THE SUDAN PAST AND PRESENT. 
693 
while the Arabs are armed with sword, long lance or kibbis, four 
small spears or tabaig, and a small dagger. 
There is no cavalry organisation. A certain number of Arabs have 
horses, and if a certain number of horsemen are required, an order is 
merely issued to the emirs of rayas that they are required to supply so 
many. They are armed in the same manner as the foot men. 
Food, in the shape of dhurra, is supplied only to the regulars, and 
to the Taaisha and Habbanieh Arabs; the other Arabs are obliged to 
find their own food. The daily ration per man is an Egyptian kaddeh, 
roughly, two handfuls. 
Pay is not issued to the troops regularly. There is no scale of pay 
except amongst the Jehadieh. Each man nominally receives Jth of a 
dollar (about 6d.) a month, but frequently he receives nothing. Emirs 
receive from 20 to 100 dollars a-month, according to their respective 
status, with which they are intended to relieve the pressing wants of 
their poorer adherents, but, as a rule, the money generally remains in 
the hands of those to whom it is issued in the first instance. 
There is practically no system for transporting food on an expedi¬ 
tion. Each emir is held responsible that his men have a sufficient 
number of donkeys or camels—their individual property—to carry 
some days* supply. As a general rule it may be estimated that for 
every man there are three women, children, or camp followers. These 
latter are the carriers, or perhaps they are fortunate enough to possess 
a donkey or camel. Each man is supposed to have his own girbeh or 
water skin. If he is too poor to obtain one, his emir must supply him. 
Guns, Ammunition, &c. 
There are in all in Omdurman over 100 guns, but of those a large 
number are at present useless, though it is possible to repair them. 
Of the guns now in use there are, approximately— 
30 mountain guns. 
2 mitrailleuse. 
3 Krupp. 
4 machine guns. 
There are a very large number of rifles, both Remington and various 
other kinds; but not more than 8000 Remingtons are in good repair, 
and, perhaps, 4000 rifles and guns of various descriptions. 
Rifles are only carried on the special Friday parades; at other times 
they are kept in the barrack stores, and in charge of the emirs and 
mukuddums. 
There are only about 250 boxes of old Government ammunition left 
in Omdurman, and this want of ammunition is one of the main diffi¬ 
culties with which the Khalifa has to contend. 
A certain Greek, named Yusef Perterachi, after many attempts, at 
length succeeded in makirg powder of a fair quality, but was accident¬ 
ally killed in the explosion, which took place on 26th January, 1891, in 
Omdurman. 
Yusef Perterachi’s successor, as head of the powder factory, is a 
certain Hassan Sharkasi. 
After the explosion the powder factory was removed from Omdur- 
