Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 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 THE JOURNEY'S REQUIREMENTS 85 spot. Tents are unnecessary at this time of the year; an X bed is best, with valise for bedding and mosquito-curtains ; and if much camel-riding be undertaken, it is well to be provided with a maklufa, or saddle, and with the large grass matting of the country, which best protects baggage from being frayed by the camel-hair ropes, and is also a means of obtaining shade by day, and of carpeting the rough ground by the bedside at night. A donkey or mule, the latter in preference, is most useful when approaching spots favoured by game, and much tedious walking may thus be avoided. Air-tight tin uniform cases are handy, and are well adapted for loading on the camel; while the wooden boxes specially made for the same purpose most ef... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.