My first spell in prison was one of four years. After nine months the rings and chains were removed from my neck, but the fetters I wore continuously—with the exception of thirteen days—during the whole of my captivity. A day-to-day record of my experiences is out of the question, besides being unnecessary, even were it possible to give them. I must content myself with a general description of the life passed there, and give an idea of the day’s routine. When I reached Omdurman, the prison proper consisted of the common cell already mentioned (“Umm Hagar”—the house of stone), surrounded by a large zareeba of thorn trees and branches, and standing about six feet high. There were thirty guardians, each armed with a “courbag” (rhinoceros-hide whip) with which to keep their charges in order. There were no sanitary arrangements, not even of the most primitive description. All prisoners had to be fed by their friends or relatives; if they had neither they starved to death, as the prisoners, charitable as they were to each other in the matter of food, had barely enough to eat to keep body and soul together, for the |94| best, and greater part of the food sent in, was eaten by the guardians. At sunrise each morning the door of the common cell was opened, and the prisoners were allowed to shuffle down to the banks of the Nile, a few yards distant, for their ablutions and for water for drinking. After this, we assembled for the first prayer of the day, in which all had to join. When not working, we had to read the Mahdi’s “ratib,” a description of prayer-book, containing extracts from the Quoran with interpolations of the Mahdi. All the faithful were ordered to learn this “ratib” off by heart,[3] and for this purpose each one had either to purchase a copy or write one out. At noon the second prayer was held, followed by another mid-time between noon and sunset, and a fourth at sunset. We should have repeated the night prayer when the night had set in, but as we were driven into the “Umm Hagar” at sunset, the time which should have been given to this prayer was fully taken up with brawls, fights, and those comprehensive curses of the Arabs, commencing with the second person’s father, going back for generations, and including all the female ancestors.