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The Essential Guide to User Interface Design An
Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques
3rd Edition Wilbert O. Galitz Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Wilbert O. Galitz
ISBN(s): 9780470053423, 0470053429
Edition: 3
File Details: PDF, 5.47 MB
Year: 2007
Language: english
 The Essential Guide to
User Interface Design
An Introduction to GUI Design
Principles and Techniques

Third Edition

Wilbert O. Galitz
The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and
Techniques, Third Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wilbert O. Galitz. All rights reserved.

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-05342-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Galitz, Wilbert O.
The essential guide to user interface design : an introduction to GUI design principles and
techniques / Wilbert O. Galitz. — 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-05342-3 (paper/website)
ISBN-10: 0-470-05342-9 (paper/website)
1. Graphical user interfaces (Computer systems) I. Title.
QA76.9.U83G33 2007
005.4'37—dc22
2006038755
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its
affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associ-
ated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print
may not be available in electronic books.
To my wife and business partner, Sharon, for many years of love and
support in our home and office.

To our grandchildren, Mitchell, Barry, Deirdra, and Spencer Galitz,

Lauren and Scott Roepel, and Shane and Emily Watters. May one or
more of them pick up the writing torch.
 About the Author

Wilbert (Bill) O. Galitz is an internationally respected consultant, author, and instruc-

tor with a long and illustrious career in Human Factors and user-interface design. For
many years he has consulted, lectured, written about, and conducted seminars and
workshops on these topics worldwide. He is now the author of eleven books, and his
first book, Human Factors in Office Automation (1980), was critically acclaimed interna-
tionally. This book was the first to address the entire range of human factors issues
involved in business information systems. As a result, he was awarded the
Administrative Management Society’s Olsten Award. Other books have included
User-Interface Screen Design and It’s Time to Clean Your Windows. He has long been rec-
ognized as a world authority on the topic of screen design.
Bill’s career now spans more than 45 years in information systems, and he has been
witness to the amazing transformation of technology over this time span. His career
began in 1961 with the System Development Corporation, where he was a Training
Consultant for the SAGE North American Air Defense System. SAGE was the world’s
first large-scale display-based system. Before forming his own consulting company in
1981, he worked for CNA Insurance and the Insurance Company of North America
(now CIGNA), where he designed the user-interfaces and developed screen and inter-
face design standards for a variety of business information systems. His work experi-
ence also includes an appointment at South Africa’s National Institute for Personnel
Research and a number of years with UNIVAC (now UNISYS). At UNIVAC he per-
formed the human engineering of the company’s first commercial display terminal
and completed a pioneering study on the operational aspects of large-scale computer
systems.
A native of Chicago, Bill possesses a B.A. in Psychology from Lake Forest College in
Illinois and an M.S. in Industrial Psychology from Iowa State University. He currently
resides in Surprise, Arizona.

v
 Credits

Executive Editor Project Coordinator

Robert Elliott Erin Smith
Development Editor Graphics and Production Specialists
Ed Connor Denny Hager
Jennifer Mayberry
Technical Editor
Robert Barnett Quality Control Technician
Brian H. Walls
Copy Editor
Mildred Sanchez Proofreading
Broccoli Information Management
Editorial Manager
Mary Beth Wakefield Indexing
Anne Leach
Production Manager
Tim Tate Anniversary Logo Design
Richard Pacifico
Vice President and Executive Group
Publisher
Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher
Joseph B. Wikert

vi
 Contents

About the Author v

Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxvii
Part 1 The User Interface—An Introduction and Overview 1
Chapter 1 The Importance of the User Interface 3
Defining the User Interface 4
The Importance of Good Design 4
The Benefits of Good Design 5
A Brief History of the Human-Computer Interface 7
Introduction of the Graphical User Interface 7
The Blossoming of the World Wide Web 8
A Brief History of Screen Design 10
What’s Next? 12
Chapter 2 Characteristics of Graphical and Web User Interfaces 13
Interaction Styles 13
Command Line 14
Menu Selection 14
Form Fill-in 14
Direct Manipulation 15
Anthropomorphic 15
The Graphical User Interface 16
The Popularity of Graphics 16
The Concept of Direct Manipulation 17
Graphical Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages 19
Characteristics of the Graphical User Interface 24

vii
viii Contents

The Web User Interface 28

The Popularity of the Web 29
Characteristics of a Web Interface 29
The Merging of Graphical Business Systems and the Web 39
Characteristics of an Intranet versus the Internet 39
Extranets 40
Web Page versus Application Design 40
Principles of User Interface Design 44
Principles for the Xerox STAR 44
General Principles 45
Part 1 Exercise 58
What’s Next? 58
Part 2 The User Interface Design Process 59
Obstacles and Pitfalls in the Development Path 59
Designing for People: The Seven Commandments 60
Usability 64
Usability Assessment in the Design Process 65
Common Usability Problems 65
Some Practical Measures of Usability 68
Some Objective Measures of Usability 69
Step 1 Know Your User or Client 71
Understanding How People Interact with Computers 71
The Human Action Cycle 72
Why People Have Trouble with Computers 73
Responses to Poor Design 74
People and Their Tasks 76
Important Human Characteristics in Design 76
Perception 76
Memory 78
Sensory Storage 79
Visual Acuity 80
Foveal and Peripheral Vision 81
Information Processing 81
Mental Models 82
Movement Control 83
Learning 83
Skill 84
Performance Load 84
Individual Differences 85
Human Considerations in the Design of Business Systems 87
The User’s Knowledge and Experience 87
The User’s Tasks and Needs 92
The User’s Psychological Characteristics 95
The User’s Physical Characteristics 96
Human Interaction Speeds 100
 Contents ix

Performance versus Preference 101

Methods for Gaining an Understanding of Users 102
Step 1 Exercise 102
Step 2 Understand the Business Function 103
Business Definition and Requirements Analysis 104
Information Collection Techniques 104
Defining the Domain 112
Considering the Environment 112
Possible Problems in Requirements Collection 113
Determining Basic Business Functions 113
Understanding the User’s Work 114
Developing Conceptual Models 115
The User’s New Mental Model 120
Design Standards or Style Guides 120
Value of Standards and Guidelines 121
Customized Style Guides 124
Design Support and Implementation 125
System Training and Documentation Needs 125
Training 126
Documentation 126
Step 2 Exercise 126
Step 3 Understand the Principles of Good Interface and
Screen Design 127
Human Considerations in Interface and Screen Design 128
How to Discourage the User 128
What Users Want 130
What Users Do 130
Interface Design Goals 131
The Test for a Good Design 132
Screen and Web Page Meaning and Purpose 132
Organizing Elements Clearly and Meaningfully 133
Consistency 133
Starting Point 135
Ordering of Data and Content 136
Navigation and Flow 139
Visually Pleasing Composition 141
Distinctiveness 161
Focus and Emphasis 162
Conveying Depth of Levels or a Three-Dimensional
Appearance 165
Presenting Information Simply and Meaningfully 168
Application and Page Size 178
Application Screen Elements 184
Organization and Structure Guidelines 220
The Web — Web sites and Web Pages 230
x Contents

