THE WARRIOR MONKs OF THE SAHARA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 44, 7 August 1891, Page 5

THE WARRIOR MONKs OF THE SAHARA.

(By F. CUNLIPFK OWES, in Harper's Weekly.)

Who in the world could have dreamt that the last decade of this prosaical, matter-of-fact, and commonplace nineteenth century would witness the revival of one of the most romantic features cf the Middle Ages? For it is members of the jeuncsse dorec of France who have formed the first contiugent of the holy or.ier known as the Warrior Monks of the Sahara. The latter are the modern embodiment of the Knights of Malta and Knights Temp'ars of crusading days. The steel helmet is replaced by one made of cork, with duly patented ventilating apparatus ; the visor, instead of being of metal, is of cloth, similar t3 those worn by the Tuareg Arabs ; and in lieu of the pennoned lance there is a far more deadly weapoa in the shape of a repeatiug rifle. The object in view, however, is the same, namely, the delivery of slaves from bondage, and the propagation of Christianity by means not of the Gospel alone, but of tbe Gospel allied to the sword. Cardinal Lavigerie, to whom the merit of this extraordinary revival belongs, has lived long enough in Africa to learn that the one is indispensable to the other — at any rate, among the turbulent and warlike races who inhabit the northern half of the Dark Continent. After a careful and profound study of the problem— a Btudy for which his breadth of mind and liberality of view particularly fitted him — he has come to the conclusion that the system of sending out unarmed missionaries to preach the Gospel and nothing but the Gospel among the savages was all wrong ; that both the heroism and the martyrdom of these pioneers of Christianity were entirely wasted, and that if any material good were to be achieved it could only be done by means of a radical change. With this purpose in view, he has founded the Order of the Warrior Monks of the Sahara. They will seek to attract sympathy and good-will by developing the productiveness of the oases and by the creation of new ones, where they will form stations for the relief of tbe sick, for the offer of hospitality to all comers, and for the refuge and protection of fugitive slaves. Their aim will be to afford practical demonstration of the benefits and advantages of civilisation, to preach by example the elements, thereof, and to thus prepare the ground for conversionto Christianity. The latter, although the principal object, is tha last in order. For Cardinal Lavigerie proposes that instead of proselytism preparing the ground for the seeds of civilisation, it is tbe elements of civilisation which axe to prepare the ground

for tbe seeds of Christianity. Civilisation will act »» fore-runner instead of following in the wake of the Gospel. Tbe headquarters of tha Order are at Biskra, on the Algerian borders of the Great Sahara Desert, and were solemnly consecrated by Cardinal Lavigerie in th* early part of last month. The name of the spot is M'salla, which is the Arabio designation for a " place of prayer." The estate contaios a plantation of palms in fall bearing, and is traversed in part by a small irrigation canal, which is the share of the precious fluid it is entitled to from the neighbouring town- Great stretches of ground are, however, uncultivated for want of water, and measures have already been taken for its reclamation by tbe creation of an artifical supply. A well was sank to a deptb of fifty-three metres, the water of which, declared to be practically inexhaustible, rises naturally to within thirty-two sietres of tha mouth of the well, aod is thence raised by pumps to the surface. A second well has also been dag in order to provide •axillary resources. The monks will therefore be trained in the methods of Saharian culture, as well as the use of arms, while the neighbourhood of the illimitable tracts of the desert will enable them to acquire tht more savage accomplishments of camel -riding and hunting by practice. The bouse, occupying an area ot seventy metres by ten, with the kitchen and offices in out-buildings, has the proand floor solidly built of stone instead of the son-dried mud bricks generally used by the Arabs. The choice of Biskra fot the head-quarters of the Order is a fortunate one, for the town, which is situated in an oasis, commands one of the principal routes of the Soudan. Tbe town proper is composed of one large street full of European houses, and intersected by a number of smaller streets. The oasis, which is five kilometres long and half a kilometre broad, forms a forest of 160,000 palm trees and 6000 olive and fruit trees. Tbe population is cosmopolitan, and includes French, Tunisians, Arabs, Moors, and Israelites. A few days after the inauguration of the Mother House of tbe Order at M'sslla the ceremony of consecrating and of administering the tows to the first batch of these Warrior Monks took place. The postulants were twelve in number, every one of whom belonged to tbe French aristocracy, and held the rank of officers in the army. Among them are two young lieutenant-colonels of the general staffs, who had abandoned a brilliant military career to devote their lives henceforth to tbe good of humanity in the most terrible of all deserts. But probably the most DOtable of these neophytes wis tbe Vicomte Guy de Brissac, one of the best known and most popular of Parisian club-men. His achievements on the turf as the owner of a small but exceedingly choice stable were only equalled by his successes in the talons and boudoirs of the gay capital. A year ago his fiancee, whom be worshipped, died of a rapid decline— that strange malady which seems to ea nance and etherealise the beaut; of its victims, and to illumine their eyes with a strange light. She rests beneath a snowy marble cross in the pretty little cemetery that nestles among the pine-trees at Arcachon, and to-day her lover, the pleasure-seeking, eceptical, and worldly Guy de Brissac, who had disappeared from all bis accustomed haunts since her death tarns up at Biskra, on the borders of the great desert, in tbe guise of tbe newly-consecrated Warrior Monks ot tbe Sahara. The rules of the Order have been formulated by Cardinal Lavigerie himself, and every line of them contains evidence of tbe remarkable liberality, common-sense, and breadth of view of their illustrious author, a prince of the Church who has not considered it amiss to inaugurate in Algeria dromedary races, with all tbe usual accompaniment, for the purpose of creating an incentive towards tbe improvement of tbe animal known as the " Ship of tbe Djsert." j One of the principal features of the ceremony of the administering the vows to the monks consisted in the solemn blessing by tbe cardinal of their arms, of their equipments, and of their attire or uniform. Tbe last consists of a long white tunic, descending below tbe knee, belted at the waist, and with a large red Maltese cross on the breast. The pantaloons are loose and baggy, such as those affected by the Turks of the old school ; a voluminous white burnoosa haDgs from the shoulders, and on the head is a white pith or Btraw helmet, surmounted on grand occasions by a white plume, and embellished in front with a red Maltese cross. The entire costume bears some analogy to that with which Daudet invested the ecclesiastics who Accompanied the famous expedition of the immortal Tarlarin de Tarascon. It should be added that, except when on the move or when fighting, they will invariably wear the veil of white or black cloth, covering both tbe nose and the mouth, which is in use among the Tuareg tribes. These veils, which are tied loosely at the back of the head, protect the mouth and nostrils from a terrible glare, and from the sand during the desert storms. It is among these Tuarags, the most fierce, blood-thirsty, fanatic, And untamable of all Moorish races in Africa, that their lot is to be cast. They proceed among them with the knowledge that every one of the unarmed missionary priests who have gone before during the last three decades has bsen cruelly put to death. They profess the most intolerant, bigoted, and fanatical Mohammedanism, and hold all intercourse or contact with a Christian as sinful in the sight of the Prophet. It if their irreconcilable hostility which readers all projects

