DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 



519 



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 forever 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; in all 



Troops at Mongalla 

 From a photograph l>y Edmund Heller 



the tribes who 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. The English when they 

 destroyed Mahdism rendered a great service to humanity; 

 and their rule in the Soudan has been astoundingly : 

 cessful and beneficial from every stand-point.* 



We steamed onward down the Nile; sometimes tying 



* The despotism of Mahdist rul, was so rvv,,llm K . so vilely cruel and h.deous that 

 the worst despotism by nu-n of European blood in recent t.mes scrms a model 

 humanity by comparison; and yet there were nominal "anti-militarist 

 styled "apostles of peace" who did their feeble best to proven- the :lest 

 this infamy. 