Intranet Design Guidelines 258

Extranet Design Guidelines 259
Small Screens 259
Weblogs 260
Statistical Graphics 261
Types of Statistical Graphics 273
Flow Charts 283
Technological Considerations in Interface Design 284
Graphical Systems 284
Web Systems 287
The User Technology Profile Circa 2006 292
Examples of Screens 293
Example 1 293
Example 2 297
Example 3 300
Example 4 301
Example 5 302
Example 6 303
Example 7 305
Step 3 Exercise 306
Step 4 Develop System Menus and Navigation Schemes 307
Structures of Menus 308
Single Menus 308
Sequential Linear Menus 309
Simultaneous Menus 309
Hierarchical or Sequential Menus 310
Connected Menus 311
Event-Trapping Menus 313
Functions of Menus 313
Navigation to a New Menu 314
Execute an Action or Procedure 314
Displaying Information 314
Data or Parameter Input 314
Content of Menus 314
Menu Context 315
Menu Title 315
Choice Descriptions 315
Completion Instructions 315
Formatting of Menus 315
Consistency 316
Display 316
Presentation 316
Organization 317
Complexity 320
Item Arrangement 321
Ordering 321
 Contents xi

Groupings 323
Selection Support Menus 325
Phrasing the Menu 328
Menu Titles 329
Menu Choice Descriptions 330
Menu Instructions 332
Intent Indicators 332
Keyboard Shortcuts 333
Selecting Menu Choices 337
Initial Cursor Positioning 337
Choice Selection 338
Defaults 339
Unavailable Choices 340
Mark Toggles or Settings 340
Toggled Menu Items 341
Web Site Navigation 342
Web Site Navigation Problems 343
Web Site Navigation Goals 344
Web Site Navigation Design 345
Maintaining a Sense of Place 367
Kinds of Graphical Menus 369
Menu Bar 369
Pull-Down Menu 371
Cascading Menus 375
Pop-Up Menus 377
Tear-Off Menus 379
Iconic Menus 380
Pie Menus 380
Graphical Menu Examples 382
Example 1 382
Step 5 Select the Proper Kinds of Windows 385
Window Characteristics 385
The Attraction of Windows 386
Constraints in Window System Design 388
Components of a Window 390
Frame 390
Title Bar 391
Title Bar Icon 391
Window Sizing Buttons 392
What’s This? Button 393
Menu Bar 393
Status Bar 394
Scroll Bars 394
Split Box 394
Toolbar 394
Command Area 395
xii Contents

Size Grip 395

Work Area 395
Window Presentation Styles 395
Tiled Windows 396
Overlapping Windows 397
Cascading Windows 398
Picking a Presentation Style 399
Types of Windows 399
Primary Window 400
Secondary Windows 401
Dialog Boxes 407
Property Sheets and Property Inspectors 408
Message Boxes 411
Palette Windows 413
Pop-Up Windows 413
Organizing Window Functions 414
Window Organization 414
Number of Windows 415
Sizing Windows 416
Window Placement 417
The Web and the Browser 419
Browser Components 419
Step 5 Exercise 422
Step 6 Select the Proper Interaction Devices 423
Input Devices 423
Characteristics of Input Devices 424
Other Input Devices 436
Selecting the Proper Input Device 436
Output Devices 440
Screens 440
Speakers 441
Step 6 Exercise 441
Step 7 Choose the Proper Screen-Based Controls 443
Operable Controls 445
Buttons 445
Text Entry/Read-Only Controls 461
Text Boxes 461
Selection Controls 468
Radio Buttons 468
Check Boxes 478
Palettes 488
List Boxes 493
List View Controls 503
Drop-Down/Pop-Up List Boxes 503
 Contents xiii

Combination Entry/Selection Controls 509

Spin Boxes 509
Combo Boxes 512
Drop-Down/Pop-Up Combo Boxes 514
Other Operable Controls 517
Slider 517
Tabs 521
Date-Picker 524
Tree View 525
Scroll Bars 526
Custom Controls 531
Presentation Controls 531
Static Text Fields 532
Group Boxes 533
Column Headings 534
ToolTips 535
Balloon Tips 537
Progress Indicators 539
Sample Box 540
Scrolling Tickers 542
Selecting the Proper Controls 542
Entry versus Selection — A Comparison 543
Comparison of GUI Controls 544
Control Selection Criteria 547
Choosing a Control Form 548
Examples 552
Example 1 552
Example 2 553
Example 3 556
Example 4 557
Example 5 558
Example 6 559
Step 7 Exercise 561
Step 8 Write Clear Text and Messages 563
Words, Sentences, Messages, and Text 564
Readability 564
Choosing the Proper Words 565
Writing Sentences and Messages 568
Kinds of Messages 570
Presenting and Writing Text 578
Window Title, Conventions, and Sequence Control Guidance 582
Content and Text for Web Pages 584
Words 584
Page Text 585
Page Title 589
xiv Contents

Headings and Headlines 589

Instructions 590
Error Messages 590
Step 8 Exercise 591
Step 9 Provide Effective Feedback and Guidance and Assistance 593
Providing the Proper Feedback 594
Response Time 594
Dealing with Time Delays 598
Blinking for Attention 601
Use of Sound 602
Guidance and Assistance 603
Preventing Errors 603
Problem Management 604
Providing Guidance and Assistance 606
Instructions or Prompting 608
Help Facility 608
Contextual Help 613
Task-Oriented Help 617
Reference Help 619
Wizards 620
Hints or Tips 622
Step 9 Exercise 623
Step 10 Provide Effective Internationalization and Accessibility 625
International Considerations 626
Localization 626
Cultural Considerations 627
Words and Text 628
Images and Symbols 631
Color, Sequence, and Functionality 633
Requirements Determination and Testing 635
Accessibility 635
Types of Disabilities 636
Accessibility Design 636
Step 10 Exercise 650
Step 11 Create Meaningful Graphics, Icons, and Images 651
Icons 652
Kinds of Icons 652
Characteristics of Icons 654
Influences on Icon Usability 654
Choosing Icons 657
Choosing Icon Images 659
Creating Icon Images 659
Drawing Icon Images 664
Icon Animation and Audition 665
The Icon Design Process 667
Screen Presentation 667
 Contents xv

