STORY OF AN ARTIFICIAL ARM.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10131, 2 September 1898, Page 3

STORY OF AN ARTIFICIAL ARM.

♦ll Artificial limbs are now made so ingeniously, that their outward appearance often, to a casual observer, successfully simulates the real member. Thus a gentleman's leg had been so wonderfully contrived that he often declared he was, "at times, in doubt whether it was cork and springs, or flesh and bone, &c This, of course, was a joke, to convey an idea of the perfection of the workmanship. All mechanicians, however, are not so fortunate. A resident of Christchurch, having unfortunately lost part of his left arm, applied to a Dunedin limb maker to supply the deficiency. The specification was rather exacting; it was not only to look like tne real thing, and to enable the wearer to feed hjmself, but it stipulated that he should, by its help, find no difficulty in wielding a long handled shovel! This was a wide range of usefulness, yet the maker did not shrink from undertaking the task. But he did not succeed to the satisfaction of the man who wanted to use it, and he brought an action, heard, yesterday, in the Magistrate's Court, to recover £15 he had paid on account, with i>lo damages for travelling expenses, loss of time, and disappointment. In an interval, the limb was

Of the horrors and atrocities perpetrated by order of the Khalifa, the "saier," or prison, furnished innumerable examples. The prison is situated in the south-eastern portion of the city, near the river, and is surrounded by a high wall. A gate, strongly guarded by day and night by armed blacks, gives access to an inner court, in which several mud and stone huts have been erected. During the daytime the unhappy prisoners, most of them heavily chained and manacled, lie about in the shade of the . buildings. Complete silence prevails, broken only by the clanking of chains, the hoarse orders of the hard-hearted warders, or the cries of some poor wretch who is being mercilessly flogged. Some of the prisoners, who may have specially incurred the Khalifas displeasure, are loaded with heavier chains and manacles than the rest, and debarred from all intercourse with other prisoners. They generally receive only sufficient nourishment to keep them alive. Ordinary prisoners receive no regular supply of food, but their relatives are allowed to provide for them. It often happens that long before a meal reaches a prisoner for whom it is intended a very large portion has been purloined and consumed by the rapacious and unscrupulous warders. At night the prisoners are driven like sheep into the stone huts, which are not provided with windows, and are consequently quite innocent of ventilation. Volumes could be filled with descriptions of the horrors perpetrated within these walls. It is recorded how, in many instances, the Khalifa has disposed of many of his trusted but suspected, followers by a species of slow murder at the hands of the warders. Slatin Pasha relates that the great Sheikh of the Gimeh tribe, Asakr Abu Kalam, who had shown such friendship and hospitality to the and his father in the early days, was ruthlessly seized and thrown into chains because it came to the Khalifa's ears that he had' sp&ken, disparagingly, of the state xd the Soudan, and had expressed regret. at having taken up arms against the Government. He was eventually exiled to Reggaf, whilst his wife, who was a well-known beauty in the Soudan, was torn from the arms of her husband at the hour of his de-. parture, and carried off to the Khalifa's harem. The well-known Emir Zeki Tummai, on being seized, was thrown into a small stone building the shape of a' coffin, the door of which was built up. He was given no food whatever, but a small amount of water, was handed to him through an, aperture in the wall. For twenty-three days he suffered all tihe horrors of slow starvation, but no sound of complaint was heard to issue from that living grave. Too proud to beg, and well aware of the futility of doing so, he lingered on till the twentyfourth; day, when, death carried him out of the reach of his tormentors. The Saier and his warders watched through tihe aperture the dying struggles of the unhappy man, and when at length he ceased to live they hurried off to the Khalifa with the cheerful news. That niglh.t the body was removed to the western quarter of the city, and buried amongst a heap of old ruins, with his back towards Mecca. The Khalifa, not content with having tormented him during his lifetime, thought thus to ( deprive him of peace in the world to come. In spite of his despotism, the Khalifa, is in considerable fear of Ms life. He ruthlessly evicted all the local inhabitants, of those portions of the town in the immediate neighbourhood of his own residence, and their places have been taken by his enormous bodyguard, jwhose numbers he seeks daily to increase. - These he has surrounded by an immense : wall, within which he and his relatives while all persons" of whom he is in the slightest degree suspicious are forced to reside within the enclosure. Abdullahi is surrounded day and night by his own personal bodyguard, and not even, his nearest friends are allowed to approach with arms in their hands. Should anyone be co»----manded to see the Khalifa, his sword and knife, which he invariably wears, are taken from him, and he is generally eearched before being admitted to the audience chamber. I produced and fix»d >in place, and when 1 covered'up by a coat- sleeve was'not a bad imitation," the hand being particularly r> poseful looking. ' ; Bufc it did not work very well. Fixing -• a fork iv the hand, the wearer made as il to pufc it ti> his mouth, but, describing a stiff curve, the fork went dangerously near to his right ear; there was no experiment with the long-handled shovel. In fact the maker denied that he undertook this part of the alleged bargain. He also protested that the wearer was merely 'Splitting it on," meaning that he made the fork travel erratically, so as to get out of the contract. At anyrate, he I said, if there was a little stiffness he was I prepared to oil its joints or do whatever was necessary to cure its complaint. This seemed reasonable, but the plaintiff would have none of it, and his Worship had to decide, which he did by a judgment which was practically in favour of the maker, who on payment of the balance due, less plaintiff's travelling expenses, was to hand over the arm to him.