THE SOUDANESE 



153 



is cut up into a number of smaller squares by straight narrow 

 roads which intersect each other at right angles. If one of these 

 smaller squares is still too large for one family, further sub- 

 division takes place by means of reed-fences. Thus every 

 household has its owai enclosure, in which to erect the hut or 

 huts necessary for its comfort, and it has also its own private 

 open-air sanitary convenience dug and fenced off. The en- 

 closure is kept clean, ashes and rubbish being swept up and 

 carried outside the settlement, where in course of time they form 



THE SOUDANESE SETTLEMENT AT KIBERO. 



rubbish-heaps of considerable size. Reed-fences are usually 

 constructed of the stems of elephant-grass ; but they require 

 constant renewing, unless the stems are planted for a few inches 

 into the ground, when very often they strike root and sprout up 

 into a living fence. The roads which intersect the settlement are 

 sometimes rather narrow, but on the whole are kept fairly clean. 

 The Soudanese do not seem to care to become domestic 

 servants ; when they are young their parents have need of their 

 services, and when they are adults they prefer to be independent. 

 Two young lads accompanied my caravan to the coast in 1895. 

 One of these lads I recognised in my caravan in 1898. I 

 enquired what had become of his companion " Haggenas," 