Multimedia 669
Graphics 669
Images 671
Photographs/Pictures 676
Video 677
Diagrams 678
Drawings 681
Animation 681
Audition 683
Combining Mediums 686
Step 11 Exercise 689
Step 12 Choose the Proper Colors 691
Color — What Is It? 692
RGB 694
HSV 694
Dithering 694
Color Uses 695
Color as a Formatting Aid 695
Color as a Visual Code 696
Other Color Uses 696
Possible Problems with Color 696
High Attention-Getting Capacity 696
Interference with Use of Other Screens 697
Varying Sensitivity of the Eye to Different Colors 697
Color-Viewing Deficiencies 697
Color Connotations 698
Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Cultural Differences 700
Color — What the Research Shows 700
Color and Human Vision 701
The Lens 701
The Retina 701
Choosing Colors 702
Choosing Colors for Categories of Information 703
Colors in Context 703
Usage 704
Discrimination and Harmony 704
Emphasis 706
Common Meanings 706
Location 707
Ordering 708
Foregrounds and Backgrounds 708
Three-Dimensional Look 709
Color Palette, Defaults, and Customization 710
Grayscale 711
Text in Color 712
Monochromatic Screens 712
xvi Contents

Consistency 713
Considerations for People with Color-Viewing Deficiencies 713
Cultural, Disciplinary, and Accessibility Considerations 714
Choosing Colors for Textual Graphic Screens 714
Effective Foreground/Background Combinations 714
Choose the Background First 717
Maximum of Four Colors 717
Use Colors in Toolbars Sparingly 718
Test the Colors 718
Choosing Colors for Statistical Graphics Screens 718
Emphasis 718
Number of Colors 718
Backgrounds 719
Size 719
Status 719
Measurements and Area-Fill Patterns 719
Physical Impressions 720
Choosing Colors for Web Pages 721
Uses of Color to Avoid 723
Step 12 Exercise 725
Step 13 Organize and Layout Windows and Pages 727
Organizing and Laying Out Screens 728
General Guidelines 728
Organization Guidelines 729
Control Navigation 748
Window Guidelines 749
Web Page Guidelines 750
Screen Examples 761
Example 1 761
Example 2 762
Step 14 Test, Test, and Retest 767
Usability 768
The Purpose of Usability Testing 768
The Importance of Usability Testing 769
Scope of Testing 770
Prototypes 771
Hand Sketches and Scenarios 772
Interactive Paper Prototypes 774
Programmed Facades 775
Prototype-Oriented Languages 776
Comparisons of Prototypes 776
Kinds of Tests 777
Guidelines and Standards Review 779
Heuristic Evaluation 780
Cognitive Walk-Throughs 786
 Contents xvii

Think-Aloud Evaluations 788

Usability Test 789
Classic Experiments 790
Focus Groups 791
Choosing a Testing Method 792
Developing and Conducting a Test 795
The Test Plan 795
Test Conduct and Data Collection 803
Analyze, Modify, and Retest 806
Evaluate the Working System 807
Additional Reading 809
A Final Word 810
References 811
Index 835
 Preface

This third edition of The Essential Guide to User Interface Design is about designing clear,
easy-to-understand-and-use interfaces and screens for graphical and Web systems. It
is the eighth in a long series of books by the author addressing screen and interface
design. Over the past two decades these books have evolved and expanded as inter-
face technology has changed and research knowledge has expanded.
The first book in the series, called The Handbook of Screen Format Design, was pub-
lished in 1981. It presented a series of screen design guidelines for the text-based tech-
nology of that era. Through the 1980s and early 1990s the book’s content was regularly
updated to reflect current technology and published under different, but similar, titles.
In 1994, graphical user interface, or GUI, systems having assumed interface domi-
nance, the newest version of the book, which focused exclusively on graphical system
interface design, was released. It was titled It’s Time to Clean Your Windows. The follow-
on and updated version of It’s Time to Clean Your Windows was the first edition of this
book, The Essential Guide to User Interface Design. The impetus for these newer editions
of The Essential Guide to User Interface Design has been the impact of the World Wide
Web on interface and screen design. This new edition incorporates an extensive com-
pilation of Web interface design guidelines, and updates significant general interface
findings over the past several years.

Is Good Design Important?

Is good design important? It certainly is! Ask the users whose productivity improved
25 to 40 percent as a result of well-designed screens, or the company that saved $20,000
in operational costs simply by redesigning one window. (These studies are described
in Chapter 1.)
What comprises good design? To be truly effective, good screen design requires an
understanding of many things. Included are the characteristics of people: how we see,

xix
Other documents randomly have
different content
 CHAPTER XV
DIVORCED AND MARRIED

