BEYOND THE SUDD 291 



taken to breeding a race of rather pretty little dogs 

 which, we are assured, they regard as quite the next 

 best substitute. 1 As a matter of fact, according to 

 their own assertions, the cannibalism of the Nyam- 

 Nyams was always restricted to eating their fallen foes 

 slain in battle the liver for choice. 



These savages strike rather a fresh note in local 

 types. For they are built in normal human mould, thick- 

 set and in striking contrast with the egregiously lanky 

 and long -limbed Shilluks, Dinkas, and Nuers among 

 whom we had hitherto been sojourning. Nyam-Nyams 

 whom we met were distinctly friendly and inquisitive 

 also acquisitive, wanting everything I possessed, though 

 "liver" was not specified. Their spears and ornaments 

 were of better finish than those of the more northern 

 savages, and I procured from them (for a few piastres) 

 a hunting-knife of quite elaborate make, its ornamented 

 blade and wire- woven haft bespeaking a degree of manual 

 skill hardly to be expected in such primitive folk. 



One fact of purely human interest strikes the observer 

 at Gondokoro and south thereof. Whereas up to this 

 point the Greek trader has monopolised the whole store- 

 keeping and retail business of the Sudan, here the Baboo 

 from far India so familiar in East Africa reappears 

 to fill that office. The fact is eloquent of the energy 

 and enterprise of both. The Greek, carrying his goods, 

 has pushed inland 2500 miles from Mediterranean 

 shores; the Indian 2500 miles from Mombasa, or 5000 

 from Bombay, the last 100 miles of that distance only 

 to be made good by donkey-transport. As fellow- 

 subjects of the Indian, one regretted to hear that the 

 intrusive Greek threatens to oust his duskier competitor. 



While collecting birds on the riverside at Rejaf, 

 my companion was ^photographing native women who 



1 These Nyam-Nyam dogs had quite a vogue in Khartoum, many 

 English ladies keeping them of course purely as pets and without ulterior 

 object. 



