The benefits of the abolition of slave-raiding and kidnapping are

immediate and obvious to everyone. Even the Arab can understand them,

but he finds it very difficult to appreciate our attitude—which,

needless to say, is uncompromising enough—towards slavery as a

domestic institution. It is the one serious complaint which he has

against the new government. His domestic habits and customs have been

completely based on slavery for centuries. Slavery is permitted and

recognised by the Koran. In most cases the slaves themselves have been

treated more like members of the family than as slaves, and no doubt

many of them have had far happier lives than they would have had in

their own villages. Nor is it difficult to point to evils which have

arisen from the emancipation of the slaves. It is a melancholy fact

that many of the towns in the Soudan are crowded with freed slaves,

too lazy to do anything but steal, while the women have recourse to

an even less reputable occupation. It is easier to break down the

social system of centuries than to build up a sounder fabric in its

place. But the thing had absolutely to be done if the Soudan was

to have a real regeneration. Even when the slaves have been well

treated, the demoralization caused by slavery has been great. The

Arabs have all the vices of a slave-owning people. It was a good time

to make an absolutely fresh start. All changes of such magnitude are

bound to produce dislocations. The evils of the change will die out

with the present generation. The good must be waited for patiently,

but it is sure to come.

CHAPTER XIX

EDUCATION AND THE GORDON COLLEGE

Probably the last thing that a military government might be expected

to take an interest in is education, and yet few educational

establishments are so widely famous as the Gordon College at

Khartoum. As yet it owes its reputation to the fact that it was

founded by one great soldier in memory of another, not to its

achievements; it was born great. But already it has justified

its founders; its mere existence marks an extraordinary contrast

between the character of the present régime in the Soudan and that

of any preceding.

Whenever the Soudan is mentioned, the first question asked is,

‘How is the Gordon College getting on?’ and the question cannot

be answered in a word. The actual building is indeed for the present

complete. It is a handsome structure of native red brick, built

in the Moorish style, but retaining the collegiate character. It

occupies two sides of a square, the front facing on the river. In

the centre is the principal entrance, and over it a tower. If the

original design is finally carried out, the whole quadrangle will

be completed. Along the inside runs a cool and airy cloister,

with winding stairs leading to the upper story; the class-rooms

are spaciously designed. Its commanding position at the east end of

the town makes it a conspicuous landmark for many miles round. From

no point is this so remarkable as from the hill of Surgham, which

overlooks the battlefield of Kerreri. Here is summed up much of the

past and the future of the Soudan. On the one hand is the scene of

the final overthrow of the forces of darkness and ignorance by war;

on the other the symbols of that longer contest for the conquest of

the Soudan by the peaceful arts of science and learning.

With the eye of faith it is easy to look forward into the future, and

to imagine the time, generations hence, when the Gordon College will

be a true centre of learning for all these vast territories. Then it

will stand, a completed quadrangle, in the middle of large gardens,

its own territory, as green and cultivated as they are now arid

and dusty. Its halls and class-rooms will be crowded with picked

students from all the provincial centres, not vainly pursuing a dry

and vain scholasticism, as in the other degenerate Universities of

the Mohammedan East, but eagerly following in the paths of living

science, and learning by practical teaching in the laboratory

and workshop to wrest from Nature her secrets, and to absorb the

principles underlying practice in the departments of chemistry and

medicine, mechanics, agriculture, and the arts. Perhaps once more,

in years to come, the culture and science of the Arabs will be as

famous as they were in the great days of Arab dominion.

It is a long way to travel from such stimulating forecasts to the

actual state of learning and education in the Soudan to-day. There

was not much learning under the Egyptians, but at least a certain

amount of theological study went on. Under the Khalifa even that was

sedulously discouraged, and the books were ordered to be destroyed

because he feared that they might tend to discredit the unorthodox

doctrine of Mahdism. Reading and writing were not likely to flourish

under a ruler who, possessing neither of these arts himself, and

entertaining strong suspicions of those who did, was wont to give

drastic expression to his views. As a consequence, there never was a

country more absolutely and wholly illiterate. Writing is practically

an unknown art, and reading hardly less so. It is perfectly useless

to post a Government Proclamation unless a competent person is

stationed by it to read it out to any passer-by. At the same time,

there flourishes the most exaggerated respect for a written document,

which is regarded as a kind of magic book, and cases have been known

in which swindlers have extorted large sums of money by going round

exhibiting a paper professing to be an order to pay issued by the

Government. Obviously, education has had to be on very humble lines

at first, and must continue so for some time.

