LUPTON BEY AND THE AMMUNITION.
The Khalifa's powder and ammunition begin to fail--Lupton Bey makes
fulminate--Unsuccessful attempts to make powder--Yusef Pertekachi
at last succeeds--The explosion in the powder factory.
As a result of constant warfare and the careless expenditure of
ammunition, the want of it now began to be sensibly felt by the Khalifa,
and it eventually became an all-important question. The principal want
was caps for the Remington cartridges, for, though there were quantities
of empty cases there was scarcely any fulminate left.
Many a starving Egyptian began to try and invent some substance which
would act as fulminate; there were still a few books on chemistry to be
found, but all attempts failed to produce satisfactory results. At last,
a certain Hassan Zeki, who had formerly been a doctor in Khartum,
invented the substance required. The Khalifa told off Lupton Bey, who at
that time was living in the most abject poverty, as his assistant.
The first trials of the new fulminate were made in the presence of
Yakub, and were most successful; the invention proved of the greatest
use to the Khalifa. The unfortunate Lupton Bey died on the 8th of May,
1888, and Hassan Zeki continued the work. Within a comparatively short
time he prepared a very large number of caps. Abdullah had a special
laboratory made, and employed a number of boys as cartridge fillers. It
was principally owing to this invention that the Khalifa was enabled to
conduct his successful campaigns against Abyssinia.
And now another difficulty arose--this was the scarcity of powder;
numbers of persons presented themselves as prepared to make this
commodity. An Indian, named Kamal ed Din, came forward amongst others;
he had come from India to join the Mahdi, passed himself off as a doctor
and proudly called himself "Physician-in-chief to the Khalifa." He had a
ready tongue, and soon acquired respect and wealth; he painted his beard
red with henna.[Q] He had immense powers of persuasion, and thereby
obtained a concession from Abdullah to make powder. He demanded that a
special laboratory should be built for him in Khartum, so as to be quite
out of observation, and he asked for a quantity of money for the
purchase of the chemicals he required.
The laboratory was built in the course of a month in the old corn store
in Khartum, and the work was taken in hand. The Indian declared that it
was most necessary to obtain phosphorus, and therefore he had all the
bones and skulls of the people who had been massacred in Khartum,
collected, and these he pounded in mortars into very fine flour, much to
the annoyance of people who objected to this desecration of the dead.
Every now and then he applied for more money from the beit el mal, which
was supplied to him at once, and now he began to work quite alone and in
secret; he put the bone flour in earthenware vessels, poured water on
it, and then sealed the vessels hermetically; he now declared that to
prepare the chemical substance only, another month was necessary. He
therefore stopped work and lived at his ease. At the expiration of the
month he secretly opened the vessels; no one had a notion what he was
going to do with the bone-paste, but he affirmed that so far everything
was most successful, and invited the head of the beit el mal, as well as
several emirs, to be present at the trial of the powder.
The emirs came and sat in a circle round a furnace which slaves were
blowing up with bellows; then the Indian produced the vessel, asked the
emirs to take some of the substance and throw it into the fire. This
they did, and it exploded with a loud report, which greatly astonished
the spectators, one of whom then and there, knelt down and offered up a
prayer of thanksgiving for the success of the invention.
The emirs accompanied Kamal ed Din to Omdurman in triumph, where he also
gave proof of the excellence of his powder in the presence of the
Khalifa. Abdullah was wild with joy, and presented the inventor with 200
dollars and a concubine. The Indian now returned to Khartum with profuse
promises that he would supply several hundredweight of the new powder in
the course of a month.
But soon people began to talk of him as being a cheat and a deceiver; a
month passed and the powder was not delivered; the head of the beit el
mal became anxious, and reported the matter to the Khalifa, who at once
sent his brother Yakub and Wad Adlan to make inquiries on the spot; they
went, and it was very evident that the Indian had been duping them all
the time. He was brought before the Khalifa, and, strange to say, was
not punished. Abdullah merely remarked that he was a poor foreigner,
and, of course, had to do his best to make a living. It is a curious
thing that Abdullah has a much greater insight into the ways of
foreigners than most natives.
