54 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

make the camp some four miles east of the town, in a district called Korti. Ambukol was formerly a place of some importance, boasting one, occasionally two kings. The town, which has a population of about a thousand, stands nearly a mile and a half off the actual river, being on a sort of narrow backwater. All the land around is wonderfully fertile, green dhurra fields stretching in every direction, so it made a capital country for a large force of men and camels to encamp in. On arriving at Ambukol, we were greeted with a military display by the Mudir's irregulars ; they advanced on their camels in line, to the sound of tom-toms, and then halted whilst their captains displayed their horsemanship in galloping, pulling up very short, firing guns, and curvetting and prancing around a la riding-school master.

The show over, we wended our way to our camping ground, where we arrived in the cool of the evening, and a most delightful spot it appeared. A grove of palms along the steep banks of the river ; immediately behind them fields of grass dotted with slender mimosa-trees, broad patches of tall green