6 SERVANTS OF THE PARTY.

of which places he stated he had visited, went on to say he

had "attended Ocko Jumbo's son, made the acquaintance of King Ja Yj at Opobo," and that he was "on the most inti-

mate terms with King Ockei." We felt that this gentleman

was accustomed to altogether too high society for us, and we

could promise him no royal acquaintances in the part of the

Soudan we were about to visit. I shall only trouble my readers

with one more quotation, and that from a telegram I received

from a French doctor ; in which, after stating his terms, which

were qiiatre millefrancs pour dciix inois, payes d'avarice, ct tons

Ics frais du voyage,'' he went on to say that he required " nne

cJiambre a part, et ne vent pas itre obligd de snivre ces messienrs

dans lenrs excnrsions de cJiasse "

!

For servants we had with us George Reason, an Englishman who had accompanied us during our journey into the Bogos

country ; and two Swiss, Jules and Anselmier ; these made up

the European contingent. The native servants that we took

from Cairo consisted of Suleiman Daoud, our head man and a

most excellent fellow ; he had been with us on our last expe-

dition, and was for nearly five years with Sir Samuel Baker

when he went as head of the Egyptian government expedition

to the White Nile and equatorial lakes : Shereef the waiter,

very staid and stately, never ruffled or put out by any thing,

slow, but an excellent man in his particular line, keeping the

canteen, his special care, in first-ra^e condition throughout the

entire journey : Ali the cook, a native of the Soudan, a most

important functionary, and a very good servant ; he was with

us during the winter of i^yj-'j^, and on one occasion when

with us at Cassala, he asked leave to get drunk, urging as

his excuse that some gentlemen, with whom he had travelled

several times previously, always allowed him to do so at that

place ; he had consequently got to look upon it as a sort of