As if my troubles were not all-sufficient in themselves, Hasseena, in

addition to the begging and other undesirable proclivities she had
developed since the death of Makkieh, added that of thieving. She
naturally devoted her talents in this direction to my friends, knowing
that they would not, on my account, prosecute her. Numberless
complaints came to me, and many a recommendation was made to
get rid of her; but as she had been sent to me by the Khaleefa, I
could not send her off without his sanction. The question also arose
as to what excuse I might offer for divorcing her; to give the real
reasons might end in her being stoned, mutilated, or imprisoned,
and this I shrank from. I must admit, too, that, bad as she was then,
I did not like the idea of throwing her over. Being in receipt of ten
dollars a month, I sent word to my friends that I would save what I
could to repay their losses, and do my best to break Hasseena of her
bad habits. My friends warned me that if I was not careful I should
find myself before the Kadi as Hasseena’s partner in crime; and the
Kadi, being |186| no friend of mine, would certainly order me into
prison again, which would put an end to all chances of escape.
In the end Hasseena had to go. Nahoum Abbajee, my greatest
friend, gave a feast at his house to celebrate the marriage of his son
Yousef. Hasseena was one of the invited guests. She stole all the
spoons and cutlery before the feast commenced, and also a number
of articles of dress belonging to other guests, all of which she sold in
the bazaar. Nahoum could overlook her stealing his property, but to
steal the property of guests under his roof was carrying matters too
far. He sent word to me that I must get rid of her, and at once.
Calling Hasseena to Khartoum, I was compelled to quarrel with her
in such a way as to attract the attention of Hamad'na Allah, and on
his asking me the reason for our constant squabbles, I told him that
Hasseena was not acting as she should by me, and begged his
intervention in obtaining through the Emir Yacoub the Khaleefa’s
permission to divorce her. Abdullahi was “gracious,” permitted the
divorce, and sent word that he would select another wife for me.
This was just what I did not want. Always expecting the return of my
guides, my not having a woman in the place lent probability to my
having a whole night’s start upon my pursuers, for my absence
might not be discovered until sunrise the following morning, at
which time we went to work, and some hours more would be lost—
and gained—by Hamad'na Allah and others making a thorough
search for me before daring to tell the Khaleefa that I was missing.
|187|
Returning my thanks to Abdullahi, I asked to be left in single
blessedness for a time; but to this he replied that “his heart was
heavy at the loss of my child; that no man might be happy without
children, and he wished me to be happy; he also wished me to have
all the comforts of life, which did not exist where woman was not;
that if I did not take another wife, he would believe I was not
content with my life in the Soudan under his protection.” It was a
long rigmarole of a message he sent, and it wound up by saying that
as I had been ill for two months, he must send a wife to attend to
me, and had selected for the purpose a daughter of Abd-el-Latif
Terran.
This was making matters worse than ever, for this girl, although
brought up in the Soudan, and speaking only Arabic, was a French
subject, being the granddaughter of Dr. Terran, an old employé of
the Government. She was only nominally Mohammedan, and lived in
the “Christian quarter.” When marriages took place in this quarter,
the Mohammedan form of marriage was gone through, and then
Father Ohrwalder performed the Christian religious ceremony
surreptitiously later in the day. I spoke to him about the Khaleefa’s
intention, and as he knew I was already married, he advised me to
try and get out of the proposed marriage by some means or another,
as it would be considered binding. After casting about for excuses
which I thought might appeal to the Khaleefa, I asked Hamad'na
Allah to inform him that I thanked him for his selection of a wife, but
as she was of European descent, had been brought up in a rich
family where |188| the ladies are waited upon and never do any
work, she would be no use to me, as I required some one to nurse
me, do the cooking and house work, and go to the bazaar to buy
food, all of which she had had servants to do for her; I therefore
begged to be allowed to select a wife of the country.
The latter part of my message evidently pleased the Khaleefa; it
appeared to him as an earnest that I was “content,” but again he
undertook the selection of the woman. When Abdullahi told any
woman she was to be the wife of any one, she dare no more refuse
to accept than the one she was sent to dare refuse to receive her.
Fearing that he might send me some one from his hareem, I asked
Nahoum and other friends to find me a wife—sharp. My object was
to get her into the place before Abdullahi sent his “present,” whom,
on arrival, I might send back on the plea that I was already married,
and could not support two wives. Nahoum found me a wife, and
sent me the following history of her.
 UMM ES SHOLE AND TWO CHILDREN.

Umm es Shole (the mother of Shole—Shole being the name she

had given her first child) was an Abyssinian brought up from
childhood in a Greek family settled in Khartoum. On reaching
womanhood, she was married to one of the sons of the family. On
the fall of Khartoum, her husband, with seven male relatives, was
butchered in the house in which they had taken refuge; Umm es
Shole, with her three children, was taken as “property” to the Beit-
el-Mal, where she was handed over as a concubine to the Emir of
the Gawaamah tribe. Refusing this |189| man’s embraces, he in
revenge tortured her children to death, upon which Umm es Shole
escaped to Omdurman. Through Abd-el-Kader, the uncle of the
Mahdi, she had her case brought before Mohammad Ahmed, who,
after listening to the details, gave her a written document declaring
that, as she had been married to and borne children to a free man,
she was a free woman, but to make certain that she might never be
claimed as a slave, the document also declared that she was
“ateekh” (freed) by him.
When Abdullahi succeeded the Mahdi, he ordered every woman
without a husband, and every girl of a marriageable age, to be
married at once. He was most particular that every one in the
“Christian quarter” should be married. Umm es Shole married an old
and decrepit Jew, whom she nursed until he died two years later.
Returning to a woman relative of her husband’s, she supported the
old woman and herself by cooking, preparing food for feasts,
sewing, and general housework.
This was the wife my friends had selected for me, and I accepted
her thankfully; but when she was approached on the subject, she
positively declined to be married again, and it was only upon her
being told that I was ill, and might die, that she consented to the
marriage. I had to appoint a “wakeel” (proxy, in this instance) to
represent me at the marriage and the festivities; Nahoum prepared
the feast at his house, the bride preparing the food and attending to
