|
| THE TROUPE OF SOUDANESE - The engraving
represents the troupe of Nubians that made a part of the company in
Cairo Street, and gave separate entertainments in their tent near the
Temple of Luxor. The two young men who are
saluting for the
encounter were greatly admired on account of their personal beauty;
and the combatant on the right, Mohammed Ali,
a
youth of eighteen
years, is regarded with so much pride by the tribe that his separate
portrait will form a part of this collection of pictures. The men at
the ends of the line are trained warriors and fanatics, whose spears
broke through the hollow squares of the British in the war with
Mahdi, and it is their hope that these comely youths will anon take
rank with their elders as upholders of the Prophet and terrors of the
desert. With a shield of elephant's hide held on their left arms,
these swordsmen attempted to wound the feet or disarrange the
carefully plaited hair of the enemy. The swords would strike the
opposing shields with great force, and, in the heat of the combat,
and under the taunts which were a part of the battle, the weapons
would fly with dazzling rapidity, it seeming to please the party best
when Mohammed Ali was hit. After they had been separated by their
elders, a combat with crooked sticks would follow, and this was even
more vigorous and exciting. The party made a few excursions to the
shopping districts of Chicago, and returned to Assouan before the end
of the Fair. |
