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 intimate 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 expedition, 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-rae 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 iyj-'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