THE PAINTED FOREST 57 is the shade given by the trees. Scanty as is the provision of leaves, the Australian gum-trees (which do not seem to flourish in the Sudan) present their leaf-edges to the sun, and the hand of Nature seems turned against the animal kingdom. So in the Sudan, the shade cast by trees in general is of the most meagre quality.

One species of acacia, the talh, wears a strange aspect. In some localities it might be thought that industrious arboriculturists had taken extraordinary trouble and care to paint the trees from their base up to the topmost branching twig with a preparation of whitewash and sulphur, easily dislodged and staringly white. Such is the appearance of the bark, which annually peels, and the nearly leafless forests are weird where these warped and straggling trees abound. Another variety is, in as vivid a fashion, tinted an Indian red, and in many instances large globules of gum are seen exuding from the bark.

The stifling atmosphere as the wind dropped gave little incentive to move, even when the bank, a few hundred yards away, became alive with small, black, moving objects. The guinea-fowl were in thousands in their progress to the pools for their evening drink. These birds appear to be widely spread over Africa, and are equally numerous in the Northern Transvaal and Rhodesia. Wary and keen-sighted, they afford both sport and provision for the pot. The grilled breast of a young bird is by no means to be despised on the early morning trek. The