228 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
mere circles of upstanding bamboos stuck into the 
ground and laced together with pliant canes and fibres. 
There were three of 
* . 
Huts of the Nuer Tribe. 
Front doors plastered round with clay. 
these enclosures, each 18 
or 20 feet in diameter. 
In the centre of each 
burned a fire and the 
whole interior space was 
heaped up with the 
gradual accumulations 
of wood-ash, deepening 
towards the periphery. 
This wood-ash served as 
bed, bedding, mattress 
and all; it further explained the hoary - grey com¬ 
plexions of these savages which oft puzzled one, 
knowing Shilluks to be coal-black. Several recumbent 
forms could be distinguished, all lying concentrically 
side by side, each buried in ash, and sleeping feet-towards- 
fires. None noticed our intrusion. 
Around, outside the stockades, were 
tethered herds of cattle. 
Leaving the village, we met on 
the narrow trail two young Shilluk 
maidens, tall and shapely—“willowy,” 
in fact, as the fashion-plates one sees 
in newspapers (and in life too, some¬ 
times). On suddenly finding them¬ 
selves confronted by a white man when 
thus in deshabille (if that is the correct 
term), a burst of giggling ensued 
amidst which the pair dived into the An egret. 
bush. An apology for my intrusion 
suggested itself, but their precipitate flight — to say 
nothing of innate modesty — forbade. Surely these 
dusky Eves had consulted the Serpent ? 
In Savagedom, the female sex is rarely much in 
