CH. XV] HORRORS OF MAHDISM 445 



section of the Soudan. I was greatly interested in the 

 Egyptian and Soudanese soldiers, and their service 

 medals. Many of these medals showed that their 

 owners had been in a dozen campaigns ; some of the 

 native officers and men (and also the Reis, or native 

 captain of our boat, by the way) had served in the 

 battles which broke foi* ever the Mahdi's cruel power ; 

 two or three had been with Gordon. They were a fine- 

 looking set, and their obvious self-respect was a good 

 thing to see. That same afternoon I witnessed a native 

 dance, and was struck by the lack of men of middle 

 age. All the tribes which were touched by the blight 

 of the Mahdist tyranny, with its accompaniments of 

 unspeakable horror, suffered such slaughter of the then 

 young men that the loss has left its mark to this day. 

 'I'he English, when they destroyed Mahdism, rendered 

 a great service to humanity ; and their rule in the 

 Soudan has been astoundingly successful and beneficial 

 from every standpoint.^ 



We steamed onward down the Nile, sometimes tying 

 up to the bank at nightfall, sometimes steaming steadily 

 through the night. We reached the Sud, the vast 

 papyrus marsh once so formidable a barrier to all who 

 would journey along the river ; and sunrise and sunset 

 were beautiful over the endless, melancholy stretches of 

 water reeds. In the Sud the only tree seen was the 

 water-loving ambatch, light as cork. Occasionally we 

 saw hippos and crocodiles and a few water birds, and 

 now and then passed native villages, the tall, lean men 



^ The despotism of Mahdist rule was so revoltini^, so vilely cruel 

 and hideous, that the worst despotism by men of European blood 

 in recent times seems a model of humanity by comparison ; and yet 

 there were nominal " anti-militarists " and self-styled "apostles of 

 peace" who did their feeble best to prevent the destruction of this 

 infamy. 



