254 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



stick is shaped into a long blunt-pointed pencil, held vertically, 

 and made to fit the hole in the horizontal stick. The vertical 

 stick is now twirled furiously between the two palms. Two men 

 sit opposite each other, so that the instant one man stops 

 exhausted, the other may keep up the twirling. In an incre- 

 dibly short space of time a slight smoke arose from the stick 

 on the ground. The bit of bark-cloth serving as tinder was 

 now placed against the sticks, and the tw^irling continued vigor- 

 ously. The bark-cloth caught fire. This was leisurely blown, 

 with dry grass and dry twigs, into a bright flame. Soon a 

 roaring fire, upheld by papyrus reeds, was crackling merrily on 

 the surface of the sudd, with the Nile flowing but a few inches 

 below it. 



My boy now prepared some " imshikaki " for me. This is 

 done by spitting small bits of meat, fat, and liver, the hippo 

 supplying the ingredients, alternately on a green twig and prop- 

 ping it near the fire, without however letting it touch the fire. 

 From time to time the spit has to be turned. I enjoyed my 

 meal, " hippo a la imshikaki,"' washed down wdth Nile water. 

 I became quite a connoisseur, and 1 began to pick out bits 

 of fat in preference to the lean. Unfortunately it was very 

 tough, and my jaws and teeth got soon tired. The Soudanese 

 ate heartily and enjoyed this hippo picnic immensely. Not a 

 scrap of the hippo was wasted. The very intestines, after being 

 cleaned of contents, were carefully deposited in the canoe. 

 The dug-out was heavily laden with the cut-up hippo piled 

 into it. 



The return journey to Fajao was decidedly unpleasant, and 

 as we toiled slowly up-stream darkness overtook us. There was 

 no moon, only the uncertain glimmer of the water in the star- 

 light. Every now and then we would pass a spot, where the 

 sickening odour of crocodiles would be overpoweringly strong 

 on the sudd. Then again some inquisitive hippo would come 

 to the surface unpleasantly near our canoe, and would remind 

 us of the danger of being capsized. 



A beacon had been lit to guide us to the landing-place 

 We all felt thankful and relieved, on reaching our huts in 

 safety. I was too tired to eat anything, but I had a little milk 

 and brandy before tumbling into bed. Next day I had a grand 

 distribution of hippo-meat to the whole of our Soudanese gar- 

 rison and their families. This female hippo w^as enormously 



