Huts and Villages. 55 



were always to be found large patches of ground used 

 as cemeteries. The graves were very slight mounds, 

 having a stone, or a stick with a piece of white cloth tied 

 to it, planted at either end, while a number of broken 

 pitchers were placed bottom upwards here and there 

 in the cemetery. The huts composing the larger 

 villages were usually round in shape with conical straw 

 roofs, the walls being built with bricks, which are burnt 

 only by the heat of the sun. Some were square with 

 flat roofs built in the same way as the majority of those 

 in Omdurman, while a few had a rough verandah in 

 front. All along our route, however, there was a great 

 number of people living in very small huts which could 

 be " struck " and moved about almost as easily as tents. 

 These huts varied in shape and in the material with 

 which they were constructed. Some were round with 

 conical roofs and were entirely made of " dhura '' straw, 

 while a few were dome-shaped. The majority, however, 

 were oblong, measuring about 6 feet broad and 

 7 or 8 feet long. These were not more than 5 feet 

 high, and had flat roofs usually made of straw or 

 matting, but sometimes of fodder, so that more than 

 once a native sold us half his roof as food for our camels. 

 Straw, cane matting, or cloth was used indiscriminately 

 for the walls. The rough cloth used for this purpose is 