Was, then, the Gordon College a too ambitious attempt to anticipate

the future? Is it a mere white elephant, doomed to be a vain monument

of an ill-directed wave of enthusiasm? Such a view is far from the

truth. It would be strange indeed if a project so dear to the heart

of Lord Kitchener was of such a nature. Certainly, it is impossible

to start a complete University right away with a building and an

endowment of some £4,000 a year. Time is of the essence of the

question. It is possible to argue that the money used in the building

might have been more advantageously expended in other ways. But,

apart from the fact that the subscribers doubtless wished to see

some immediate result for their munificence, I am sure that it was

the right policy to build at once.

For the Gordon College, though not yet a University, is much more

than a college. It is the centre of all the new educational and

intellectual influences in the Soudan. Its director is also head

of the Education Department; the activities of both are inseparably

connected. It acts as an extraordinary stimulus upon the authorities

in the direction of education. It would have been so easy and so

natural for a Government so hard beset for money to neglect education

for other objects, apparently more practical and more immediately

pressing. The actual material presence of the college makes it

impossible for its claims to be overlooked. Very likely without it

there would not have been an Education Department at all. Secondly,

but for the existence of the building, the Soudan would certainly

never have obtained such valuable gifts as those of Mr. Wellcome’s

bacteriological laboratory and Sir W. Mather’s complete technical

workshop apparatus, containing all that is necessary for the

establishment and organization of departments for manual training and

technical instruction. Thirdly, the building itself has been already,

and will be to an increasing extent, of the greatest use; and,

moreover, there is still about £100,000 of the original endowment

remaining, the income from which is playing a great part, as will

be shown, in providing the beginnings of education in the Soudan,

and so laying the foundations for the future work of the college

itself. Lord Kitchener was wiser than his critics. Among his many

claims to fame, none is greater than the clearness with which he saw

that a sound educational system is one of the fundamental requirements

of the Soudan, as well as a substantial foundation for our rule.

In 1901 the Soudan Government spent £1,421 on education, in

addition to the Gordon College endowment; in 1902, £3,577; and

in 1903 something over £6,000. With such resources as these, it

is obvious that nothing heroic could be attempted. Only the more

immediate needs could be attended to. Looking to the necessity for

the education of a class of native public servants, it was most

important to establish some sound primary schools, in which the boys

should be given a fair general education in reading, writing, and

arithmetic, besides a certain amount of history and geography and

English. Four of these schools are now in existence; two of them,

those at Halfa and Suakin, were established some eight or nine years

ago by the Egyptian Government, and have only recently been handed

over to the Soudan; they are in an efficient condition. The most

interesting, considering their recent establishment, are those at

Khartoum and Omdurman. That at Omdurman was the first, the direct

offspring of the Gordon College. It now numbers over 200 pupils, and

is in a most flourishing condition. There are constant applications

for admission, partly, no doubt, from the reason that pupils of the

school are thought likely to obtain Government employment, but partly

also from a real appreciation of the advantages of education.

The school course is divided into four years, and the curriculum is

based on the Egyptian one—modified to the extent that no subjects

are taught in English, except English itself. An inspection of the

school made it clear to me that, at any rate, in the subject which

I could understand—the teaching of English—the methods were

thoroughly sound, and the results good. Pupils in their last year are

also taught land-measuring. The reason is the great demand which comes

from every province for land-measurers—a most important thing in

view of the assessments for the land-tax—while no trained men are

available. This part of the work is taught both in the class-room

and practically in the field. I am certain that in a very short

time there will be land-measurers available of very good ability,

so excellent was the quality of some of the work done.

Some, of course, of these boys are the sons of Egyptians in the

Government service, to whom it is a great blessing to be able to get

a good education for their children on the spot. But far the majority

of them—at least 90 per cent.—are genuine Soudanese, some of

them members of good Arab families, whose fathers were prominent

in the service of the Khalifa. Originally it was intended that this

school should be transferred to Khartoum, and housed in the college

as soon as the general exodus took place. But as Omdurman shows no

signs at present of diminishing, and is, indeed, once more increasing,

the school has been kept on, and another started on similar lines in

Khartoum itself. This school is also flourishing, but it naturally

contains a larger proportion of the Egyptian-born pupils; altogether

it has about 120 scholars. This school is now housed in the Gordon

College itself.

