14 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



received, according to size, 8 or 6 Ib. of dourra apiece 

 whether they marched or not, and the milch-goats 

 about 1 Ib. apiece. This dourra is purchasable in 

 towns or large villages ; but in small villages cannot 

 be usually procured at all. The rates varied ex- 

 ceedingly. It is sold by the kantar of 300 Ib. In 

 Kassala I paid 14s. per kantar, in Gedarif 20s., and at 

 some villages 12s. Generally it is good business to 

 buy at large villages such as Sofi and Hawata, some 

 distance from the head-quarters of the district. 

 Schedules of rates, known in India as nirick namas, 

 are unknown in the Sudan, and it is my impression 

 that even European officials are slightly cheated, 

 and other Europeans cheated exceedingly. The load 

 that a camel should carry is also a fluctuating 

 quantity. In India I had the curiosity to weigh the 

 load of an average baggage-camel, and found it to 

 be 600 Ib. However, such a load is not ordinarily 

 carried more than twice a week, when the camel is 

 employed by a district official, and then the distance 

 rarely exceeds twelve miles. I did not travel along 

 the great camel -route between Gedarif and Wad 

 Medani, but was informed that the large camels on 

 this route, of which I saw plenty on the Blue Nile, 

 carry 600 Ib. for a week at a stretch for a daily 

 distance of twenty miles with ease. These camels 

 are fully equal to the best of Indian camels ; but the 

 average Arab camel is a more greyhound-like animal, 



