228 



SAVAGE SUDAN 



HUTS OF THE NUER TRIBE. 

 Front doors plastered round with clay. 



mere circles of upstanding bamboos stuck into the 



ground and laced together with pliant canes and fibres. 



^|. There were three of 



these enclosures, each 1 8 

 or 20 feet in diameter. 

 In the centre of each 

 burned a fire and the 

 whole interior space was 

 heaped up with the 

 gradual accumulations 

 of wood-ash, deepening 

 towards the periphery. 

 This wood-ash served as 

 bed, bedding, mattress 

 and all ; it further explained the hoary - grey com- 

 plexions of these savages which oft puzzled one, 

 knowing Shilluks to be coal-black. Several recumbent 

 forms could be distinguished, all lying concentrically 

 side by side, each buried in ash, and sleeping feet-towards- 

 fires. None noticed our intrusion. 

 Around, outside the stockades, were 

 tethered herds of cattle. 



Leaving the village, we met on 

 the narrow trail two young Shilluk 

 maidens, tall and shapely "willowy," 

 in fact, as the fashion-plates one sees 

 in newspapers (and in life too, some- 

 times). On suddenly finding them- 

 selves confronted by a white man when 

 thus in deshabille (if that is the correct 

 term), a burst of giggling ensued 

 amidst which the pair dived into the 

 bush. An apology for my intrusion 

 suggested itself, but their precipitate flight to say 

 nothing of innate modesty forbade. Surely these 

 dusky Eves had consulted the Serpent? 



In Savagedom, the female sex is rarely much in 



AN EGRET. 



