THE MYSTERIOUS WEST 181 spondence on the subject had been protracted, and the expense he was being involved in enormous.

Nevertheless, he dared not face the return to his family without having complied with their wishes, and the corpse was exhumed after months of interment, and despatched the 1,800 miles northwards to Cairo. The sacrifice he thus undertook would probably entail a protracted sojourn in exile, far from the "fleshpots" which his soul yearned for. The phenomenon has been observed here of a corpse resisting the apparent effects of decomposition, much in the same way that has been noticed in Irish bogs. When the body of Lupton Bey was exhumed on the occupation of Omdurman, it was mummified and perfectly recognizable after the lapse of years.

Across our path marched a tall, erect figure, black as sin. Long muscular thighs protruded from the ox-hide garment hung over her shoulder, as a mother of Shilluks made her way home to the hut far away to the west.

That mysterious West—what lands and scenes are lit up by the sun as it throbs its way daily across the great continent ! From the long-limbed Shilluks it goes onwards to Nubas in South Kordofan, hilly and wild, but half brought under restraint and control, where the villages perch on the hills, and every man's hand turns against that of his neighbour ; then over the regions of French Sudan, Lake Tchad, Nigeria, and on to the sea.

It sees countless myriads of human beings, whose