CASUALTIES AMONG THE HERDS 267 



prepared, and play till it got dark at about six. Then, 

 clad in mosquito boots, which reach well up the thigh, 

 and a sweater or overcoat, one would sit in the open 

 outside the mess hut on a small platform, built to 

 discourage the more objectionable insects and snakes, 

 and there talk. The development of this and other 

 provinces, big game, weather prospects, and a thousand 

 other subjects, not forgetting the inevitable criticism 

 of absent friends, filled up the time to dinner. Some 

 of us had to spend those hours studying for promotion 

 examinations. It was at times hard to fix one's atten- 

 tion on the ingredients of an emergency ration as one 

 heard the gramophone bellowing forth the " Laughing 

 Friar," or one wished to hear the latest phase of the 

 situation with the Belgians, which was then acute. 

 Ten o'clock generally saw one to bed. " Liver," the 

 excuse for being boorish and disagreeable to one's 

 companions, was unknown in most Sudan messes. 



Bed in this province generally meant sleep, for the 

 nights were cool. I always had a covering of some 

 sort under my mosquito curtain. 



From the mess one often heard the lions roaring 

 on the opposite bank. A few yards from where I was 

 walking one day one of them tore the face off a cow 

 right to the bone. We usually had an average of 

 ninety oxen (for draught and pack), twenty-five cows 

 (hospital), and twenty-two calves. The casualties 

 among them were heartbreaking, the tsetse fly and 

 hard work being responsible. 



We had great stores of trade goods, that were in 

 the immediate charge of the Mamur. The white 



