PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 60

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

"A PRISONER OF THE IvHALEEFA."

This is the title of the latest book en ihe Scudan, but the book is" not one I would advise my readers to buy. Slatin's "With Fire and Sword in the Soudan " is both . cheaper and more comprehensive. There are, however, a few lines here and thefe of interest .at the present moment. Neufeld — lie -i ells 'm? that the Arabs pronounce, his ua,me "Nofa!," ,and this is fashionable at Hooae — started out for the Soud"ri 6n All Fool's Day, 18S7, as we now know, from life and civilisation to barbarism and slavery. His object was the purchase of gums in Kordoian, one man alone having over 50 tons to dispose of. At Wadi Haifa his real journey began, and ths.% his caravan cor.sistcd of 64 men and 160 camels,, the latter laden with silks, pipes, ornaments, watches, jewellery, and ether goods used in trading with the Arab sheikhs. Ons of his guides was a traitoi, f>o the caravan was attacked before it had proceeded far. There, is no need to go into detail ; s-ufnea 'it to say that -he was carried to Omdiirman to experience some? and witness more, of the cruelties of Mahdism. One of the first -io "greet him on entering the town was an old woman cursing the Mahdi and predicting Neufeld's death. Her wailings, peculiar to the East, • he; 1 pinched, sunken cheeks, glistening eyes, and skinny, hooked fingers, her vehement cursss and phopliecies made up a horrid spectre which completely unnerved him. But she wasn't allowed to curse long. Soon after she was taken from Neufeld, a sound of dull thuds, a shriek, a moan, and then silence told its own tale. The whole of her tribe, f-ho had told Neufeld, had been, as far as she knew, despatched by the -Khalecfa's orders, and she wasn't long following.

A DERVISH HORDE according •to Neufeld, is, at close quar-i j ters, more 1 than a match for the best drilled j army in Europe. Swift and silent in their movements, covering the ground at" four or • five times the speed of trained troops, every , man, when the moment of attack conies, accustomed 1.0 light independently of orders, lithe .and supple, nimble as cats, and as blf.od-thirsty as starving man-eating tigers, utterly regardless of their own lives, and capable, of continuing stabbing and jabbing with spear and^ sword while carrying half a dozen wounds, any one of which would have put a European hors de combat— -such were the 75,000 or 80,000 warriors 'which the Khaleda had ready to attack the Sirdar's little army. Artillery, rifles, and bayonets would have been of little avail against a horde like this rushing a camp by night. , OMDURMAN DURING THE FIGHT is graphically described. Every man but the gaolers was sent to the front, and the gaolers Avere"" provided with rifles to shoot down the prisoners in case of trouble. When the fight began, it seemed to the chained wietches that the air was filled with the yells and screams of legions of the damned let loose. Neufeld said he went mad. " I was raving, laughing, crying, kissing my hynds in welcome to the shells, those terrible messengers of death, screeching overhead ; tlu'owing open my arms, and leaping up to embrace the shell which a second later was to gather in death 72 then praying in the mosque." As we know, the lyddite shells and the death-dealing maxims pumping streams of lead were more than the dervishes and their invisible, angels could overcome. But they fought valiantly. Five standard-bearers in succession were shot down, waving the white flag of the Mahdi, and others also who ran to lend assistance, - until the flag was buried under the elaia.

