56 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



strayed off the path several times, and had some diffi- 

 culty in finding it. Shortly after our start we passed 

 close to some animal who hissed and snarled at us. 

 Presently the rearmost camel came pushing up from 

 behind, then the foremost slowed down in front. 

 We heard the tearing of an occasional branch, and 

 the " ough 1 " we had now learned to know well. 

 After riding for some time in such unpleasant com- 

 panionship, I fired my rifle in the air. The noise 

 and the flash evidently frightened the lion, for so we 

 heard he was from the Arabs of the horse-owning 

 Messeria tribe, into whose camp we rode at daybreak. 



Burdia, their headquarters, is on the edge of a 

 swamp, which in the grey dawn looked like a lake. 

 It is itself a collection of mere shelters — I cannot call 

 them huts. 



The arrival of a white officer and two men caused 

 some surprise, which soon gave way to hospitable 

 politeness, as the Arabs, wrapped up in their cotton 

 " tobes," turned out to greet us. Huge bowls of milk 

 were produced, and a guide, a handsome young fellow 

 with the face of a bronze Mephistopheles, was also 

 forthcoming. He soon had his horse, a useful-looking 

 country-bred, saddled, and carrying his eighteen-foot- 

 long Baggara spear on his shoulder, prepared to lead 

 the way. After ten minutes' halt we pushed on. At 

 J. Abu Gerein, a hill occupied by Nubas, he left 

 us, and we got another guide from the Mek. He 

 turned out a great goer, as he ran the whole way from 

 here to El Eddaiya, a distance of about forty miles, 

 at the rate of about five miles an hour. 