Book-learning is not the only channel of instruction employed. I had

the good fortune to be umpire in the first football match between

Khartoum and Omdurman schools, in the mosque square at Khartoum. It

was a hot afternoon, and I felt as though I should get a sunstroke

whilst umpiring; but these boys, all hatless as they were, played

with great energy, and appeared to derive nothing but benefit from

the heat. They played a good game, and it was pleasant to see

that what they lacked in experience they made up in courage and

determination. All the players, of whatever shade of black or brown,

and the shades were very various, showed a spirit which augurs well

for the future. Anybody who can play football with energy in Central

Africa must have good stuff in him. The match was drawn.

In another direction also an encouraging start has been made. There

is at present in the Soudan no skilled native labour; blacksmiths,

tinsmiths, carpenters, and bricklayers, are all in demand, and have to

be imported from outside at great trouble and expense. In the hope of

meeting this demand, an industrial school has been established at the

Dockyard Works, which are now on the river at Omdurman, but which will

eventually be moved to Halfaya. The head of the Steamboat Department

agreed to take in sixty boys as apprentices. These are divided into

two shifts of thirty each, and they alternately receive a day’s

schooling and do a day’s practical work at their separate trades

as carpenters, fitters, or riveters. In school their time is divided

between reading, writing, and arithmetic, and also drawing. The plan

has been found to answer admirably. Not only does the education they

receive improve their intelligence as workers, but some of the boys

have shown such proficiency in drawing that they are able to copy

engineering and building designs with such accuracy as to be able

to relieve the English superintendents of a good deal of work. Many

of these boys are sons of men employed in unskilled labour at the

works, who take the greatest interest in seeing their sons advance

so far beyond themselves. Many applications for admission have to

be refused, and there is little doubt that when Sir W. Mather’s

technical school at the Gordon College is in full swing, it will

fill a great need in the requirements of the country.

On the whole, the most difficult task which the Director of Education

has to face is that of diffusing the elements of knowledge among

the masses of the people. The great distances to be covered alone

impose a tremendous obstacle. But it is extremely important that at

least a portion of the population should be able to understand the

outlines of the machinery of government as laid down in notices and

proclamations, so as to be able to protect themselves against the

exactions of minor officials and the frauds and deceits practised on

them by wandering rogues. It has wisely been determined to proceed

along the lines laid down by Mohammedan tradition. The kuttabs, or

preliminary schools, are a well-known part of the ordinary religious

organization. They are supposed to give instruction in reading and

writing and the Koran, and there are many of them scattered over

the Soudan, as in other Mohammedan countries. They are, in fact, a

sort of private elementary school, something like the old dames’

schools once existing in parts of England. Unfortunately, they are

almost entirely useless at present. The teachers are incredibly

ignorant. What little instruction they give is confined to teaching

by rote certain passages from the Koran, the meaning of which is

understood by neither pupil nor teacher. The buildings are usually

filthy to the last degree. The idea is to establish model kuttabs

in different parts of the Soudan, and to make them as efficient as

possible, so as to improve the others by their example. To quote

the words of the Director:

‘The process of formation has been in all cases the same. With

the help of the Mudir, a suitable building is put up; then the

least incompetent sheikh that can be procured is installed. After

confidence has been established, and the nucleus of a school formed,

he is superseded by a trained teacher from Egypt, who, under the

local supervision of the Mudir and occasional supervision from my

office, begins to reduce chaos to order.’

