508 



MAHDI, EL. 



MAINE. 



by the downfall of the Turkish sultanate, and 

 the re-establishment of the Arab power. 



Mohammed Achrned was born about 1842, 

 in Dar Dungala, a district of Nubia, on the left 

 bank of the Nile, in latitude 20. The inhab- 

 itants of this district furnish the bulk of the 

 Gellabas, or itinerant traders, who devote 

 themselves to the slave-traffic, and the Fagihs, 

 or interpreters of the Koran, in the Soudan, 

 who, beyond an indifferent acquaintance with 

 the doctrines of the sacred book, and a knowl- 

 edge of reading and writing, are not superior 

 in education to the rest of this population. Mo- 

 hammed Achmed, in his youth, worked with 

 his brothers as a boat-builder in Khartoum. 

 Possessed with the desire to become a Fagih, 

 he learned to read and write, and for some 

 time kept a school in Khartoum. He then 

 went to the district of Tamaniat, thirty-two 

 miles north of Khartoum, where he established 

 himself as a Fagih. These teachers of the 

 Koran, since that book embodies the law as 

 well as the religion of Mohammedans, and is 

 supposed to contain all the rules of civil con- 

 duct, are the counselors of the people in all 

 the affairs of life. They bear the title of 

 sheik. Nur-ed-Din, another Dongola Fagih, 

 was already settled there, but the Sheik 

 Mohammed Achmed attracted a considerable 

 clientele. Ere long he settled on the White 

 Nile, residing part of the time on the island of 

 Aba, in 13 20' north latitude, and the rest in 

 a small village, named after himself, on the 

 right bank, a little to the north. Up to this 

 time he possessed no greater influence or im- 

 portance than the multitude of other Fagihs 

 of the Soudan. He now began the life of a 

 dervish, and took up his abode in a dried-up 

 cistern on the island. For six years he only 

 left his cave on Fridays, to go to the mosque, 

 and passed all his time in contemplation and 

 the study of the Koran. His object was to 

 assume the role of the Mahdi, but he gave no 

 intimation of his mission at this time. Re- 

 ports were spread far and wide of his fasting 

 and meditation, of the emotion he exhibited in 

 reading the Koran, and of his benignant kind- 

 ness. The custom grew up of visiting the holy 

 man to receive his advice on religious matters. 

 Large crowds of pilgrims to the hermitage ex- 

 tended his fame. 



When he had become widely revered as a 

 saint, and felt sure of his influence, he finally 

 announced himself as the man of prophecy. 

 To a large assembly he unfolded his mission in 

 the following language : " Twice already have 

 I been called upon by the archangel Gabriel 

 to unsheathe the sword of the faith, in order 

 to reform the bad Moslem, and establish the 

 peace of the world by a universal Moham- 

 medan empire. To this mission have I been 

 summoned by the Prophet. Follow me, there- 

 fore, for I am the Mahdi, and I will lead you 

 into the kingdom which Allah has prepared 

 for the faithful." In the first half of 1881 

 he issued proclamations to the Arab tribes of 



the Kababish, Allowin, and Baggara, saying: 

 "Know that God has chosen me to the great 

 succession, and that the Prophet, lord of life, 

 has announced that I am the expected Mahdi, 

 and has placed me upon his seat over princes 

 and lords ; and God is with me in person, and 

 has set upon me the marks of prophecy, which 

 are the warts on my right cheek." 



When Raouf Pasha, Governor-General of the 

 Soudan, heard in July, 1881. of these proclama- 

 tions, he sent Abu Saud to summon Moham- 

 med Achmed to Khartoum. The False Proph- 

 et was found in his village, with a guard of a 

 dozen armed Arabs. To the question why he 

 created a disturbance, he said that he was the 

 Mahdi ; that he had been called by the Proph- 

 et, who appeared to him in his sleep, and that 

 he only preached this to the people. He re- 

 fused to go to Khartoum, and, when threat- 

 ened with arrest, declared : " God shields me. 

 Your soldiers will be devoured by the earth 

 and the water." Mohammed Achmed's broth- 

 ers offered to bring him to Khartoum and fur- 

 nish security for his good behavior, but Abu 

 Saud inconsiderately declined their assistance. 

 In the expedition of three hundred infantry 

 with a cannon, sent to capture.the pretend- 

 ed Mahdi, three officers disputed the command. 

 The troops, on landing, broke up into little 

 bands, which the followers of the Mahdi, ex- 

 asperated by the act of one of the officers, who 

 shot a man that he mistook for the prophet, 

 cut down without mercy. The steamer lay- 

 to before the village, and Abu Saud, who re- 

 mained on board, made preparations to can- 

 nonade the place. Mohammed Achmed rode 

 down to the bank and waited, only a dozen 

 yards from the muzzle of the cannon, while 

 the nervous artillerist loaded the piece and 

 fired. Such miraculous proofs of divine pro- 

 tection the Mahdi never lost an opportunity of 

 showing. His later exploits, and the circum- 

 stances which enabled him to raise the banner 

 of revolt in Kordofan, Darfour, Sennaar, and 

 on the Red Sea coast, are described in another 

 place. (See EGYPT.) 



MAINE. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Frederick Robie, Republican ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Joseph O. Smith; Treasurer, 

 S. A. Holbrook ; Attorney-General, Henry B. 

 Cleaves ; Superintendent of Common Schools, 

 N. A. Luce; Land Agent, Cyrus Packard; 

 Insurance Commissioner, Joseph B. Peaks. 

 Judiciary, Supreme Court : Chief-Justice, John 

 Appleton ; Associate Judges, Charles W. Wal- 

 ton, William S. Barrows, Charles Danforth, 

 William W. Virgin, John A. Peters, Artemas 

 Libby, and John W. Symonds. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 on the 3d of January and adjourned on the 

 15th of March until the 29th of August. On 

 the 16th of January William P. Frye, Repub- 

 lican, was re-elected United States Senator 

 over Harris M. Plaisted, Fusionist, by 27 to 3 

 in the Senate and 108 to 37 in the House. 



