In Spite Of My Explanations To The Sheik By The Interpreter Tomby, He Refused To Bring Either Grass Or Wood For The Expected Soldiers' Huts, Or In Fact To Do Anything To Serve Us.

Upon one occasion, as my men were sowing and clearing the land for planting, he employed natives to work at the same kind of cultivation in front of the troops, in order to claim a right to the soil.

On this occasion he came himself, prepared with a cup formed of a small gourd-shell slung by a string upon his neck. He explained that this was his cup for drinking araki, with which he requested to be supplied.

"How long are you going to remain here?" he asked. He continued, "You had better go back to Khartoum, and I will eat the corn you have planted when it becomes ripe."

I explained that Gondokoro would be head-quarters, and that troops would always remain there, and we should cultivate a large extent for corn. He replied: "Then who does this land belong to? - to you or to me?" I explained that his people had been driven out by a superior force, and that we had found it abandoned; at the same time, neither he nor his people dare remain here without my protection, therefore the land belonged to the Khedive of Egypt; but if the natives wished to re-settle I would give them their original property.

He simply replied, "Who does this tree belong to?" (we were standing beneath its shade). "It belongs to the Khedive of Egypt," I replied, "who is now protector of the whole country, and I am his representative to establish his government."

He replied:

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