap and make them divulge their real feelings and opinions. He is told about the most trivial thing, and sometimes during his speeches and sermons he will give way to the wildest denunciation of his unfavourable critics. He knows perfectly well that he is hated, but he will never allow it to be said openly; for, though he cares little whether he is liked or disliked, he does not wish anything to intervene between him and his authority.