OSMAN DIGNA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1849, 5 February 1889, Page 4

OSMAN DIGNA.

“ Now that Osman Digna is once more threatening the British force it may be interesting to give one or two particulars respecting his antecedents,” says the Star. “ Osman Digna was was horn at Rouen, and is the son of French parents, his family name being Yinet. He commenced his education in Rouen, and was afterwards sent to Paris to school. When still a mere lad his parents went to Alexandria, and shortly afterwards his father died there. Bis mother then married a merchant of Alexandra named Osman Digna. This man became very fond of his step-son, George Yinet, and brought him up as a Mahomraedan, sending him to complete his education at the military school at Cairo. Here he studied tactics and the operations of war under French officers. Arabi was at the school at the same time. It was at this period that his stepfather migrated to Suakim, where he set up as general merchant and slave dealer. He was soon doing a very lucrative business, and at his death Yinet carried it on under the same name. A few years passed, and when civil war broke out in Egypt in 1882 Osman Digna espoused the cause of his old friend and companion, Arabi, and became one of England’s bitterest foes as the Madhi’s lieutenant. In appearance Osman Digna is a fine looking man, tall and wall proportioned, though rather fat. He wears a Jong black beard, and has lost his left arm,