Mosquitos.Mosquitos, or “Ba-uda” as they are called by the Dinkas and by many Sudanese Arabs, are very numerous in places even in the dry season along the White Nile, though here and there there are none even quite close to the water. The natives themselves, though not professing belief in the Anopheles theory, say that if one is bitten much by them they cause fever. The fact of there being a village at any spot may be accepted as sufficient guarantee that there are no, or at any rate, very few, mosquitos there. Most of the villages even in the dry season are a mile or more from the river.
Game.The following species are represented:—Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, hartebeeste (Jacksonii and tora), tiang, roan-antelope, kudu, waterbuck, reedbuck, bushbuck, cobus leucotis, gazelle, oribi, lion, leopard, cheetah, etc. Specimens of Neumann’s hartebeeste are also believed to have been shot near Ahmed Agha.
IN THE DAR EL FUNG.
VILLAGE SCENE—BURUN COUNTRY.
(b) Dar Fung (South of North Lat. 12°).
Boundaries.Dar Fung is now, compared to its palmy days, an unimportant district. Its boundaries are: on the north, Jebels Gereiwa and Rera; on the east, Jebel Agadi and the Fazogli district. Southwards, it extends to the Abyssinian frontier, and, including the district of Keili and the northern Burun country, extends westwards towards the Dinkas of the White Nile.
In the days when the Fung were at their best, it included Dul and Assosa etc., which now belong to Abyssinia.
J. Tabi and Ingassana.Jebel Tabi and district is included in Dar Fung. The Ingassana, now under Mek Agoda, who inhabit it, remained independent and refused to pay tribute to Idris Wad Regab or the Government until February, 1903, when the Mudir visited this district and established the headquarters of the Dar Fung District at Soda instead of Gule, without opposition. The Ingassana are seldom met without their peculiar sickle-shaped swords. They also possess curious boomerang-like throwing-sticks. They keep apparently a good deal to themselves, as complaints against them are rare. They expressed delight at coming under the ægis of the Government, and at the assurance of their future immunity from slave raids. The district of Tabi is hilly and well watered, and appears to be much more healthy than the surrounding plains. It is said to much resemble Erkowit in the Suakin district. Pigs are not uncommon in this district, and the menu of the chiefs is a varied one, dogs, horses, camels, leopards, etc., are all eaten, especially the former, with great relish. The skulls of all animals consumed are arranged in order round the enclosures of the houses.