for tbe construction of the great trang- Sahara railroad impossible ; and it ie worthy of note that the oasas which it is propped that tha Warrior Monks should occupy, hold and develop, are precisely those situated along the route of the contemplated line of railroid. Tha Tuaregs are all membera of the Se^ousi fraternity, a sect which not only holds that it is wicked to salute, speak, or trade with unbslieven, but also that it is lawful and even godly to rob and kill every Christian they meet. There seems to be no lack of volunteers, or, to apeak more correctly, of postulants for admission to the new Order of the Warrior Monks of the Sahara. Over 130 have already arrived at Biskra and have commenced the novitiate, which is destined to insure them to the hardships of desert life. Few of them are without a more or leu remantic history, and there is more than one who has been lei ti take the vows of the Order by circumstances as tragical as tboas which impelled tbe brilliant Marqais de Brecourt, who died a couple of weeks ago, to aisume the habit of a friar and to become the bumble night porter of the monastery at the Grande Chartreuse. M. da Breoourt, coming home one day from a shooting expedition, and finding himself unable to extract the cartridge from his gun, discharged it into a thicket. His only daughter happened to be standing behind it and was killed on tbe spot. Curiously enough, tbe day porter of Orande Chartreuse, who died within a few days of tbe Marquis de Brecourt, was a man who in secular life had been still more widely known, and whose name figures prominently in modern European history ; for, prior to his conversion to Catholicism by Bishop Dapanloup, he was one of the mast famous Generals of the Russian army, and was commander-in-Cbief during the Caucasian campaign which resulted in the subjugation and overthrow of Scbamvl. Two days after pronouncing their vows, which, instead of bting taken for life, are limited to a term of five years, renewable at will, five of tbe Warrior Monks started out for Wargia, an important oasis about three hundred miles to the South of Biskra. It is there that the first of the armed stations projected by Cardinal Imigerie is to be established. It is entirely surrounded by sand, a green island in an ocean of fire. The second station will ba at the oasis of Mes Jonah, near the Morocco frontier, which is traversed by all the great slava caravans coming from the South, and which has acquired a peculiarly evil name, owing to tbe fact of its bein» the place where lads ara mutilated to renier them fit for service as guardians of the various harems throughout the Mohammedan world. More than fifty per cent parish from loss of blood, which is stanched in the moat primitive manner, i c. by burying thsm for the apace of four-and-twenty hoars up to their necks in tbe burning hot sand, leaving only their heads exposed to the torturing bites of tbe insects, and to the scorching rays of the sun. It is h^re where the military training of the Warrior Monks will be brought into full pUy. For the slave-dealers are sure to make a hard fight to prevent the establishment within the narrow limits of the oasis of the fortified statioa, where every slave who is able to effect his or her escape from their cruel hands is certain to find a refuge and protection. The slave-dealers, however, extend their activity even to the very doors ef Biskra, which, as sated above, i« built on an oasis, and one of the most dramatic features of the ceremony of the consecration of the monks was when Cardinal Lavigerie led to the altar a little brown girl barely 9 years old, who had succeeded in concealing nerself, and in effecting her escape from a slave caravan passing through the desert a few miles to the south of Biskra. A sudden movement of the child caused her to drop something tnat she was holding con* cealed beneath tbe folds of her dejebba. The venerable pre'ata bent down and raited it from the ground. It was a small dusky hand —the hand of the little girl that stood beside him, and which in Bheeer wanton cruelty bad been cut off by her captors. Holding it aleft, and pointing it southward towards the great Sahara, while with his own hand he raised the child's arm, so that all present could see the mangled stump, the Cardinal exclaimed, in tones which seemed to ring forth as a clarion :—": — " I would to God that all Europe could see this little hand 1 May it serve to direct your line of march. En avant for God and for humanity 1"