engagements in which he has thought fit to risk his valuable life he has always been present on foot. As for the Mahdi, the prime cause of all the misery and bloodshed of the past four years, he is, I believe, the son of a carpenter, and a native of Dongola. His proper name is Mohammed Ahmed, and he was born about thirty-seven years ago, and is much the same age as his lieutenant. In 1870 he went to live at the island of Abba, where he gained a great reputation for sanctity, and gradually collected a great number of holy men or dervishes around him. His subsequent actions are now a part of the history of the last five years of bloodshed, and call for no recapitulation here. How long he may be able to retain his position as the true prophet is a matter of doubt, but it is to be hoped that the poor deluded Arabs may be shown the folly of being carried away by the professions of a man whose sole aim is self-advancement, and who is ready to sacrifice everything, his religion included, for the attainment of this one end.
The Mohammedan religion appears to present peculiar attractions to the native tribes in Central Africa, and the false prophet is indebted for the number of his recruits to the enthusiasm of the converts to Mohammedanism, with whom the