A certain mukuddum, however, of the Jaalin tribe did not get off so
easily. In the days of the Government he had practised an extensive
fraud in Khartum, and also in Sennar as an alchemist, and now he came
forward to offer his services for the manufacture of lead. At first he
had been occupied in making gold, but now to the Khalifa lead was even
more precious than gold, and the want of it was causing him grave
apprehension.
The mukuddum's offer was accepted, he received presents from the beit el
mal, where he was given a special place in which to carry on his work,
and numbers of slaves were placed at his disposal; he was given all the
money he required to purchase various things in connection with the
manufacture, and which he asserted were absolutely essential. Four
slaves were told off to keep up an enormous furnace, whilst the
mukuddum, his head and shoulders swathed in a great mantle, beat the
ground madly with a long whip in order to call the Jinns to his
assistance. His curious antics greatly astonished the people, and he
soon became the principal topic of conversation in Omdurman. After
fourteen days an enormous lump of lead was drawn out from the furnace,
and his reputation was made.
The Sudanese are great believers in alchemy; and it was thought that the
preparation of one of the ingredients required the greatest secrecy. The
mukuddum, therefore, worked fully on the superstitious nature of the
people, and a thick cloud of foul-smelling smoke was seen continually
issuing from his mysterious and dark laboratory. The lead was at once
sent to the Khalifa, who appeared thoroughly convinced of the miraculous
power of the maker, and indeed had the piece brought into the mosque to
expose it publicly. The sycophants of course told him that this was an
undeniable miracle on the part of the Mahdi, who had been the means of
supplying the precious metal to his successor through this mukuddum.
The manufacturer was now in high favour, the Khalifa pressed him to
continue the work, and supplied him liberally with money and female
slaves. One of the Europeans had urged him to desist, telling him that
it was quite impossible to manufacture lead; but the mukuddum answered
him three times in the most solemn manner: "Do you think that you know
the knowledge of God?" and then went on with his work. From time to time
he continued to send pieces of lead to the Khalifa, but his supply only
lasted a few months; the more sensible people began to talk, they urged
that if he could make one piece of lead, he could also make several
hundred-weight. The voice of the detractors grew stronger, the Khalifa's
suspicions were aroused, and the mukuddum was summoned into his
presence. He asked him in the most kind manner if it was a fact that he
really knew how to make lead, or if he was only attempting to deceive;
if the latter--and he confessed to it--then he might receive
forgiveness.
But this kindly warning was entirely without effect; the mukuddum boldly
answered that he did know how to make lead, and moreover abused his
detractors, calling them enemies of Mahdiism, who hated the Khalifa, and
did not wish him to be possessor of the precious metal. He added that,
if given sufficient time, he would prove his enemies to be liars. The
Khalifa permitted him to continue his work a little longer; but the
results were still the same, and he was again summoned before Abdullah,
who now threatened to cut off his hand and foot unless he confessed that
he had been practising a fraud; but still the mukuddum persisted in his
denial, and the Khalifa ordered three chains to be forged for his feet,
and had him sent back to his laboratory under a strong escort; he was to
be permitted to work for three days longer.
He now redoubled his antics, making the dust whirl in clouds about him,
and crying on the spirits to aid him. He put a few pounds of substance
into the fire--all that was left of his lead-scrapings--but this time
the spirits left him in the lurch. Bathed in perspiration, he anxiously
raked about the coals; but there was no lead to be seen. He begged and
prayed for more time, which was granted. But at length one of his slaves
let out the secret; he said that the mukuddum used to purchase in the
market the lead bullets which had been dug out of Khartum, he filed them
into thin shavings, mixed them with some concoction, and threw them into
the furnace; the melted lead was then drawn off and allowed to cool. On
the last occasion he had failed, and now his fraud was fully exposed;
the Khalifa ordered his hand and foot to be cut off, "not," he said, "so
much for the fraud, as for the continual denials." The operation was
carried out, but the mukuddum died eight days afterwards of tetanus.
