KORDOFAN 147 



in these parts. They have not the stamhia, I found, of 

 our Jehadia, though looking finer men. My men said 

 that it was because they Hved luxurious lives on marissa. 

 Nasr Andal has three hundred women in his harem. 

 It is a point of honour to show his importance in this 

 way. As women, owing to the depredations of the 

 slave-traders, are very scarce, this collection of likely 

 girls by Nasr causes a good deal of dissatisfaction. 

 My predecessor had the case of five lads bolting to 

 him for protection from this Sultan, who wished to 

 execute them (further south they would be mutilated) 

 for tampering with some girls then in the Sultan's 

 harem whom, before the latter had taken them, they 

 had been about to marry. They were enlisted, and one, 

 Morgan, was one of the most intelligent blacks I have 

 ever come across. As my orderly and guide he led 

 me for miles, and on the way told me of the religion, 

 social conditions, &c., of the people. He plucked 

 different sorts of fruit for me as we marched along to 

 teach me, as he said, what to eat if I lost myself, which I 

 might do if any one else was with me but himself ! The 

 native officer and regular soldier is almost impossible to 

 get at in this way. He thinks either that all folk-lore is 

 below his dignity to repeat, or that one wants to laugh 

 at him. Both ideas make him dumb. I remember 

 once trying to get the marriage laws of a tribe from a 

 Sudanese officer belonging to it. He told me, as he 

 saw I already knew a good deal about them and was 

 not to be denied, but interlarded his conversations by 

 such expressions as " Walahi, they are the beasts of 

 the field," " pure savages," &c. 



