to the mere name of Englishman an allegiance which battalions of Egyptians could not have enforced Now and again, indeed, since the final defeat and death of the Khalifa at the Battle of Om Debreikat towards the end of 1899, the smouldering embers of fanaticism have flickered into a flame. New Mahdis have appeared from time to time, who might have proved dangerous under a weak Government The Sudan affords a ready field for religious pretenders, but their swift suppression has always nipped the rising in the bud. The latest and most dangerous of these false prophets appeared in the summer of 1908 in the same part of Kordofan in which the original Mahdi won his early successes, and gained a considerable following. But the Government struck swiftly and surely. He was surrounded by a force and brought for trial to El Obeid. It was a test case in the eyes of the Arabs. The new Mahdi had prophesied that he would be captured by the British, and the event was eagerly followed all over the Sudan. But he had not prophesied the result of the trial, and his prompt execution for armed rebellion set many doubts at rest. An Arab Sheikh, who had travelled to El Obeid in order to be present at the expected miracle, remarked to a British officer on his return to his home near Khartoum: 'No more Mahdis for me: I have seen enough; henceforth I shall cultivate my land.' There is no doubt that he represented the prevailing sentiment.
Frontier troubles were at first hard to deal with on account of the uncertainty of the Abyssinian frontier. Pursuit of raiding-parties might have produced friction with King Menelik. Happily, good relations have been preserved with that potentate, and the definite delineation of the frontier has enabled the brigand bands, for the raiders were hardly more, to be summarily dealt with. On the opposite side of the Sudan, to the west of Kordofan, lies Darfur, a tributary native State, now ruled by Ali Dinar, a member of the ancient line of Sultans. Darfur is so remote from the Nile, and of such vast extent, that it is on every ground desirable