The failures of this man and of the Indian to manufacture powder and
lead did not deter others from continuing their experiments, and amongst
the latter was a Greek named Yusef Pertekachi, who continued working on
with the most dogged determination. He had tried every plan to gain a
livelihood; but whatever he put his hand to, it seemed to fail, and he
was soon deeply involved in debt. In his desperate position he
determined to study the manufacture of gunpowder. For a whole year he
continued his experiments, and in his case the truth of the proverb,
"Necessity is the mother of invention," was fully exemplified; he
succeeded in making fairly good powder.
The experiences of the Indian and the mukuddum pointed to extreme
caution; he did not, therefore, tell Adlan, who he thought would not
believe him, but after his death he applied to Yakub.
Yakub is a man whom even the leaders of Mahdiism find a difficulty in
approaching, and poor Pertekachi tried for months before he obtained a
hearing; but at length he was attended to, and the various trials and
experiments of the new powder, both in guns and Remington rifles, proved
most satisfactory.
Pertekachi at once rose in favour in the eyes of Abdullah and Yakub, and
was soon comparatively well off. The Khalifa ordered a bottle of the
powder to be placed in the Antik Khana, on which was written: "Powder
invented by the Osta (Master) Pertekachi."
At first Pertekachi set to work to improve the damaged powder, of which
there were quantities of old barrels taken out of the Government
magazines, but, having been left in damp places, it had become crusted.
For several months he continued his work, to the complete satisfaction
of Abdullah, but the poor man was soon to come to a terrible end.
On the 26th of January, 1891, Pertekachi as usual went to the
market-place at an early hour to have a chat with the other Europeans.
He happened to say: "To-day is the anniversary of the fall of
Khartum--Gordon's day--a black day!" In the Sudan it is the custom to
call a day on which a misfortune has occurred "Yom aswad" (a black day).
And to the survivors of Khartum, the 26th of January is always looked
upon as a day of grief and sorrow; several people give alms for the rest
of the souls of their murdered friends.
Pertekachi had intended to go and look at the new house he had just
built; but being the 26th of January, he would not go to it, and decided
to go to the beit el mal instead, where he had some work to do. He found
the workmen busy opening one of the barrels of damaged powder, and after
taking a cup of coffee, he went to help them, as they seemed to be in
difficulty. He had scarcely reached the spot when--owing to a sudden
blow or shock, or clumsiness on the part of the workmen--the powder blew
up with a most terrific explosion which shook the whole town, and
terrified the inhabitants, who rushed wildly about in all directions to
see what had occurred. I happened at the time to be sitting at my loom,
and at once ran up to the roof of my house, and there, in the direction
of the beit el mal, I saw a column of thick smoke ascending.
My first thought was for poor Yusef. I hastened to the beit el mal,
which was half an hour's walk from my hut, and found crowds going in the
same direction. The Khalifa himself appeared on the scene, he came
riding along on a donkey, with only one or two men. His first question
was, "Osta Yusef fi?" ("Is the Master Yusef alive?") "Taish enta!" ("May
you live!") was the reply. These are the words in which Arabs always
announce a death.
A poor Egyptian woman, whose only son was employed as Pertekachi's clerk
and had been killed, was weeping and wailing in the most heart-rending
way--her husband and another son had been murdered in Khartum--and now
wild with grief she was cursing the Mahdi, through whom her dear ones
had been brought to an untimely end. Some of the Ansar approached, and
threatened to beat her with a whip if she did not stop. But she shouted
at them, "Kill me as well! Why should I live any longer? You have
killed my dear ones--may God kill you!"
