392 
LOSS OF REMAINING DONKEY. 
[chap. jx. 
and wife; thus all parties were satisfied, and the sheep 
was immediately killed for dinner. 
“ The following morning Katchiba appeared at my 
door with a large red flag, made of a piece of cotton 
cloth that the Turks had given him ; he was accom¬ 
panied by two men beating large drums, and a third 
playing a kind of clarionet: this playing at soldiers 
was an imitation of the Turks. He was in great spirits, 
being perfectly delighted with the necklace I had sent 
him” 
“ Oct. §th .—I have examined my only remaining 
donkey ! he is a picture of misery—eyes and nose 
running, coat staring, and he is about to start to join 
his departed comrades; he has packed up for his last 
journey. With his loose skin hanging to his withered 
frame he looked like the British lion on the shield over 
the door of the Khartoum consulate. In that artistic 
effort the lion was equally lean and ragged, having 
perhaps been thus represented by the artist as a pic¬ 
torial allusion to the smallness of the Consul's pay; 
the illustration over the shabby gateway utters, ‘ Be¬ 
hold my leanness ! 150 1. per annum !' 
“ I feel a touch of the poetic stealing over me when 
I look at my departing donkey. £ I never loved a dear 
gazelle,' &c. ; but the practical question, ‘ Who is to 
carry the portmanteau V remains unanswered. I do 
