INTRODUCTION xi the Sudan ; for a kaimakam it is £20 also with allowances ; and for the higher ranks in proportion. The pay in the civil administration is somewhat higher.

I do not pretend in the following pages to lay down the law, or even to pose as an authority on things Anglo-Sudanese except in so far as four years of service and observation (with less leave than most) entitles me to do. I venture to think that my service covered more interesting and diverse experiences than is usual, but have to admit that of the various " ologies " that should be part of the mental outfit of such as are selected for such employments, I had acquired none when I joined, and did not have the opportunity of using the one I learned later.

I could indeed, as some writers have done, crib anthropological notes from Schweinfurth, Junker, &c., but they have a right to their own observations.

Moreover, much has changed in the last thirty years.

I will not attempt to describe the scenery, for that is beyond the power of the pen of an artist imbued with the soul of the Sudan, much more of mine. For a list of the fauna or flora, I refer you to people like Messrs. Butler and Broun of the Sudan service. To introduce into the narrative that "the stickjawites Africanus twitters on the bough of the multilettericus, soothing its little mate to sleep," as Emin Pasha does, sounds queer, if learned.

Personal experience is all I have to offer. It will be that of a pioneer life. I hope its recital will induce