62 Kwdofan.

Disease. ancl generally of a low typhoid character. In general, only the native escapes ; even Arabs and Turks, who have been in the country for years, succumb towards the end of the rainy season.

The mortality is very great ; Major Prout lost 6 per cent, of the men under his command in four months, though they were well sheltered and attended to.

Major Prout says he does not consider the climate of Kordofan, during the rainy season, positively dangerous to persons who can take care of themselves ; but, as Dr. Livingstone has written, "men may escape death in an unhealthy place, but the system is enfeebled, and life reduced to its lowest ebb."

ophthalmia. Ophthalmia, so common in Egypt, is rare in the Sudan, but is more severe in its form.

Frenhit. A malady to which new comers are specially liable is the so-called frenhit, fertit, or farantit. It shows itself by a swelling generally in the foot, which has to be cut open. A worm then comes out, said to be sometimes a yard. in length ; the Gruinea worm is the ordinary name. There are many theories as to its origin, but it is generally found in the legs ; it probably enters while the person is wading, and is not induced by drinking the water.

In extracting the worm, great care must be taken not to break it off short. It should be drawn out as far as possible, then made fast to a twig, and the process repeated in a few days. Great cleanliness is said to be a preventive. Single worms, though causing much pain, are not fatal, but when 20 or 30 are present, the prognosis is very bad. Travellers should be most careful in drying themselves after being in water, and avoid resting their arms and legs on the bare ground. The natives, as a remedy for this complaint, use a strong solution of a plant called gocik, both internally and externally.

Winter.—The wind is changeable towards the end of September, and often blows from the north, while high light clouds take the place of the cumulus masses ; by the middle of October, the wind is settled in the north, and continues to blow steadily from that quarter during the winter.

The thermometer falls gradually. The means of a number of observations in November show :—