THE SOUDANESE 



151 



More than once have I had to act as paymaster to 

 the troops ; and at Kitanwa I had the duty of deahng out 

 a treble payment to the garrison : first, to serve out the 

 monthly rations : then, to issue the monthly pay ; lastly, 

 to measure out the half-yearly allowance of clothing, which 

 consisted of five yards of " americani " and four yards of 

 "bombay" to the non-commissioned officers and men, and 

 six yards of American drill to the offtcers. For measur- 

 ing out, the "yard-stick" was used; but for the first two 

 payments I had to use the "rupee-stick," so called because 

 it measured off a quantity of cloth representing one rupee 

 in value. 



The men have to be their own tailors, and it is aston- 

 ishing what neat white uniforms they can produce. The 

 thread they obtain by unravelling a long narrow strip 

 of " americani " cotton - cloth, or, more economically, by 

 spinning it for themselves out of cotton from the nearest 

 cotton-plant. 



At Fajao I came upon a Soudanese corporal solemnly 

 spinning cotton-thread for his tailoring work. He was much 

 too engrossed to no- 

 tice anybody or any- 

 thing. Remembering 

 the unflinching brav- 

 ery with which these 

 Soudanese meet death 

 on the battle-field, 

 this scene recalls the 

 veteran greybeards of 

 Napoleon I.'s army, 

 knitting stockings with 

 the musket by their 

 side. The corporal 

 was holding in his 

 left hand a small 

 amount of raw cotton- 

 wool. The spinner, shaped like a top, has a slender quill-like 

 prolongation which points downwards, and which has to be 

 twirled from time to time. What looks like the body of 

 the top is really a certain quantity of white cotton-thread 

 already spun and wound up. The last bit of the spun- 



SOUDANESE CORPORAL SPINNIiNG COTTON-THREAD. 



