xvi INTRODUCTION 



no the Second Senusi was the younger son of the Fir 

 he succeeded to his father's position, after a short inten 

 of 'regency' conducted by trusty councillors ; though the 

 seems to have been no ill-feeling between the brothe 

 Under Muhammad al Mahdi, the Second Senusi, t 

 political movement took great amplitude. His emissar 

 spread far and wide over Negro and Negroid Afri( 

 Houses of teaching and prayer were founded in Seneg 

 in western Nigeria, in Hausaland and above all throu^ 

 out the Tibu countries, Wadai and northern Darfur, 

 well as in Fazan, Tunis, and Algeria. A little vag 

 hostility was shown towards France, but not more th 

 towards Turkish rule, and the feeling among the Senusi 

 was rather in favour of the British. When the otl: 

 Mahdi, JNIuhammad Ahmad, the Dongolese destroyer 

 the Egj'^ptian Sudan, strove to enter into close relatio 

 with Muhammad al Mahdi at Jaghabub his overtures we 

 snubbed very distinctly. 



Unknown to himself, no doubt, the Berber blood 

 the Senusi leader's veins ranged him against violent i 

 tacks on civilised states. He did his utmost to prev€ 

 the Arab fanaticism of the ]Middle Nile from spreadi 

 to Egj^pt, or to Wadai and Bornu. His growing i 

 fluence over Turkish Africa attracted the interested ; 

 tention of Abd-al-Hamid, Sultan of Turkey. In 185 

 the Second Senusi leader was visited at Jaghabub by t 

 Pasha of Tripoli escorted by an imposing force. T] 

 visit and other actions of Abd-al-Hamid caused the Secoi 

 Senusi perturbation. Accordingly in 1894, he transfer! 

 himself and his funds and band of officials to the Kufs 

 oases, whither pursuit by Turkish troops would be ve 

 difficult. From this safe retreat he intensified his re 

 tions across the Desert with Wadai, Kanem, and Darfi 

 In 1900 the Second Senusi pope (as one might by n 

 call him) moved his headquarters from Kufara to a roc 



