It is only of late years that the Sudan Government has laid particular stress on the language side of Southern administration. Hitherto all official intercourse with the natives had been through the medium of Arabic, the official language of the North. It became apparent after a while that the form of Arabic spoken in the Southern provinces was so debased as to be hardly practical. Unlike the Northerners, whose religion and culture is Islamic and who speak Arabic in the home side by side with the local dialects, the Southern tribes are pagan, and for the most part strongly opposed to outside culture, whether Islamic or otherwise, while only those who come into contact with governing officials or Northern traders can speak the jargon which passes for Arabic in the South.