THE SOUDAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 74, 26 August 1885, Page 4

THE SOUDAN.

frightful gashes on their faces and limbs 'i cmJO flying <->.■, a a i to«v.irito us \v<hjjoii with torn garments anil dishevelled hair, shrieking, screaming, " Josh Chrisfco P 1 1 shall never forget that horrible din to tlio day of my death. "We arc lost ! We ar.3 lost !" we cried. " The phce ib taken !'' But no one would tell us exactly what was the matter. We ran up to the top of the mosque, and saw that the town was given np to massacre and bloodshed. Wejuu to a hou^Jj barricaded the doors and windows, wont npstiirs, shut ourselves into a mom, and determined never to surrender, but die like Greeks ; for we, mindful of our ancestors, light to the last. Thus it was when our lathers were surrounded by Turks ; we arc a brave nation ! How we escaped I will tell you. How Gordon was Ktlled. — But listen, I pray you. Have you not asked me where Gordon Pasha was slain ? You say everybody has said lie was either killed on the courtyard steps of the palace or outside, going to the Austrian Consul's house. They all lie ! If you choose to believe them you may, it matters not to me. lam a respectable Greek merchant, not an Arab. You want the truth ; I tell it to you. True, I did not see Gordon slain ; but everybody m Khartoum knows where the event happened. An Arab rushed upstairs and shot him with a gun as he was reading the Bible. Another Arab cut off his head and put it on a spear ; and so went forth into the city, carrying it t*nd brandishing it on high. The Copts m the palace m the rooms below were slaughtered at the same time. The Sack of the Doomhd City. — The Arabs camo pouring m: they slew every man they could find ; no mercy was shown to anyone. There was no resistance. I don't think a hundred shots was fired by Egyptians or blacks. Men ran m and shut themselves up m houses ; buj doors were burst open and spearing, cutting, and slashing went j on bravely m tho streets, m the market square, m the bazaars. It was a horrible scene this bazaar afterwards. I went through it. Gay curtains, crimsoncoloured and orange-striped, goldenedged satins, silks, and muslins, lay smeared and splashed with blood ; everything was strewed about and trampled on. Everywhere Avas the wildest disorder. You know how narrow it was and how it winds. One corner was so full of corpses and dying that we could not get by. I had my hands tied, and I fell several time m the road, slippery with blood. The havoc went on till 8 o'clock. Then Mahomet Achmet Hunt over word from Omdurman that Allah had revealed to him that the slaughter must cease. We were told this. It was shouted about the streets, and those that were still hidden were bidden to come forth. Of f Ol ty-two Greeks only eight escaped. There were ten Jews ; these were killed, I think. Gordon's Head taken to the Mahdi. — Gordon's head I saw on a spear. It was taken over to Omdurman, and shown to Mahomet Achmet. It was laid before him. A grim savage snaile passed over his face. He gazed long at the counten ance of his late enemy. " God be praised!" he cried, " can this be his ?" He hid not express anger at Gordon's death, as you say has been reported — he made merry at his death when it was told them. The head was then borne away, and men plucked the hairs out of his head and beard, and spat m his face. His body was cut up into little nieces. This was his end ! I omitted to say thatjGordon wrote to the Mahdi saying he might be Viceroy of Kordofan. The Mahdi replied : " I am sent by God to be king of all," and invited him to surrender. Gordon replied m insulting terms, sayine: he was a false Mahdi, and that he (Gordon) would never surrender to him. The Fate of the Women. — "When we heard that our women were taken over to Omdurman and divided among the dervishes, we proceeded there and craved an interview with the Mahdi. It was allowed. We had to take off our shoes, and when within the inner circle — about a quarter of a square mile we were made to crawl towards him on our knees. Every one lias to approach him thus : — " Kill us, we beseech thee — it is as well. Your dervishes and great men have carried off our wives, sisters, and daughters, and life is of no more value to us. Slay us !" Thereupon the Mahdi took pity on our forlorn condition and ordered our women to be returned to us. To each one was his wife, sister, or relation returned. Those who had lost their husbands were also returned to us, to take care of us ; and also Dr Georgio Demetrio's daughter, whom you asked after, and whose sister is mai-ried m Cairo. She was very pretty. Poor girl, she was lovely. Yes ; she was led off at first as a slava ; but we got her back and the nuns too. Two priests were killed. The nuns lived with us Greeks. Mdlle. Deinetrio is now married to a Greek. The daughter of poor Klien, the tailor, was carried off as a slave when her father wa* killed. Among the white women only the Greeks and the nuns were recovered. —Pall Mall Gnzette.