THE CARRIER QUESTION 139 



under certain penalties. Forty-five piastres (= 9s.) 

 was to be paid for an ardeb (300 lbs.) of dura. 

 Though the price was fair, the porterage, which would 

 have amounted to about 90 piastres in addition, 

 was not allowed. We had to enforce the order, as 

 "the chief" brooked no argument ; and it was well we 

 did so, for the thousands of pounds of grain that we 

 bustled in saved Wau from a famine eight months later. 



I should add that refusing to pay porterage was not 

 such a hardship as it would appear. No taxes were 

 paid in the province, and the protection afforded the 

 inhabitants was great. The hardship and discontent 

 which arose was, I am sure, due to the fact that, in 

 the neighbouring district of Wau, everything that was 

 refused at Dem Zubier — i.e. rifles, ammunition, spirits, 

 money, &c. — was freely scattered. I myself do not 

 understand administration without system. I know 

 right well that had the Governor of the province not 

 died, it would have fared ill with those who failed to 

 carry out his scheme and, as it was, disregarded his 

 orders with impunity. 



Wahbi Eff. and I went into what could be done 

 with the money at our disposal. For building pur- 

 poses we had ^^20 ; for making a couple of thousand 

 miles of roads — an item that looks so well in reports — 

 another ;^2o. Wood and straw had been collected for 

 building more huts of a native pattern, but I decided 

 to build our offices, &c., of burnt brick, and soon had 

 the satisfaction of knowing that Dem Zubeir was, south 

 of Taufikia, the pioneer of red-brick buildings in the 

 Sudan. 