NO QUARTER FOR THE DERVISH- -- is Neufeld's advicej and the clemency, tiie|; Sirdar showed will "cost .-Britain^many a" life yet, he says. I haven't. sjace to; give all his reasons,- but shall -quote a little :| "There was not a man in the Black Battalions who had not, by the old Law of Moses, the laws of his country in which he was ifighting,"' and the religious law, irrespective of the law handed down from tha remotest ages, more .right to take a life on that day than any judge in a civilised country has to sentence to death a man who has personally done him no wrong.Every man there was entitled to a life in retaliation for a murder of a father,- for ir>?.ult to a mother, wife, daughter, or sister, the mutilation of a brother or son, and his own bondage." And speaking of a wounded dervish, he says : "He is wounded to death, or he would not be lying there, and he wants to die — but to die killing; 1 he wants your -life-blood, not your aid and siiccour. As he wants to die — as^he mu3t die — then shoot him at once and put him. out of his misery. In doing this you are but acting humanely to a dying, but still ferocious, animal, in the guise of a man." And perhaps Neufeld isn't far out. There isn't a pluckien man -than- ''FuEzyJwuzzy* when facing the foe,- and" "He's generally shamming when""lie's dead:" *; '" V v J .-"* • OSMAN DIGNA... It will be peculiarly gratifying to Slating Father Ohrwalder, Neufeld, and other Omdnrnian captives' that ,the Khaleefa— this\is" Neafeld's spelling, and \ is .one "of instances in 'which he seems to'think'it necessary to distinguish" himself fronnother Soudan writeis — lias received his quietus at last; but it must also be aggravating that that slippery customer, Osman Digna, has again got away. After one'pf his battles he returned to the Khaleefa, and the follow-* ing dialogue took place : " What news have you brought me, and how fare the_ faithful?" — " LVUtster. I have led them to Paradise:" — "Wlit d : du't you go with them?" — "God had not ordained it so. 1 He must have more work for me to do ; when that work is finished He will call me." Unfortunately, he isn't dalled yet, but by "this lima he surely recognises that he may just as well throw .tip the sponge, and the dervishes, as a Avhole, will now probably see that the invisible angels are not of any material advantage to them, and that it will b.3 just as well to acknowledge the su-],rc-«.aey of e>. nation whose guns discharge lightning (rockets), . and can fire devils (shells) half a-day's journey, and over hills. PARTY GOVERNMENT is wcrking ill in New Zealand in a small way.; but in (South Africa, and in Egypt, an-l.the Soudan, teas pf. millions .of* money * and thousands of lives, apart from the" immense amount- -of loss -indirectly, iiave baen, aro being, and will yet be sacrificed n?.» result.. of ■„ ins and ; ,outs. ' * TKesßoersdn^tli^past calculated that -Gladstone would ie» verse the policy ,0: the Conservatives-, and they cams out top-side; tmdvthey hop^the J Earoe io.hap.pen .again. In the Soudan it is tiie same. The. dervishes, have been told that in England there are two powerful sheikhs opposed to each other, and that if cne wants to fight the other doesn't. One ra 1 away in 1884, why shouldn't he run again? But both Boers and ' Fuzzies ' -will fall in if they think the British will scuttla again. THE BOER WAR.' : ' "

One of my readers is still not quite certain that our South \frican war iff a justifiable cue, and thinks my .Chats' on military matters arc too short. Well, the more I think and read the more I am. of the opinion that the war is one of life and ( death for our possessions in South Africa; and indirectly, that it is absolutely necessary for th- unity of the Emoire. Further, 1 think the 90,000 sent to South Africa are sent wi^h three motives — to roll up the Boers rapidly, to show Continental nations what resources Britain has whsn p U t on her mettle, and to give .practice to the Government in mobilising, and to" the men in fighting, iv order to be -the more efficiently prepared for tlhs great war rapidly looming up. Europe can stand neither the. taxation nor the tension . that has existed for years past. ■ OUR CABLES. ' I must say it is with anything but good grace that I read the meagre, -vague, and often misleading cables from the Cape. The censor, to an outsider, appears to be unnecessarily strict and despotic in passing messages. ' Why he is a very Seddon in his despotism. It may bs, however, that it is so difficult to know which operators in the Cape service can be trusted with secrecy, Ihat it is found advisable not to telegraph, anything of a secret nature, or which might be helpful to the rebels and those 'sullenly s disaffected. '

— Among the latest collecting fads is a search after odd trade signs and circulars. The collectors declare there is more fun in it than anything in the collection line yet attempted. — Great Britain is the largest customer of the United States for mineral oil, taking last year 242,265,563ga1, a3 against 155,203,222 sent to Germany, 53,398,115 to Japan, 44-,523,552 to China, and 360,431,316 to various European countries. — The Czar has £250 per hour, the Sultan £170, the Emperor of Austrja, £100, the Kaiser £90, the King of Italy £66. Queen Victoria £66, the French President £50, the King of the Belgians £13, and the President of the United States £1 103 per hour. — Electricity in the hands of a Vienna doctor has turned the Ethiop white. The negro went, to the hospital from an Austrian gaol, and was treated with electricity for four months. At the end of that time, he was cured, and -also completely bleached. FLOBii-nfK! — Fob the Teeth and Beeath— " A few drops of the liquid ," Ploriline " sprinkhJ on a wet tooth brush produce a pleasant lather, which thoroughly cleanses the teeth fro - n all parasites and impurities, hardens the gums, prevents tartar, stops decay, gives to the teet!i a peculiar pearly whiteness, and a delightful fragrance to the breath. It removes all unpleasant odour arising from decayed teeth or tobacco smoke. "The Fragrant Plorilino/'being composed in part of honey and sweet herbs, is deliciou9 to the taste, and the greatest toilet discovery of the age. Price 2s 6d of all chemists and perfumers. Wholesale, depot, 83 Farriogdou road, London, England.— AD7l.