KHARTUM 5 



which carried us to Halfaia, whence a launch ferried 

 us to Khartum. It is of interest to give one's im- 

 pression of the mushroom city at that date. Of the 

 pubHc buildings the palace, war office, and post- 

 office alone stood. The little villas along the river 

 front, with a few shops in rear, formed the four-year- 

 old town. One ploughed one's way about, ankle-deep 

 in sand. When I left it, four years later, an imposing 

 embankment formed a fitting pedestal for the city 

 above it. Palace and villas had been added to out of 

 all recognition. Elegant walls replaced those of green 

 brick ; new buildings were erected everywhere, in- 

 cluding a magnificent mosque. There were two fine 

 hotels ; the streets were lighted with electricity ; the 

 river front was, owing to the embankment, no longer 

 a mean path, but a fine esplanade. No wonder that 

 Khartum should astonish the tourist ; more so now 

 with its bridge spanning the Blue Nile, its Christian 

 churches raising their steeples heavenwards — a Euro- 

 pean city in the heart of Africa ! 



El Obeid, my destination, meant then to most the 

 end of all things. Even my host, who had left it not 

 long before, did not realise the giant strides it had 

 made towards civilisation. He himself had shot several 

 kudu, a most timid antelope, in afternoon strolls when 

 stationed there. As, however, the remoteness of a 

 station may be gauged by this — Do the officers wear 

 beards ? — El Obeid was fairly so, as some did, though 

 they were in the minority. After some delay my 

 camels were got together, and I started for Kordofan in 

 company of another Bimbashi who had been in the 



