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

by Josef Ohrwalder; Sir F. R. Wingate

Ghazali, accompanied by two of his relatives, mounted his horse in the middle of the night; without shedding a tear, his wife bade him farewell, and wished him all success in his undertaking. In order to put his enemies off his track, he at first went in a northerly direction till just below Kererri, then turned south-west, and made for Kordofan. But Ghazali made a fatal mistake in using horses for such an enterprise, for, winter being over, there was a scarcity of water in the desert; it would have been far better had he used camels.

The poor man had to pay dearly for his error. Scarcely was he out of Omdurman than one of his own tribesmen reported his flight to the Khalifa, who became very angry, cursed the Taisha for their ingratitude, and ordered the fugitives to be pursued at once. They searched the desert around Omdurman in every direction, and, thinking they must have taken camels, they did not at first take any notice of the horses' tracks, but eventually they decided to follow up the latter, and were soon convinced that they were on the fugitives' heels.

Some distance after leaving Kererri, they came up with the horses which Ghazali and his companions, owing to their fatigue, had abandoned, and had continued their flight on foot. The pursuers were now two days distant from Omdurman, and were on the point of giving up the chase, when they heard a shot fired from a thickly-wooded khor. It was Ghazali, who, suffering greatly from thirst, had separated from his companions in search of water; he had been digging about in the sand, and, discovering the longed-for liquid, he had fired a shot to let his companions know he had been successful.

This shot was his betrayer; the pursuers rushed to the spot, surrounded him, and although he killed and wounded several, he was overpowered and fell riddled with bullets. His head was cut off, for the Khalifa had given orders that on no account was he to be brought back alive. His two relations submitted, and were subsequently pardoned by the Khalifa, who is always more lenient to his own tribesmen than to others. Ghazali's head was brought to Omdurman, and thrown amongst the heap of "unbelievers'" heads.

There is no doubt that if Ghazali had succeeded in regaining his own country, he would have become a dangerous rival to Abdullah. Most of the Taisha infinitely prefer the liberty of their native forests to holding high posts in Omdurman, and would have rejoined Ghazali in large numbers.

One of the most important measures taken by the Khalifa to get all power into his own hands was his attempt to gain possession of all firearms. He had over and over again given orders that any one found with a gun would be punished by the loss of a hand and a foot, and, of course, the natural result was that every one feared to deliver up his gun, dreading the punishment which would inevitably follow. This plan having failed, the Khalifa then ordered two Jew merchants to buy up all firearms for the beit el mal, and the people having no fear of Jews freely sold them.

In this way about 1,000 Remington rifles were secured: in a like manner the Khalifa got possession of the coats of mail; but, as may well be imagined, the Jews did not make much profit out of the business. They were put into chains for eight months, and had to pay back a considerable sum of money as well.

Thus did the Khalifa gradually concentrate all power in himself. The emin beit el mal is obliged to give him a daily statement showing all revenue and expenditure; the Sheikh es Suk (or sheikh of the market) has to render a daily report of everything that has taken place in the market, and the chief judge must keep the Khalifa fully informed of all important cases which come under his notice. The Khalifa reserves to himself the powers of life and death, although the judge passes the sentence.

Every province has a governor or emir, i.e. Dongola, Berber, Galabat, Karkoj, Gezireh, Fashoda, Kordofan, Lado, and Jebel Regaf. All these emirs are Baggara, and have several emirs under their commands. Each emir has his own beit el mal, and has the power of appointing his own emin beit el mal and kadi (judge). The emir is the supreme civil and military governor of his province, and is entirely responsible for its administration.

The beit el mal at Omdurman is known as the "Beit el mal el Umûm," and the head of it gives orders direct to all his provincial assistants. Each emir is obliged to report all events of importance to the Khalifa, they are frequently summoned to Omdurman to give an account of their administration, and to take the Khalifa's instructions.