i62 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



with his wazir. In front a mass of natives gesticu- 

 late and talk. 



Every march has an end ; so also that which took 

 us into the territory of the Kreish Sultans. The first 

 was Mahomed Meriki, on the left bank of the 

 Boru, there a rocky stream 35 yards broad, with 

 banks 18 feet high. The Sultan, who has about as 

 much right to the title as many baronets have to 

 theirs, has about five hundred souls under him in 

 the vicinity of his village. He is the philosopher of 

 the district. A little wizened man is he, of immense 

 age — all his people remember him always a greybeard 

 — yet active. He was a lieutenant of Zubeir Pasha's 

 son, and managed to clear off with his rifles before 

 the latter was captured and executed by Gessi. 



In his village lived, as a clerk, an ex-native officer. 

 I tried to get him a pension, but from rumours afloat 

 I understand that that was out of the question. 



The Sultan brought me a present of some araki. 

 He put some of the spirit in a wine "glass" cut out 

 of ivory. The fumes of the spirit were so potent that 

 I was unable to approach my nose to it. Quantities 

 of maize were grown here to make this tipple. The 

 heads were dried hung in rows on huge screens. 



A few miles from this village, Ajai, which comprises 

 the sultanate, and contains 500 inhabitants, is Wasa, 

 the village of Said Baldas. 



This Sultan has a district of about 3200 (80 by 40) 

 square miles, which holds some 1500 souls. He was 

 about forty-five in 1906, and much the same size as 

 Musa Hamed, but of lighter build. He has a quick. 



