THE EASTEBN SOUDAN. 
281 
Nur Angora’s 1° bloodthirstiness and cruelty it is hard to say 
which of the principal Dervish Emirs excelled. In- 
Cruelty. stances of Ahmed Fedil's cruelties have been al¬ 
ready given; we have also all heard ofthe Khalifa's and Osman Digna's 
cruelties. Nur Angora who was with us, and our ally, was in reality 
just as cruel. In addition to his duties as chief of the Intelligence 
Department, he was given charge of all the prisoners captured on enter¬ 
ing Gfedarif, and also of all deserters from the enemy. One evening 
at sunset he as usual reported to me the incidents of the day, and 
concluded by asking permission to shoot eight Baggara prisoners, on 
the plea that he was afraid they were conspiring to escape. Per¬ 
mission was of course refused, and he was directed to separate these 
eight Baggara and place them in chains. The next morning at 
sunrise he came to me and said “ Oh! I have killed those eight 
Baggara," and in reply to a question as to why he had done so and 
thus disobeyed orders, he said they had tried to escape in the night. 
His attention was drawn to the fact that there were no shots 
fired in the night, whereupon he said “ yes, I know there were no 
shots fired, my sword bearer cut their heads off." On going to see if 
his report was accurate (for it was possible they had escaped, and he 
did not wish to admit it) I found it was only too true—he had de¬ 
capitated the eight Baggara. 
Slatin refers to Nur Angora in his book. He says 
when fighting in Darfur against a man called Sultan 
Harun, Nur Angora was victorious, the Sultan was 
killed, and his head sent to El Fasher, in Darfur, as a proof of the 
victory. Another interesting anecdote with reference to General 
Gordon and Angora is described by Slatin as follows : “ Nur Angora 
had an old mother about sixty years of age living at Dongola, and in 
spite of his wild character, she had the same affection and care for her 
son that Rauf Pasha's mother had for him. It is said that when Gordon 
was in Dongola, an old woman asked to see him, and on entering said, 
I am Nur Angora's mother and have come to seek your help, but said 
Gordon, you have a good-for-nothing son who passes his time in riotous 
living, instead of looking after his old mother. Ah said the old woman, 
may he be always happy I forgive him, but I want you to help me, 
Gordon presented her with £50 from his own pocket, and she returned 
home heaping blessings on his head and on that of her undutiful son." 
(Applause.) 
By nature excitable and fanatical, very loyal to 
their chiefs, conservative in their ideas, decidedly 
warlike, easily influenced and led ; we won their 
gratitude to a marked extent by helping them to rebuild their great 
mosque at Kassala that had been destroyed by Osman Digna. Prison 
labour and slight aid from local funds was all the help that was given 
them; we were amply repaid by the feelings of gratitude and kindly 
feeliug the Arabs showed to us in return for our personal interest in 
their religious institutions. 
Otlier 
anecdotes. 
of Arabs 
