210 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



the munching of human flesh), as great as " Habeshi " 

 is to the Abyssinian. When we halted he made me a 

 grand couch of leaves on the damp ground, on which, 

 evidently, a heavy shower had fallen before our 

 arrival. It was 4 p.m. before the rest of the party 

 found us. 



On reaching the Kuru I left the Mandalla road, in 

 order to fix the junction of the Biri and that river. 

 The scenery along it was very fine. For instance, at 

 one camp where a lion serenaded us, we were on a 

 plateau a hundred feet above the stream. 



Every little khor held water from the first showers. 

 We came upon the last parties of Fertitaui, busy 

 fishing and drying their catch, or gathering honey, 

 &c. In one hunting village my men keenly bartered 

 away the antelope meat they had for strips of croco- 

 dile. I tasted the latter. It was rather coarse, with 

 a juicy, beefy flavour. 



The fishing operations are of interest. 



Both ends of a pool are dammed up. Then, 

 shoulder to shoulder, stabbing with their spears, the 

 fishermen advance, and soon account for every living 

 thing in it. If the pool is deep they bruise a bulb 

 found in great quantities in the forest. This they 

 sprinkle up-stream. It stupefies the fish, who float to 

 the surface and are captured. The same is done with 

 a large red flower (I described it as growing in 

 Southern Kordofan). It is supposed to blind croco- 

 diles. Honey collecting is easy. When a tree con- 

 taining a bee's nest is passed the finder lights a 

 fire about it, and, protected by the smoke, cuts it 



