184 TO THE LAND OF THE NEGROID never would get in Fashoda. Having marched many miles, their regret was extreme.

Walking homewards, a most characteristic spectacle presented itself. A long line of perhaps twenty men, of all colours and sizes, stood facing roughly north-east ; together they knelt and prostrated themselves, mumbling their prayers and performing the whole ceremony so religiously observed by the Muslims. I have often been struck by the accuracy with which they face Mecca ; they stand the test of compass and map most remarkably. Can one imagine a party of navvies in Britain knocking off work five times a day for the purpose of performing devotional exercises ?

Here in Fashoda there did not appear to be the nightly disturbance by hyaenas to anything like the extent I observed on the Blue Nile. For at Singa, newer in foundation and surrounded by bush, these animals haunted the place in the night. Incredibly bold, the mad barking by dogs of the village would herald the robber, who would now and then steal a goat which had been carelessly folded. Apparently fearless of man, though not daring to touch him, they would steal past our beds like grim shadows on one occasion even jolting the bed of a sleeper.

Familiarity breeds contempt, and no qualms were experienced after the lapse of a few nights.

Yet there appears to be one species of a far different character. Three soldiers came into Renk and declared they had been attacked by a monster hyaena, black in colour. They escaped with diflfi-