SAVAGE SUDAN 
CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 
THE SUDAN comprises one-fifth of the African 
Continent. Leaving- exact measurements to the text¬ 
books, its area approximates to a million square miles— 
roughly speaking, tenfold greater than that of our British 
Islands—and, of that million, only a paltry two thousand 
are cultivated. It follows that practically the Anglo- 
Egyptian Sudan remains to-day an “unspoilt wilderness" 
—abandoned to wild men and wild beasts—and that 
vocal fact symbolises its attraction to the author. 
A second outstanding character lies in the fact that 
the Sudan is divided physically and geologically into two 
distinct and approximately equal halves. The northern 
half (600 miles) is all desert-—that is, Sahara: the 
southern, largely alluvial plains. 
The Northern Deserts are simply the eastern 
terminus of the Great Sahara which, commencing some¬ 
where beyond Timbuctoo, traverses the entire continent, 
thence to the Red Sea. In depth extending to 600 miles, 
these Deserts actually enclose Khartoum itself; and the 
whole of this area (whether the sandy plains of the 
interior or the barren mountain-ranges that fringe the 
Red Sea littoral) is virtually useless save only to nomad 
Arab tribes. 
The Southern Plains commence where Sahara 
ends, 100 miles south of Khartoum (or, say, about the 
13th or 14th degree of North latitude). Thence for a 
A 
