viii INTRODUCTION 



over and above a captain's (British) pay, besides 

 private means, is no hardship. One patronises balls 

 and other gaieties, polo of the best, golf, rackets, &c. 

 But who has not heard of the Khedival Sporting 

 Club ? The season over, one endures for a couple of 

 months, with an occasional (is it weekly?) week-end at 

 San Stephano, and then — the three months' leave that 

 follows the nine of work. 



The second is life at Khartum. For the majority 

 this is official life pure and simple. The hours, from 

 9 A.M. to 2 P.M., are not appalling except for those to 

 whom continuous ofBce work is anathema maranatha. 

 There, too, are polo and all the sports afforded by a 

 well-run club. The society of the gentler sex is as 

 yet limited. Home leave, as in Cairo, is as regular in 

 coming round as the hour-hand. Running in the 

 same heat I place the stations on the Nile north of 

 Khartum. The third I again divide into two. There 

 are those who live on the Nile south of Khartum. 

 They have their weekly or fortnightly mail-boat. 

 They see every one, official or tourist, who passes up 

 or down. Their houses are comfortable bungalows. 

 If a servant falls sick, the next boat brings a new one. 

 If master does likewise, a wire will bring a steamer to 

 whisk him to hospital. A wire brings anything in the 

 way of food or drink (including soda water) by return. 

 The drawback is the mosquito. It is a drawback to 

 be written in capital letters. Mosquitoes in tens by 

 day, in hundreds of thousands of millions by night. 

 Any one who has dinner in the open after dark in 