the guests. At the conclusion of the few days’ ceremonies and
feastings, Umm es Shole was escorted |190| to Khartoum—a married
woman, and introduced for the first time to her husband. She set to
at once with her household duties and attendance upon me, and
during a long and weary five months nursed me back to life.
As can well be believed, Hasseena resented no less bitterly my
projected marriage with Umm es Shole, or any one else, than she
resented her divorce, and this she resented very bitterly indeed, for
passing as the wife of a European and a presumed “General” to
boot, gave her a certain social status in Omdurman, which she took
advantage of when visiting in the various ways pointed out. On my
saying to her, “You are divorced,” which is the only formula
necessary in Mohammedan countries in such a momentous domestic
affair, she promptly replied that she was again pregnant. A few
words on the subject of divorce in the Soudan—and the rules are
practically identical with those laid down in the Quoranic law—will
assist towards an appreciation of the fix this declaration of Hasseena
placed me in.
If a woman, on being told “you are divorced,” declared herself
with child, the husband was compelled to keep her until its birth; if it
was a son, the divorce was null and void; if a daughter, the husband
had to support the wife during two years of nursing, and provide for
the child until her seventh year, when he might, if he chose to do so,
claim her as his daughter.
When a woman was divorced for the first time, she was not
allowed to marry again without the consent of the husband; this was
giving him a “first call” if he wanted her back, for divorce might be
declared for |191| less trivial things than incompatibility of temper. If
the husband took her back, and divorced her a second time, the
woman was free to marry, but if the husband again wanted her, he
had to pay her a marriage dowry as at her first marriage. Should he
divorce her a third time, and again want her back, he would have to
arrange for her to be married to—and divorced from—some one else
first, when she was free to return to him. All this may sound very
immoral to people in Europe, but one cannot help but admire the
simplicity of the proceedings; and consider the amount of domestic
infelicity it prevented. There is no public examination of the parties
concerned; no publication of interesting details in newspapers; some
little thought is given to the woman who may have been the mother
of your children, and should she have slipped in the path of virtue,
you do not shout it from the housetops; the marriage was a private
arrangement between you, so is the divorce, and the reasons for the
latter are your affair and no one else’s.
I have touched upon divorce in some detail, as many re-marriages
under all the conditions given above occurred, and some family
records became a hopeless tangle to all but those immediately
concerned. When the new Soudan Government comes to settle up
claims to properties, they will be confronted with a collection of
“succession” puzzles to solve, for one woman might be the proud
mother of the legitimate heirs of three or four different people, and
being, as the widow and mother of the heritor, entitled to a fixed
proportion of the properties, you |192| may be quite sure that she
will fight to the death for her sons’ interests.
Hasseena ought not to have been in the interesting state she
declared she was, for we had been separated for a much longer
period than that ordained by law. I was obliged to tell her that if she
empanelled a jury, after the example of Idris es Saier, all the
explanations they might offer would not convince me that I held any
more relationship to the child than I did to Makkieh, and there was
nothing now to induce me to claim the paternity,—indeed just the
reverse. However, if Hasseena was with child, I should be bound to
keep her for at least two years, and if the Khaleefa sent on his
present, I should have two households to support on ten dollars a
month. When making my plans for escape, Hasseena was included;
she was to have got away on the same dromedary as myself. When
my guides returned, they would find me with two wives, and having
made arrangements for one only, they might demur at taking the
two. The probabilities were they would abandon the thing altogether,
fearing that one or the other might betray them, which meant
instant execution for them and imprisonment for me. If I kept
Hasseena, she might steal from some stranger, as the houses of my
friends were now closed to her, and then I should be sent back to
the Saier; if I sent her away, she, knowing my guides and all my
arrangements, would be the first to meet them on arrival in
Omdurman, and would insist upon coming away with me under
threats of disclosing the plot. It was a most awkward fix for me |193|
to be placed in; but after considering the whole matter most
carefully, I decided upon sending Hasseena off, and trusting to luck
for the rest. I had hoped she might get married to some one in
Omdurman, and then I should not have been afraid of her. But
Hasseena returned in February, 1892, some months after my
marriage with Umm es Shole, carrying a little bundle of male
humanity, who had only been three or four months less tardy in
arrival than Makkieh.
Hasseena, doubtless, had for me the Soudan equivalent for what
we understand as affection; she had saved my life when we were
first captured; she had nursed me, as only a woman can nurse one,
through my first attack of typhus fever, and had kept me from
starvation during the famine. But while I could not forget all this, I
could not forget also that she had become a source of great danger
to me, and although my treatment of her in sending her away when
I did, might to some appear harsh in the face of what she had done
for me, it must not be forgotten that self-preservation is no less a
law of nature in the Soudan than it is elsewhere. I supported
Hasseena for nearly two years, when her child died. She then left
Khartoum, where I was still a chained prisoner at large, and went
utterly to the bad. I heard of her from time to time, and, on my
release in September last, hearing that she was at Berber, I delayed
there until I had hunted her out of the den of vice in which she was
living, and provided for her elsewhere, only to receive a telegram a
few weeks later to say that, |194| hankering for the life which she
had led for a few years back, she had run off to return to it.
 It was this action of mine, which probably gave rise to the legend
that I had brought her to Cairo with me, where my wife arrived,
“only to be confronted with a black wife after all her years of mental
anxiety and sufferings.” Why facts should be so persistently
misconstrued, I cannot understand. In making that last—and I do
not say final—effort, to do something for the woman to whom, at
one time, I owed so much, I feel I have nothing to be ashamed of.
Those who think differently must remember that it takes one some
little time to fall again into European ideas and thoughts after twelve
years of chains and slavery amongst the people whom I was
compelled to associate with; and no one in the Soudan was more
out of the world than I was.
 CHAPTER XVI
H O P E A N D D E S PA I R

