308 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
faithful old body-servant, Hassan, was wont at frequent 
intervals to bring- us delicious iced refreshers. Yet, 
however oft he appeared, gigantic Hassan never failed 
to symbolise in person the bridging of that gulf between 
the Sudan of yesterday, with its black and blood-stained 
story, and the peaceful Sudan of to-day. 
Worthy of remark it is, that during five years of world- 
wars and rumours of wars, yet throughout the Anglo- 
Egyptian Sudan never a dog moved its tongue against 
British rule—striking testimony to the administration of 
the Governor-General, Sir Reginald Wingate, who, from 
the reconquest in 1898 till after the outbreak of European 
War, directed the affairs of this vast Dependency—and 
equally of his successors in that high office. That the 
Sudan caused us no anxiety during those crucial years is 
an achievement no less valuable than many a more 
spectacular victory. Far away in remote Darfur, it is 
true, the semi-independent Sultan, Ali Dinar, thought he 
saw opportunity to fish in troubled waters—thought, 
perhaps, that the 450 miles of interposed deserts provided 
sufficient protection. But Ali miscalculated. A photo¬ 
graph I saw at Khartoum—somewhat gruesome—indi¬ 
cated that Ali is incapable of further mischief. His 
features were of Baggara type—to our eyes, somewhat 
brutal and truculent, not altogether unlike those of the 
Khalifa, whose portrait (also taken as he fell on his final 
battlefield of Gedid) is also extant at Khartoum. One 
result of Ali Dinar’s precipitancy is that Darfur now 
forms an integral part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ; and 
Captain Lynes and Mr Willoughby Lowe, it may be 
added, are at present investigating its zoology! 
The Palace of Khartoum overlooks Blue Nile: hence 
it enjoys not only the delightful retreat of Gordon’s 
shady gardens beyond (whence many of these ideas 
emanate), but in front commands a broad stretch of the 
river. From our windows, each dawn revealed an ever- 
changing panorama of bird-life ; the polyglot assemblages 
