264 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



" How could I be expected to catch the man tied up 

 as I am in heavy boots, putties, and tight breeches, 

 and he naked save for his leg irons." 



Our jurisdiction was so limited that when an im- 

 portant case came on the board we were at a loss 

 to adjudicate, as we could not enforce our decrees. 

 My office work consisted chiefly in settling disputes 

 between husband and wife. For instance, a woman 

 incited her husband to beat her, and created a disturb- 

 ance in the location by humming the death wail as he 

 was eating his food. " If the cap fits wear it " was 

 her answer to the query for whom she was wailing. 

 She demanded separation from her husband, refused 

 to return to him, and insisted on imprisonment, cling- 

 ing to the office table, under which I had tucked away 

 my legs, screaming the while. I therefore sent for all 

 the women in the town, and ordered the obstreperous 

 female to carry a pail of water round and round on 

 her head while her friends laughed at her. She 

 preferred going back to her husband. Another lady 

 stated that she would commit suicide rather than make 

 friends with her husband. She dashed into the river, 

 a hundred yards from my office, with a great splash. 

 When she was up to her knees in it — 1 had for- 

 bidden any one to detain her, as the natives, ever 

 lovers of a scene, longed to do so — I shouted, " Look 

 out ! a crocodile ! " She was out of the water in a 

 flash, and amid the laughter of the spectators went 

 away home. 



Cases of immorality were more difficult to deal with. 

 Questions of religion and damages were involved. As 