While still a prisoner in the Saier, Mankarious Effendi, with

Mohammad Fargoun and Selim Aly, engaged a man of the Ababdeh,
Mohammad Ajjab, to make his way to Omdurman with a threefold
object: he was to inquire if I was still alive; if so, to pay me a
hundred dollars, and then to try and make arrangements for my
escape. On arrival in Omdurman, Ajjab met two of his own people—
Mohammad and Karrar Beshir—who recommended him, when he
inquired about me, never to mention my name if he wished to keep
his head on his shoulders. They could only tell him that I was still in
prison, chained, and under sentence of death. Similar information
and the same recommendation were given to him by people in the
Muslimanieh quarter; but a Greek whom Ajjab knew only by his
Mahdieh name of Abdallah, said that he would arrange for a meeting
between him and my servant. Through Hasseena, Ajjab sent me
word of the object of his coming to Omdurman. As the Greek offered
to become my trustee, Ajjab handed him the hundred dollars, taking
from him a receipt, and sending |196| the receipt to me concealed in
a piece of bread, to be countersigned. Ajjab was to return to
Assouan, let my friends know how matters stood, and tell them that
I would try and communicate with them, if I ever got released from
prison, as escape from the prison was an impossibility. Ajjab
returned to Assouan, and handed over the receipt; but the tale he
had to tell put an end, for the time being, to any attempts to assist
me further.
 When Father Ohrwalder escaped, bringing with him the two sisters
and negress, Mankarious set about immediately to find some reliable
messenger willing to undertake the journey to Omdurman with a
view of ascertaining if my escape was at all possible. He argued that
if Father Ohrwalder could escape with three women as an
encumbrance to his flight, there was nothing, provided I was at
liberty, to prevent my escaping; but those who knew the Soudan—
and it was only such he might employ—argued that if the remainder
of the captives were not already killed, they would be found chained
in the prison awaiting their execution. Months slipped away before
he could find any one to undertake the journey, and then an old but
wiry desert Arab, El Haj Ahmad Abou Hawanein, came to terms with
him. Hawanein was given two camels, some money, and a quantity
of goods to sell and barter on his way up.
Some time in June or July, 1894, Abou Kees, a man employed in
the Mission gardens, came to me while I was working at the mounds
of Khartoum, and whispered that a man who had news for me was
|197| hiding in the gardens, and that I was to try and effect a
meeting with him. The man was Hawanein. Always suspicious of
traps laid for me by the Khaleefa, I asked the man what he wanted.
He replied that he had come from friends to help me. He had
brought no letters, but by questioning him my suspicions
disappeared, and I was soon deep in the discussion of plans for my
escape. The camels he had brought with him were, he said, not up
to the work of a rapid flight, and he suggested that he should return
to Assouan, procure two good trotting camels, and also the couple
of revolvers I asked for, as it was more than likely I should have to
use them in getting clear of Khartoum.
Soon after Hawanein’s departure, the guide Abdallah, who brought
away Rossignoli, put in his appearance. Ahmed Wad-el-Feki,
employed in Marquet’s old garden, asked that I might be allowed to
call and see a sick man at his house. On reaching the place, Feki
introduced me to a young man, Abdallah, who, after a few words,
asked me to meet him the following day, when he would bring me a
letter. I met my “patient” again, when he handed me a bit of paper
on which faint marks were discernible; these, he said, would come
out clear upon heating the paper, and, as cauterization is one of the
favourite remedies in the Soudan, some live charcoal was procured
without exciting any suspicion. The words, which appeared, proved
that the man was no spy, but had really come from the Egyptian War
Office; however, before we had time to drop into a discussion of
plans, some men employed in the place |198| came near, and we had
to adjourn to the following day, when I was again to meet my
“patient.” On this occasion we were left undisturbed, and fully
discussed and settled upon our plans.
To escape along the western bank of the Nile was not to be
thought of; this would necessitate our passing Omdurman, and to
pass the town unobserved was very improbable. Abdallah, having
left his camels and rifle at Berber, was to return there for them, and
come up the eastern bank of the Nile, along which we were to travel
when I escaped. During his absence I was to send Umm es Shole on
weekly visits to her friends at Halfeyeh; as she was to escape with
us, this arrangement was made for a twofold purpose. First, her
visits would not excite suspicion at the critical moment, as the
people both at Halfeyeh and Khartoum would have become
accustomed to them; she was also to bring me the promised
revolver concealed in her clothes, and then return to Halfeyeh for
another visit. She and Abdallah would keep a watch on the banks of
the Blue Nile for me and assist me in landing. My escape would have
to be effected in my chains, and these, of course, would prevent my
using my legs in swimming. I was to trust for support to the pieces
of light wood on the banks, used by children and men when
disporting themselves in the Nile, and to the current and whatever
help I might get with my hands for landing on the opposite shore.
Abdallah went off, but never came back. I kept to our agreement
for months, for the plan formed with |199| Abdallah was similar to
that arranged with Hawanein. Besides this, Abdallah, in the event of
not being able to find revolvers at Berber, was to continue his
journey to the first military post, obtain them there, and exchange
his camels for fast-trotting ones, as those he had left at Berber were
of a poor race. In order to prove to any officer he met that he was
really employed to effect my escape, I gave him two letters couched
in such words that, should they fall into the hands of the Khaleefa or
any of the Emirs, their contents would be a sort of puzzle to them.
Each day during those months I looked forward eagerly to a sign
from any one of the people entrusted with my escape.
For various reasons I considered it advisable to interview Abdallah
after my release, and did so; but to make certain of his explanations,
I also arranged that others should question him on the subject of
Rossignoli’s flight and his reasons for not keeping his engagement
with me, and this is what he says.
On leaving Cairo, he was given a sort of double mission; he was
promised three hundred pounds if he brought me away safely, and a
hundred pounds if he brought away any of the other captives.
Seeing the difficulties to be encountered in effecting my escape, and
appreciating the risks, unless we had revolvers and swift camels, he
decided upon “working out the other plan,” as he expresses it, viz.
the escape of Rossignoli, as “he was at liberty and could go
anywhere he pleased,” whilst I was shackled and constantly under
the eyes of my guards. Instead of returning |200| for the camels,
Abdallah arranged for Rossignoli to escape on a donkey as far as
Berber. When some distance from Omdurman, Rossignoli got off his
donkey, squatted on the ground, and refused to budge, saying he
was tired. Abdallah tried to persuade him to continue the journey,
but Rossignoli refused, said Abdallah was only leading him to his
death, and demanded to be taken back to Omdurman. For a few
moments Abdallah admits that he was startled and frightened. To go
back to Omdurman was madness and suicide for him; to leave
Rossignoli squatting in the desert made Cairo almost as dangerous
for him as Omdurman, for who would believe his tale there? He felt
sure he would be accused of having deserted the man, and there
was also the chance of Rossignoli being discovered by pursuers,
when a hue and cry would be set up for Abdallah.
One cannot help but admire Abdallah’s solution of the difficulty.
There was a tree growing close by; he selected from it a good thick
branch, and with this flogged Rossignoli either into his right senses
or into obedience to orders; then placing him on the camel behind
him, he made his way to Berber. Here Rossignoli, instead of keeping
in hiding, wandered into the town, was recognized by some people,
and, when spoken to, told them that Abdallah was leading him to
Egypt, but that he preferred to return to Omdurman. Fortunately
native cupidity saved Abdallah; he baksheeshed the people into a
few hours of silence, with great difficulty got his charge clear of the
town, and with still greater difficulty |201| hammered and
“bullydamned” him into Egypt and safety. This is Abdallah’s own tale.
He assures me, and I believe him, that it was his intention, as soon
as he had handed over Rossignoli safe, to have asked for the
revolvers and started back to try and effect my escape, risky as he
knew it to be; but as Rossignoli had betrayed his name in Berber, he
knew well that the Khaleefa would have men waiting for him from
Omdurman to the frontier, and he showed no better sense in
flogging Rossignoli, than he showed in settling down with his well-
earned hundred pounds rather than attempting to make it into four
hundred by passing the frontier.
Rossignoli’s absence was not noticed for a little time, and
fortunately, for a donkey leaves better tracks to follow than a camel.
The Khaleefa was not particularly angry about the affair, although he
imprisoned for a day Mr. Cocorombo, the husband of Sister Grigolini,
the former superioress of Father Ohrwalder’s Mission, and
Rossignoli’s lay companion, Beppo; but the latter, after Slatin’s
escape, became my fellow-prisoner in the Saier.
 One would be inclined to believe that either myself or some
dramatist had purposely invented the series of accidents, which
cropped up to frustrate every one of my plans for escape. On
February 28, 1895, without a word of warning, I was so heavily
loaded with chains that I was unable to move, and I was placed
under a double guard in the house of Shereef Hamadan, the Mahdist
Governor of Khartoum. At first I surmised that either Abdallah or
Hawanein |202| had been suspected and imprisoned, or had
confessed, or that our plots had been divulged in some way, so that
it was with no little surprise I heard the questions put to me
concerning the escape of Slatin. I denied all knowledge of the
escape, or any arrangement connected with it. I pointed out that I
had not seen, spoken to, or heard of Slatin directly for eight years,
as my gaolers and guards could prove. It was from no sense of
justice to me, but to prove that he had not neglected his duty in
keeping a strict watch upon me, that Hamadan took my part in the
inquiry. I might have been again released, had Hawanein not put in
his appearance a few days after the escape of Slatin was discovered.
Slatin’s absence from his usual post had not been reported to the
Khaleefa until three days after his escape; he was supposed to be ill.
On the third day, Hajji Zobheir, the head of the Khaleefa’s
bodyguard, sent to his house to inquire about him. Not being
satisfied with the reply he received, he informed the Khaleefa, who
ordered an immediate search. A letter from Slatin to the Khaleefa
was found sticking in the muzzle of a rifle, and was taken to
Abdullahi. After the usual string of compliments and blessings, the
letter continues―
“For ten years I have sat at your gate; your goodness and grace has been great
to me, but all men have a love of family and country; I have gone to see them;
but in going I still hold to the true religion. I shall never betray your bread and
salt, even should I die; I was wrong to leave without your permission; every one,
myself included, acknowledges your great power and influence; forgive me; your
desires are mine; I shall never betray you, |203| whether I reach my destination or
die upon the road; forgive me; I am your kinsman and of your religion; extend to
me your clemency.*
* This letter was found on the fall of Omdurman, and came into the hands of
people who, probably on the ground of its contents differing from those given
by Slatin after his escape, published it in such a manner as to lead people to
believe that the protestations of loyalty it contained were sincere. In my
opinion the letter should be looked upon as a clever composition to humbug
Abdullahi, so that, in the event of Slatin being retaken, the protestation of
loyalty would at least save him from the hands of the Khaleefa’s mutilator or
executioner.
 SAID BEY GUMAA.

