CHAPTER III IN A LAND DESERTED Those who take pleasure in sport, natural history, the freedom of an unrestrained life out of doors, the study of unsophisticated man, or the development of a new country, cannot find a more favourable land for the indulgence of their fancy than the Sudan.

It was the combination of all these interests which had more than once drawn me thither, rather than any one in particular ; and while sport claims the greatest attention on a journey up the Blue Nile and its affluents, man irresistibly obtrudes himself in less-known regions far south.

Khartoum, the base of all expeditions, is now under ten days' journey from London, and most sportsmen will find it convenient to be there before the end of the year, to allow for the making of preparations, and to obtain a start by the time the long grass has been at least partly burnt off'. It is essential to arrange long beforehand for supplies of ammunition to be forwarded in advance, though some, of uncertain supply, can be obtained on the 34