CHAPTER IX TO THE LAND OF THE NEGROID Even in the Sudan, with its financially limited resources, conditions ameliorate and progress is made, and in two years Renk had much changed for the better. A low, desolate, fever-stricken patch of crude land, treeless and bare, with a swampy, stagnant kho?' blocked with vegetation and breeding myriad mosquitoes, had been so altered that it was scarcely recognized. A landingstage with a broad approach dignified tlie bank, a grove of trees graced the road—such is the power of African soil, sun, and water ; and the official residence, though of that abomination in hot countries, corrugated iron, was smnptuous in comparison with its predecessor. In place of the swampy khor was a clear surface of water, but in one respect it retained its sinister character.

Here the native women come down to replenish their water-pots ; tucking their wraps tightly round them, they wade knee-deep into the stream, fill their vessels, and struggle back to the bank. But not always ; unperceived, a narrow, long head over there has quietly risen and taken the bearings of the unhappy woman : with directness achieved by 156