445 
ch. xv] HORRORS OF MAHDISM 
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 for 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. 
The 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 . 1 
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 
1 The despotism of Mahdist rule was so revolting, 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 11 and self-styled “ apostles of 
peace ” who did their feeble best to prevent the destruction of this 
infamy. 