Abdullahi, on first realizing that Slatin had actually escaped, and

had had about three days’ start of any pursuers he might send after
him, was furious; losing his temper, he anathematized him in the
presence of the assembled Emirs, Kadis, and bodyguard. He
reminded them that when Slatin first tendered his submission, he
had been received with honours because he had openly professed
the Mohammedan faith and had been circumcised while still the
“Turk” Governor-General of Darfur; he reminded them also how
Slatin had been allowed to bring into the camp his household,
bodyguard, and servants, and had been attached to the Mahdi’s
personal suite, of which he, Abdullahi, was chief; how, with Zoghal,
his former subordinate, he had been entrusted with the subjugation
of Said Gumaa, who had refused to surrender El Fasher when
ordered by him to do so; how he himself had treated him as his son
and his confidant, never taking any step without his advice and
guidance; but, suddenly pulling himself up, seeing the mistake he
had made in showing how much he had been dependent on him, he
broke off short to say what he would do to Slatin if he ever laid
hands on him, and promised a similar punishment to any one else
who returned him ingratitude for his favours. Reading |204| out aloud
Slatin’s letter to him, he calmed down on reaching the protestations
of loyalty, and ordered the letter to be read in the mosque and the
different quarters of Omdurman. Abdullahi has been considered as
an ignorant brutal savage, devoid of all mental acumen, and but
little removed from the brute creation. As I may be able to show
later, such an expression of opinion either carries a denial with it, or
it is paying a very poor compliment to those who, once governors of
towns and provinces, or high officials, should have bowed down,
kissed hands, and so far prostrated themselves as to kiss the feet of
the representatives of this “ignorant brute,” by whom for years they
had been dominated. Since Abdullahi respected me, as a man, by
keeping me constantly in chains, I respect him for the intellectual
powers he displayed, and which apparently paralyzed those of others
who submitted to him.
Slatin, having given a good account of himself in his many fights,
was, after his submission, looked up to as the military genius of the
Mahdist army; he could not, as I did, play any pranks with the work
he was entrusted with; the map he had drawn of Egypt, showing the
principal towns and routes, and upon which the former telegraph-
clerk, Mohammad Sirri, had been instructed to write the Arabic
names, had given some the idea that no expedition might be
planned without the aid of Slatin and this map. Abdullahi’s object in
having the letter publicly read will be divined; first, it would assure
the dervishes themselves that there was no fear of |205| Slatin, after
his protestations of loyalty, returning at the head of the Government
troops to overthrow the rule of the Mahdi, and without help from the
exterior the wavering Mahdists could not hope to throw off the yoke
of Abdullahi. Moreover, the reading of the letter to the Christian
captives would confirm the opinion formed by many, that Slatin was
at heart with the present Soudan dynasty, and that they could not
expect any help as a result of his escape.
There is another incident, which must be here mentioned, to show
how acute Abdullahi really was. Slatin had publicly proclaimed his
conversion to Mahommedanism before his submission to the Mahdi,
so that, when he did submit, he was accepted as one of the faithful,
and treated as one of themselves. The remainder of the captives—
those taken before and after the fall of Khartoum—had not, up to
the time of the escape of Rossignoli, been actually accepted as
Muslims. At the suggestion of Youssef Mansour, on January 25,
1895, the Khaleefa was gracious enough to take all into his fold as
real converts to the faith, and, on the anniversary of Gordon’s death,
all the Muslimanieh (Christians) were ordered to be circumcised, the
only two people not being operated upon being, I believe, Beppo,
who was overlooked while in prison, and an old Italian mason, who
pleaded old age as an excuse for not undergoing the operation. The
Christian quarter was, therefore, at the time of Slatin’s escape,
considered as a Muslim community, and the practical immunity they
had |206| enjoyed from a rigorous application of the Mahdieh laws
was thereby put an end to.
 Consequently, when Slatin escaped, leaving behind him such
protestations of loyalty, the safest card the Khaleefa could play was
to read to them his letter. The reading of it caused some little
consternation and comment, no doubt, but I have already expressed
my opinion as to the light in which this letter should be considered.
It was a clever move of Abdullahi; the public reading of the letter
blasted all hopes on the part of the discontented Soudanese of any
assistance from Slatin in crumbling to dust the kingdom of the
Khaleefa, and put an end to all hopes on the part of the former
Muslimanieh captives of release, for the small proportion of old
Government employés who had, up to then, firmly believed that
Slatin was acting, as they express it, “politeeka” in all his dealings,
now joined the ranks of those who believed differently. But in this
they were, of course, mistaken.
After the public reading of the letter, the Khaleefa sent for the
officials of the Beit-el-Mal and ordered them to take possession of
Slatin’s house, wives, servants, slaves, land, and cattle, at the same
time giving them strict instructions, in the presence of all, that the
household were to be treated gently, as being the property of a true
Muslim. His Darfurian wife, Hassanieh, whom he had married when
Governor-General of Darfur, was claimed from the Beit-el-Mal by
Dood (Sultan) Benga as of a royal family, and was by him married to
another of the Darfurian royal |207| family. Desta, his Abyssinian
wife, was within a few days of her confinement, and either, as a
result of fright at the ransacking of the house and her reduction to
the position of a common slave, or as a result of what would be to
her, in her then delicate condition, rough handling, gave birth to a
baby boy, who survived but a few weeks.
It was while the Khaleefa was awaiting the return of the scouts
sent out to recapture Slatin that Hawanein put in his appearance at
Omdurman. He was at once seized, accused of assisting in the
escape of Slatin, and also of having returned to effect mine. Pleading
ignorance of myself and Slatin, he was not believed; he was first
sent into the Saier, and then, as he refused to confess, he was taken
out and publicly flogged. Even this did not extort a confession; the
Khaleefa, not being satisfied, ordered another flogging, but the
Bisharas interceded for Hawanein, and succeeded in obtaining his
release. As my would-be deliverer passed through the portals of the
Saier, I passed in (March 26, 1895). Hawanein lost no time in
returning to Assouan, where the relation of his experiences, with his
torn back and unhealed wounds to bear him out, put an end finally
to all attempts in that quarter to assist me in any way whatever.
It might be as well that I should not attempt to describe my
mental condition on finding myself again in the Saier. I have a faint
idea of what my state must have been; despair cannot describe it;
insanity at blasted hopes might. Yes, I must have been insane; but I
was mentally sound, if such a contradiction |208| of terms is
permissible. I remember that for days I shuffled about, refusing to
look at or speak to any one. Perhaps what brought me round was
that, in my perambulations, I came near the Saier anvil and heard a
man crying. It was Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi, Gordon’s old favourite, who
was being shackled. My expostulations on his acting as a child and
bullying him into a sense of manhood, again prevented that slender
thread between reason and insanity snapping. It must, in some way,
have calmed and comforted me to be brought to the knowledge that
others were suffering as much as I was; and just as a child, which
requires care and attention itself, gives all its affection and sympathy
to a limbless doll, so must I have given my sympathy to Fauzi, and in
so doing taken a step back from the abyss of insanity, which I was
certainly approaching.
 CHAPTER XVII
A N E W O C C U PAT I O N

