BARA 7 



needed something to take one's thoughts off one's 

 condition, for chasing shade is a most comfortless 

 occupation. One hes on its near edge, but in a very 

 short time the sun has carried it right across and one 

 must take up one's belongings, place them on the new 

 shade and wait for it to swing across again, and 

 so on. 



Near this mountain I shot my first head of big 

 game. It was not very big, just a Dorcas gazelle, 

 but I was as pleased as a dog with two tails. The 

 grass about was coarse, about two feet high, with 

 thorn-bushes scattered here and there. On the road 

 we overtook a Darfur sheikh, whom I afterwards met 

 several times in El Obeid as he passed backwards and 

 forwards on embassies. I hope yet to pay him a visit, 

 as he has invited me to do, at El Fasher. 



At Bara, to the north of El Obeid, we found two 

 Companies of the Camel Corps. Unfortunately the 

 British officer was away. We halted in a lemon grove, 

 a relic of the pre-Mahdist days when Bara was a very 

 important town, the ruins of which lie scattered in the 

 surrounding bush. 



We reached El Obeid in the evening of our eleventh 

 day, and found there El Lewa (General) Mahon Pasha, 

 C.B., D.S.O., with several other officers and officials. 

 We just escaped being laughed at for the time we had 

 taken over the journey — but only just. 



As we approached the place we were much puzzled 

 by what appeared to be wheel-tracks, as wheel traffic 

 was almost unknown, save for guns, in the Sudan. 

 For building purposes in this part of the country any 



