126 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



fly. They fly and alight quite noiselessly, generally 

 on one's shoulder, elbow, or knee, and the first warn- 

 ing one has of their presence is a vicious stab, like 

 that of a darning needle, from their proboscis. Some- 

 times there ensues a large swelling and mortification, 

 but, as a rule, the irritation is not lasting. He is not 

 very hard to chase down with a towel, but alas, generally 

 has a pal who lands on and stabs your shoulder just 

 as you have correctly measured the distance for your 

 blow. I am sure the recording angel must sympathetic- 

 ally turn his deaf ear your way when you say the 

 things you feel. Poor animals suffer terribly from 

 them. 



At Lake Fell (Ambadie as it was then called) I had 

 to visit the transport officer on his steamer. It was 

 night when I found him "tied up" to a bank of 

 the Jur. The mosquitoes on his stationary steamer 

 were so voracious that I had to ask for a copy of the 

 Weekly (Daily) Graphic to sit on. 



At Meshra er Rek a fellow-passenger and I trans- 

 ferred ourselves to the screw steamer Nigma el 

 Niihia, which later I found used as the ferryboat 

 between Khartum and Omdurman. She had been 

 a deep-sea yacht ; her engines were bad, and, for so 

 rapid and tortuous a stream as the Jur, she was useless. 

 We half dragged her to Godelpus Island, and very 

 fortunately a little higher up were able to commandeer 

 a gunboat coming down in which to continue our 

 journey. 



Godelpus Island, sometimes known as Geziret el 

 Bolis (Police Island), is an artificially raised platform 



