INTRODUCTION ix 



these parts is perhaps a pachyderm, and certainly a 

 lunatic. 



To the Nile dwellers I add those in such head- 

 quarter stations as El Obeid, Kassala, and Wau. They 

 have not, 'tis true, the continual steamers, but there 

 are usually enough officers to raise a chukker at polo 

 or make a set at tennis. At the worst there is a white 

 man once and again to talk to. Leave is generally 

 pretty sure to come their way after twelve months' 

 labour. 



The second class of the third category is composed 

 of those who live in the " out-stations." They meet 

 their kind when going or returning from leave, the 

 granting of which depends on the exigencies of the 

 service. Their houses are, as a rule, a couple of 

 native tukls (huts), but as two-thirds of their time is 

 employed in patrolling the country this does not affect 

 them much. If a servant sickens, they must nurse him 

 and replace him as best they can with a savage from 

 some village. They live on tinned food, chickens, 

 boiled or roast — the third class murghi of the Indian 

 dak bungalow — or whatever they can shoot for the 

 pot or the cook of the moment is able to improvise. 

 They draw upon their imagination and call a lump of 

 maltreated dough bread. If they sicken they have 

 recourse to their bundle of medicines or native 

 remedies, and, as a last resort, send a message to 

 headquarters to ask the medico's advice. Should I 

 go on I would be put down as a "grouser." If the 

 intending bimbashi can be " choked " off, far better 



