I 



TRAVELS m EASTERN AFRICA 



25 



Being voluble in conversation and cheery in manner 

 towards his companions, he soon established an ascen- 

 dency over them. 



Among the other Soudanese but two seem worthy of 

 mention. Herella, a native of Darfertit, a country to 

 the southward of Wadai, was about twenty-four years of 

 age. He had served as a Mahdist, and was present at 

 the defeat and death of Wad el Nejumi, who was one of 

 Mahdi's most trusted Ameers. Unlike the rest of the 

 Soudanese, he made no pretence of being a Mohamme- 

 dan, but frankly admitted that the people of his country 

 ate pig (which means death to the followers of Islam) ; 

 and added, with cheerful insistence, that a hungry stom- 

 ach knew no law. He was one of the most perfect sav- 

 ages I had then met. His bearing was at all times that 

 of a wild animal, and his hatred of discipline was made 

 manifest at every turn. 



Hussein Mahomet was the other; and he, perhaps, 

 was the most serviceable type of any of my Soudanese. 

 Born a Hadendowa (a tribe found near Suakim), he had 

 from the first followed the fortunes of Osman Digna, his 

 chief, in the wars of the Mahdi. Until the continued 

 defeats which Osman Digna suffered at the hands of the 

 English, and the death of the Mahdi, he had been thor- 

 oughly convinced of the divine mission of the Mahdi, 

 and the wickedness of all Europeans. When, however, 

 his tribe was almost destroyed by incessant war, and his 

 chief a fugitive, he decided to give up his allegiance, and 

 trust himself to whatever treatment the Italians would 

 accord. I found him stupid in the extreme ; a fanatical 

 Mohammedan, never so happy as when at prayer, but 

 obedient and trustworthy to the last degree. 



