238 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



one jeering too loud I would call him over and make 

 him fire a round. As they never hit by any chance, 

 the Jehadia could join in the jeers — and did. The 

 Jehadia shooting was quite good. 



There is no doubt that the musketry course of a fair 

 number of men — there were fifty or sixty of my men — 

 in a disaffected district, such as Kafiakingi, has the 

 greatest possible moral effect. Were I permitted to 

 venture an opinion on the subject, I would say that, 

 much as la gloire might suffer thereby, I would 

 strongly deprecate the employment of punitive expe- 

 ditions till the might of the British Raj had been 

 shown by some such method. Of course, if attacked, 

 there is no middle course. I always think the launch- 

 ing of an expedition at some ignorant savage — more 

 often than not to give some one a promised brevet or 

 decoration — is like a prize-fighter inveigling a pug- 

 nacious stranger into a fight. I am not an alarmist 

 when I state that at the time disaffection of long 

 standing was coming to a head in this part of the 

 district. The Dervish movement was guided by 

 Sultan Ibrahim Dardug, an ex-emir, and Mongash, 

 the adviser of the Sultan. The musketry course per- 

 suaded the waverers that it was useless to wrestle with 

 a power who could throw away ammunition as so 

 much rubbish. In the fifteen days I spent in 

 Kafiakingi I had many visits from the sheikhs. The 

 political situation was soon thrashed out, so I tried 

 to draw them about their history and religion, &c. 



As far as the latter went they were pseudo-Moslems. 

 I heard, however, of the "wonder-tree" of Khandak, 



