354 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
gamic—evolved (so it seemed) solely from moisture alone. 
Is it possible that that film suffices to provide both food 
and drink to specialised creatures? So strong- blew the 
moisture-laden breeze all day that if any light article—- 
say a sponge—were carelessly laid down, it would only 
be recovered (if at all) after a race of a hundred 
yards! 
The supply of moisture provided by a breeze may 
suffice for the needs of gazelle and other non-bibulous 
beasts, but is no sort of use for thirsty hunters, and our 
water-supply proved a ceaseless scourge. Its sources lay 
a double day’s journey distant, and for its transport 
hither we were dependent on Hadendowa camel-drivers ; 
and these Hadendowas—the same formidable “ Fuzzies ” 
who in 1884 broke our squares at Teb and Tamai and 
who, under Osman Digna, ambushed the 21st Lancers at 
Omdurman—are in peace-time the most sullen and in¬ 
competent of savages. I write this with equal sorrow 
and conviction ; for, wherever I have travelled in Africa, 
I have ever got on the best of terms with the local 
native. But between me and a Hadendowa (though 
fellow-subjects) there has never existed, nor ever will, a 
single scrap of human sympathy. The tribe are reputed 
expert camel-men, and their standard of intelligence tallies 
with that of their evil beast with its “sculptured sneer.” 
Stolid and apathetic, they are incapable of graceful 
sentiment, and one’s best efforts towards friendship elicit 
no spark of reciprocity. 
In curious contrast stands the fact that from all the 
other Arab tribes among whom we sojourned—including 
the notorious Baggara—we met with marked courtesy 
and friendship. 
One extraneous point should be stated in favour of 
the Hadendowas. Physically they are among the finest 
of the Arab tribes—big, broad-built men with splendid 
muscular development. 
So short at times was the water-supply that one 