When Said Abdel Wohatt was transferred from the Khartoum to the
Alti saltpetre works, his father-in-law, Ali Khaater, the storekeeper of
the Omdurman arsenal, considered that he was no longer under the
obligation of risking his neck by mixing the Khartoum product with
the Fellati’s, or substituting it with good saltpetre in stock. A
consignment of mine was consequently sent direct to the powder
factory, and was used in making what Abd es Semmieh and Hosny,
the directors, believed would be a good explosive. The result, while
being eminently satisfactory to myself, was just the reverse for the
people responsible for making the powder. Not being certain where
the fault actually lay, they mixed this powder with a quantity of really
good powder made from the Fellati’s product, only to succeed in
spoiling the whole bulk. When my next consignment was sent in
they carried out some experiments, and, discovering where the fault
lay, sent me an intimation that if our works did not turn out saltpetre
equal in quality to that formerly supplied by us, I should be reported
to the Khaleefa. Nahoum Abbajee, hearing of the affair, came to me
in |210| a state of excitement, and pointed out the danger I was
running into, and as he was then trying to think out an invention for
coining money, he suggested that he should apply to the Khaleefa
for my services in assisting him. This request Abdullahi was only too
glad at the time to accede to; saltpetre was coming in in large
quantities, and he was in great trouble about his monetary system.
 As Khaleefa, he was entitled to one-fifth of all loot, property,
taxes, and goods coming to the Beit-el-Mal; and as all property of
whatever description was considered to belong primarily to this
administration, it followed that Abdullahi was entitled to one-fifth of
the property in the Soudan; but as he had not much use for hides,
skins, gum, ivory, and such-like, he took his proportion in coin—after
putting his own valuation upon his share. As the money he took
from the Beit-el-Mal was hoarded and never came into circulation
again, a sort of specie famine set in. Attempts had been made in the
early days of Abdullahi’s rule to produce a dollar with a fair modicum
of silver; but Nur-el-Garfawi, Adlan’s successor at the Beit-el-Mal,
came to the conclusion, evidently, that a coin was but a token, and
that it was immaterial what it was made of, provided it carried some
impression upon it. The quantity of silver in his dollars grew less and
less, and then was only represented by a light plating which wore off
in a few weeks’ time. When people grumbled, he unblushingly issued
copper dollars pure and simple. All the dollars were issued from the
Beit-el-Mal as being of equivalent value to |211| the silver dollar, and
when these coins were refused, the Khaleefa decreed that all future
offenders should be punished by the confiscation of their property
and the loss of a hand and foot. The merchants, though, were equal
to the occasion; when an intending purchaser inquired about the
price of an article, the vendor asked him in what coinage he
intended to pay; the merchant then knew what price to ask.
As the silver dollars gradually disappeared, the few remaining
went up enormously in value, until in the end they were valued at
fifty to sixty of the Beit-el-Mal coins, so that an article which could
be bought for a silver dollar could not be purchased under fifty to
sixty copper dollars. Although a rate of exchange was forbidden, the
Beit-el-Mal took advantage of the state of affairs by buying in the
copper dollars, melting them up, recasting, and striking from a
different die. These coins would be again issued at the value of a
silver dollar, and the remaining copper dollars in the town were put
out of circulation by the Beit-el-Mal’s refusal to receive them. To
make matters worse, the die cutters cut dies for themselves and
their friends, and it was worth the while of the false (?) coiners to
make a dollar of better metal than the Beit-el-Mal did, and these we
re-accepted at a premium. The false coinage business flourished
until Elias el Kurdi, one of the best of the die cutters, was
permanently incapacitated by losing his right hand and left foot; and
this punishment, for a time at least, acted as a deterrent upon
others, leaving the Beit-el-Mal the entire monopoly of coinage. |212|
Sovereigns might at any time be bought for a dollar, for their
possessors were glad to get rid of them. Being in possession of a
gold coin denoted wealth, and many people who attempted to
change a gold coin returned only to find their hut in the hands of the
Beit-el-Mal officials, searching for the remainder of the presumed
gold hoard. Failing to find it, they confiscated the goods and
chattels. The trade with the Egyptian frontier, Suakin and Abyssinia,
was carried on through the medium of barter and the Austrian
(Maria Theresa) trade dollar.
It was while the currency question was at its height that Abbajee
came forward with his scheme for a coining press; and, in order that
I might assist him, I was transferred to the Khartoum arsenal. I was
obliged to give up my quarters in the Mission buildings, and live with
the bodyguard of thirty Baggaras in the house of Hamadan, the
Mahdist governor of Khartoum. The arsenal was presided over by
Khaleel Hassanein, at one time a clerk under Roversi, in the
department for the repression of the slave trade. Although ten years
had elapsed since the fall of Khartoum, the arsenal must have been
in as perfect working order as when Gordon made it into a model
Woolwich workshop. Power was obtained from a traction-engine,
which drove lathes, a rolling-mill, drills, etc., while punches, iron
scissors, and smaller machinery were worked by hand. In the shops
proper were three engines and boilers complete, ready to be fitted
into Nile steamers, and duplicates and triplicates of all parts of the
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