232 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



pints, is used to draw water with. In Kordofan, 

 where wells are often a couple of hundred feet down 

 to water, the drawing of a few gallons is a Herculean 

 task. 



The people about complained that, for some years, 

 Khor Tearan in which, in the dry weather, the wells 

 are sunk (the same as in Khor Dabura) had been dry- 

 ing up. The chief wells are at Bir Dudu, a couple of 

 miles away. I strolled over to them by myself, and 

 found a shouting, gesticulating, scrambling crowd 

 about them. A party was starting on a journey. I 

 sat in the shade of a tree, and was soon joined by 

 some men and boys. They were much struck by the 

 thick soles of my boots. It was almost the first time 

 in the Sudan I had observed curiosity. I made my 

 compass swing round with a knife and " salaam " to 

 order. I also told a mangled version of Sinbad-cum- 

 Ali Baba, and heard one or two stories in return. As, 

 a couple of hours later, my party turned up, my friends 

 became the stolid, polite people one always meets. By 

 the way a number of men had turned up to shake 

 hands, and ask if I did not remember them at Daala, 

 Shuga, &c. 



My return to Umbegago was greeted with inexpli- 

 cable enthusiasm. I was saluted as " Effendina," the 

 title of the Khedive. A miniature sandstorm was raised 

 in clearing a spot for me to rest on. The men I had 

 left behind had evidently raised their own importance 

 by inflating that of their chief. Who so proud in a 

 province as the head servant of its Governor ? From 

 here to Kabalosu my party and myself had a 



