A serious danger has been averted in the Soudan by
the remarkable promptitude and vigour of the Deputy Governor-General, Colonel Mahon, already well known for his distinguished services in Egypt and South Africa, where he commanded the column sent to relieve Mafeking. News having reached Colonel Mahon at Khartoum that a false Mahdi had arisen in Southern Kordofan, he at once pro- ceeded by steamer two hundred miles up the White Nile with two hundred cavalry, marched another two hundred miles across the desert towards Tagalla, surprised the Mahdi and his principal followers at daybreak after a lowed night march, and sent him under escort to El Obeid, where he was tried and hanged. The severity of the punishment need not excite surprise when it is considered that the new Mahdi, a Tunisian Arab named Mahomed El Amin, was already in open rebellion, had collected a large following, and was conducting a vigorous propaganda on exactly the same lines as the original Mahdi. After effect- ing the capture, Colonel Mahon, according to previous arrange- ment, joined a force of infantry from El Obeid near Tagalla, where there had been a general belief in the newly arisen Mahdi, and marched back to the White Nile by easy stages. There seem to have been no casualties in action, but four men died of sunstroke, no fewer than 75 per cent. of the force went down with fever on the return journey, and many of the horses succumbed to grass-poisoning.
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