I50 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



for me had I let them. I threw myself, wrapped in 

 my greatcoat, on it, only to be wakened again at 2.30 

 A.M. I got up, shook myself, drank my cocoa, and 

 started. Alas ! I had to send on my men to fetch me 

 something to ride, as I found I had wrenched my knee. 

 While waiting at a pool for them to come back I was 

 much amused by the antics of troops of monkeys and 

 numerous clutches of guinea-fowl. At last I got so 

 bored with this sylvan scene that I limped on, and 

 presently came upon a couple of men leading a mule 

 for me. As I heard that we were by no means near 

 the station, I halted for the night. 



Chakchak was reached early. I crossed the Chell 

 (Kuru) River, here about fifty yards across with a sandy 

 bed and a few inches deep. The station, built round 

 a kitchen garden, looked very neat. The Mamur, how- 

 ever, had everything by the ears. The Dinka Sultan, 

 Atiok Chiok (Chak Chak), the only important man of 

 that tribe with whom we were in touch, felt deeply 

 aggrieved, and would help in no way. The Jehadia 

 there were almost in mutiny. I was not surprised, 

 as, during the whole of my stay, and when I met 

 him later, he reeked of spirits, which, he hastened to 

 inform me, he took as medicine. 



I had barely arrived before the Sultan, a dear old 

 man whom I had met in Wau, arrived with a huge 

 bullock as a present for me (of course refused with 

 profuse thanks). A very enlightened savage, though 

 not a pure Dinka (his mother was a Jur, I think), he 

 had made great friends with the French. He has, 

 however, been rather demoralised by contact with 



