280 SAVAGE SUDAN 



and my sudden turning-back and coming' round the bush 

 from the unexpected flank had taken him unawares. 



The second incident I quote from my diary as 

 follows : " Beyond a belt of tall jungle-grass observed 

 an aggregation of small antelope or gazelles massed 

 together more densely than one usually sees those 

 animals. All were facing jungle-wards. While stalking 

 the group and already within gunshot, I got a momentary 

 glimpse of a cat-like form disappearing behind a tussock, 

 and promptly put in both barrels of the Paradox ; one 

 bullet told. The fugitive proved to be a male of the 

 serval or tiger-cat, the flat skin taping 51 inches, of 

 which the tail measured 12 inches. The massed forma- 

 tion of the antelopes now appeared to have been a 

 defensive attitude assumed in the known presence of 

 danger." 



(n) MONGALLA 



Mongalla, the southernmost Government station in 

 Sudan, does not impress ; a few native huts with a 

 scattered bungalow or two is all one may see. Yet this 

 is the capital of a district as big so we were assured 

 as France, and all controlled and administered (politically 

 and judicially) by brains that are concentrable within a 

 single white skull. There is nothing out-of-the-way in 

 this ; it is, in fact, a commonplace throughout the 

 savage areas of our British Empire. Yet one may 

 wonder how many of the good stay-at-home folk realise 

 such things, or appreciate the services being rendered 

 year in and year out not only to our country but to 

 the world by these exiled and isolated Britishers? 



The above sentence was penned some few years ago. 

 Since then, in March 1919, I have revisited Mongalla. 

 At that date the Governor of the Province was Major 

 C. H. Stigand a man whose commanding personality 

 and physique, and alike a charming manner, equally 

 impressed. Stigand stood foremost, primus inter pares 



