Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/50

 During the invasion of Egypt by the French under Buonaparte at the close of the last century, a mahdi — that is, a "spiritual guide" foretold by old prophecies — summoned his followers to exterminate the stranger. Recently other mahdis have stirred up the tribes in the West against the French of Senegambia, in the East against the Turks and English in Egypt. In the North, also, fanatics are preparing

emissaries in Algeria, Tripoli, and Senusiya, and sending them from mosque to mosque in order to excite the congregations against the infidel. In Mecca the most zealous pilgrims, that is, those subject to the most frequent fits of religious frenzy, are the Takrur or Takrârir, a term usually applied collectively to the West African Negroes, but in a more special sense to those of Wadai and Bornu, and to the inhabitants of Metammeh, in the north-west of Abyssinia. Notwithstanding