In September, 1880, Gessi, finding his position intolerable under Rauf Pasha, Governor-General of the Sudan, resigned his post, and, after having suffered great hardships on the way, on account of the steamers being stopped by the sudd, he at last reached Khartoum; meeting with a cold reception there, he managed to get to Suez, where he soon after Gessi’s death, 30th April, 1881.died, 30th April, 1881, from the effects of the suffering he had endured. Lupton Bey, an Englishman,[163] succeeded him in the governorship of the Bahr El Ghazal.
In April, 1882, the Sudan was reorganised on paper, and was to be again under one Governor-General with four subordinate governors for the West Sudan, Central Sudan, East Sudan, and province of Harrar. Schools and seats of justice were to be established, and special arrangements to be made for the suppression of the slave trade.
INSURRECTION OF THE FALSE PROPHET, 1881.
The Mahdi.The next great cause of disturbance in the Sudan was the appearance of the False Prophet.
For many years the creed of Mohammed had been making immense strides in Central Africa, where it seems to have a peculiar fascination for the native races; and high authorities estimate the number of converts to this religion at from eight to twelve millions. The idea of the regeneration of Islam by force of arms had gained a strong hold over the enthusiasm of these new converts, and on the appearance of the False Prophet in August, 1881, thousands flocked to his standard.
The person in question was a Sheikh named Mohammed Ahmed, the son of a carpenter, and a native of Dongola. He was born about the year 1848, and educated in a village near Khartoum, where he studied religion. In 1870 he became a Sheikh, and after a short stay at Kaka, near Kodok, he finally took up his residence on the Island of Aba. Here his influence much increased, he gradually acquired a great reputation for sanctity, and in time assembled a considerable number of dervishes or holy men around him. He augmented his influence by marrying daughters of the leading Sheikhs of the Baggara, and by his power and tact succeeded in merging together the various tribes.
The principles of his teachings were universal equality, universal law and religion, with a community of goods. All who refused to credit his mission were to be destroyed, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan.
The causes of the rebellion were ascribed to—
1. The venality of the officials, and the oppressive and unjust manner of collecting the taxes.
2. The suppression of the slave trade. Most of the supporters of the Mahdi, more especially the Baggara tribes, owed all their wealth to their traffic in slaves.