104 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



one of them. The tracks on the banks told that they 

 possessed a good number of cattle and sheep, and they 

 all had fair-sized patches of dura (red) and tobacco, 

 which, after the first, they were quite willing to trade 

 in. The giraffe is their natural prey, but, as only the 

 older men wear the tuft of tails, it is probable that the 

 slaughter of them is not very great. It was strange 

 that I neither saw nor heard any dogs, which usually 

 are ubiquitous. 



The houses were stoutly built — grass bee-hive tukles. 

 They were in groups of five or six surrounded by 

 cultivation. 



They seemed quite ignorant of weaving. I saw 

 nothing resembling cloth, and the few handkerchiefs 

 and bits of calico my men traded in were looked on 

 with awe. Later on, when we stopped to wood, one 

 man was very desirous to buy my trousers. He 

 circled round me at about fifty yards' distance, offer- 

 ing his shield, spears, and ornaments, and by panto- 

 mime inviting me to disrobe. What they lacked in 

 weaving they made up in leather, which was very well 

 worked and nicely embroidered in a scroll pattern. 

 The rings of beads on the felt hats and the forehead 

 band were most regularly and carefully finished. They 

 had the ordinary Sudanese tobacco, which they smoked 

 out of a clay bowl. Their medical arrangements 

 seemed to consist of phlebotomy. 



It was interesting to note that their ivory and 

 rhinoceros - horn bracelets were cai"ved — the former 

 either rounded or brought to a ridge in the centre ; 

 the latter thin and serrated. Their spears were quite 



