20 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



At last we are off. Twenty camel police, fifty camel 

 corps, ten Sudanese with mules (in case swamps bar 

 our passage, for the rains are due and we go south to 

 meet them), and a mass of scallawags, with rifles, pro- 

 vided by Sheikh Thagi, who accompanies us, and who 

 has been conspicuous on a fine stallion earlier in the 

 march. The latter keep up with the camels and turn 

 up fresh at every camp. 



The cultivation ends after about a mile, and we 

 pursue our road in single file down a narrow path 

 between high thorn-bushes. As Jebel Kordofan rises 

 distinct before us, the sun goes down suddenly on 

 our right, the thorn-bushes seem to become trees 

 till dwarfed by an occasional tibeldi. 



The country between had not prepared us for 

 the beautiful scenery in J. Daier, where the rains had 

 already fallen and everything was green. Rocky 

 hills, hills covered in a green mantle, valleys that 

 in stony bleakness might rival the last one, tree- 

 filled valleys, enormous boulders, palm-trees innumer- 

 able, and here and there a cluster of huts nestling 

 close to the side of a hill, lent enchantment to the 

 scene. 



Our camels too draw strength and keenness from 

 the luscious grazing. 



At one village lives a notorious robber. The 

 Pasha's A.D.C. is told to go to arrest him as we 

 pass by. He asks me for a few men of the Sudanese 

 Company as escort. Presently I am filled with unholy 

 joy. The good old Sudanese, gallant and patient if 

 you take him the right way, is not full of resource. 