The Khalifa, who was standing near, rebuked his officious followers,
saying: "Let her weep, she is 'mahar[=u]ka'" (_i.e._ consumed with the
pain of affliction). He did not stay long at the scene of the accident,
but went away very sadly.
All Pertekachi's fellow-countrymen hastened to the spot. Of the large
square house built of rough sun-dried bricks, only the four walls were
left standing; the wooden roof had been blown to pieces, and it was no
small difficulty to collect the shattered remains of those who had been
victimized. A pair of legs were found fifty yards away, a head was found
half buried in the wall; there was not a hand to be found anywhere.
Another Greek had been killed with Pertekachi, named Yusef Angeli. His
head and feet had disappeared, and his body was so shattered as to be
almost unrecognizable; he had been in chains, and his foot makia was
found fixed in his leg. Poor Angeli had led a miserable life in
Omdurman; he had neither home nor friends, and had lived in the market
as a Greek hawker. Towards the end of 1890 he had been sent by another
Greek to Berber, to try and recover a debt for him. This mission was to
be carried out in secret, for Europeans are strictly forbidden to leave
Omdurman, and the mukuddum in charge is obliged at once to report any
absentees.
But Angeli was a man of no account, and could easily have gone to Berber
and back without anyone being any the wiser. A Syrian, however, who bore
a grudge to the Greeks, hearing that Angeli had left, went secretly to
the Khalifa, but as he was at that time staying at his house in the
northern hejira, he saw Yakub instead; he said that, in accordance with
the orders of the Khalifa el Mahdi, he had to report that Yusef had
deserted to Berber in a sailing boat. Yakub at once informed the
Khalifa, who imagined that it was I who had deserted (my Arabic name
being Yusef), and at once ordered Nur el Gereifawi, head of the beit el
mal, to send camelmen in pursuit. The latter was eventually very
annoyed when they found out which Yusef it was, for he would not have
thought it worth while to send after Angeli. The pursuers, however, had
gone, and found Angeli in the market at Berber; they secured him and
brought him back to Omdurman.
Pertekachi, who was a countryman of Angeli's, had begged that he might
be spared, and had obtained a promise from Yakub that he should come to
no harm. He was brought before the Khalifa, and said that he was very
poor, and had only gone to Berber to recover a debt, in proof of which
statement he produced the man's written receipt for the money; but when
the camel-men who had captured Yusef were asked whether they found any
letters on him, they denied it, and in consequence Yusef had been sent
to the lock-up in the beit el mal. This was only a very special favour,
for the _régime_ here is not so severe as in the Saier, and prisoners
confined in this place generally obtain a speedy release.
Angeli had to thank no one but Pertekachi for this lenient treatment,
and his benefactor did not cease begging until he procured the Khalifa's
permission for him to work at the powder factory at a fixed monthly rate
of pay; but he had still to wear one makia, and this Pertekachi was
arranging to have removed when the terrible catastrophe occurred--he had
only been working for three days altogether in the factory. There were,
of course, slanderers found, who affirmed that Angeli used to smoke
cigarettes, and had purposely set fire to the powder in revenge for his
captivity, but this time the Khalifa would not listen to them. He merely
said it is "Amr Allah" ("God's will"), and added that he was sure Yusef
would never have deliberately tried to destroy his own and his
countryman's life. The force of the explosion had driven the iron into
Yusef's leg, and it was impossible to take it off; we therefore
collected all that remained of the two poor fellows and buried them.
The Khalifa's enemies secretly rejoiced over his misfortune about the
powder, for now, they thought, there will be no one to make it; but one
of Pertekachi's labourers, who had learnt the manufacture from his
master, replaced him as head of the factory. After the catastrophe the
factory was removed to Tuti Island, where a large yard was built, around
which the necessary workshops were constructed.
FOOTNOTES:
[Q] This worthy was taken prisoner by the Egyptian troops at
the capture of Tokar in February 1891.