224 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



and the French. The description of the latter's 

 luxurious mode of travel (in hammocks), " like a sick 

 woman on an angareb" (native bedstead), raised shrieks 

 of laughter from all who heard it — the hon-tnois, by 

 the way, being shouted back till the welkin rang 

 with the laughter of those following a mile or more 

 behind us. 



Daala was the first real Mandalla village I entered. 

 It is on the Khor Dabura, which Felkin marked on 

 his map with a thick line, and so gave rise to the error 

 that there were three, not two, great tributaries of the 

 Nile from the west. The sheikh was a fine fellow. 

 All the people were clad in the flowing robes with 

 which Kordofan had made me familiar. They appeared 

 to me to be black Arabs rather than Fertitaui. They 

 carried huge Baggara spears. I asked why they did 

 so in their village, and was answered, "Would any 

 man go unarmed to the well like a woman ? " 



No tsetse fly rendered our march hideous. We saw 

 not one. Till J. Tearan was sighted, about 50 miles 

 north of J. Telgona, the country presented no marked 

 features. Round Tearan the country, more densely 

 wooded, became more densely populated. The vil- 

 lages, the houses on piles, floor four feet from the 

 ground, were set in masses of big trees, bush, and 

 doleib palms. 



Everywhere the natives complained against " muk- 

 dum " (viceroy) Nasr, and begged to be relieved of 

 the grievous taxes of the Government (there were none 

 that we knew of) levied by the Sultan. " But levy 

 any tax as long as you take us neither as carriers or 