Progress has not been very rapid. Lack of money and lack of competent

schoolmasters sadly hamper all operations. But kuttabs are now

established, attached as a sort of junior class to the schools at

Khartoum, Omdurman, Halfa, and Suakin. A model kuttab has been

established at Berber, which is reported to be doing well, and

another is being built at Dongola. The like is also being attempted

at Wad Medani, a populous town on the Blue Nile, capital of the

province of Sennar, with about 40,000 inhabitants. Reference has

been made to the lack of trained schoolmasters. Egypt itself feels

this difficulty, and Egypt is at present the only source of supply

on which the Soudan can draw. It was to meet this demand—at least,

so far as the kuttabs are concerned—that a small training college

for native sheikhs was opened in the beginning of 1901 in connection

with the school at Omdurman. At first this interesting experiment

was not very successful. The students, who all belonged to the best

Arab families, were all proud, ignorant, and lazy; and as Arabs they

were inclined to despise the Egyptian schoolmasters, whose task it

was to teach them. But now there is a great improvement. They have

increased in number to about thirty, and only lack of room prevents

a further increase. I watched them doing their own lessons, and also

receiving practical instruction in teaching by taking a class of the

school under the guidance of a master. It was impossible to doubt

the value of the experiments. They were nearly all fine-looking,

intelligent young men, some of them really handsome, with the keen,

clear-cut features that mark the pure-bred Arab. Three of them had

come from distant Kassala, where at present there are no means of

education whatever. The course lasts three years. At the end of it

they are to be examined as to their fitness, and they will then be

drafted off either to teach in their kuttabs or else to some posts in

connection with the native Courts. Whether as schoolmasters or Cadis,

they will be most useful elements in the development of the Soudan.

In the negro portion of the Soudan, inhabited by the pagan tribes,

the people are so backward in civilization that the question of

education does not at present arise, or, if it does arise, assumes a

totally different aspect. Here is the field for the missionary. Two

missions are already established—one, the American Medical Mission,

on the Sobat; and the other, the Austrian Roman Catholic Mission

at Taufikieh, on the White Nile. Both are doing good work, and

both are to be encouraged and assisted by the Government. In other

parts of the Soudan it must be remembered that we are dealing with

a fanatically Mohammedan population, and any suspicion that the

Government was trying to proselytize would immediately wreck all

schemes of education, and probably be the signal for grave disorders.

It will be a long time before the schools turn out sufficient pupils

to fill the Government Civil Service, and there does not seem to be

any danger of producing mere ‘babus,’ hanging about and relying

on a certain knowledge of English to procure them a job. The teaching

of English is entirely confined to those boys who are going to make

use of it in the Government Service or in commercial pursuits, where

its knowledge is required. For the ordinary mass of the population

nothing is to be gained by an imperfect knowledge of English. The

authorities are unquestionably right in discouraging such teaching;

the supposed political advantages of it are small, if not entirely

imaginary. The Soudan can never be a real white man’s country;

its rulers must always be speakers of Arabic, and its people will do

far better to employ their time in more useful ways than struggling

with a foreign language.

The Gordon College is the centre of education, but even now its

activities are not confined to mere teaching. It is proposed to form a

collection of books dealing with the Soudan, its peoples, its natural

history, and its various productions, accompanied by specimens to

illustrate them, and some progress has been made. Mr. Wellcome’s

valuable bacteriological research laboratory is in full working order,

and a skilled expert from Scotland has been in charge of it for

some months. He is doing a work of great importance, not only to the

Soudan, but also to the scientific world in general. The Soudan is a

land where strange diseases both of men and animals abound. There is

a wide field for research. The scientific and systematic examination

of these obscure subjects is already bearing fruit, and cannot fail

to ameliorate the conditions of life in these tropical regions for

the European as well as for the native.

Lord Cromer has promised that more shall be done for education in

the future. There is no need for hurry; indeed, it is essential that

the educational system shall be built up slowly with caution and

patience. But in time each province will have its own primary and

technical schools, whose pupils will be selected from the elementary

kuttabs. Afterwards, when all this has been carefully organized, the

provincial schools will in their turn pass on their more promising

students to Khartoum to receive the higher education which will then

be demanded. Then the Gordon College will at last become a real

college. In it the germ of a most hopeful future is contained. If

the work proceeds on the same sound lines as hitherto—which there

is no reason to doubt—great days are coming. The Arab is capable

of a very high degree of civilization, and has a great intelligence,

which has as yet had no chance of development. And in those days, I

doubt not, those who founded the Gordon College, and first kindled the

fire of learning, will be praised by its students as sincerely and as

deservedly as the benefactors of any of our own Western foundations.

CHAPTER XX

TRADE AND COMMERCE

Sir Rudolf von Slatin, Inspector-General of the Soudan, who possesses

an unrivalled experience of the country, reports that ‘the

whole situation in the country is very satisfactory. Everywhere

I went, from north to south and from east to west, I found that

villages and cultivation had increased. The population is larger

and wealthier; flocks and herds are more numerous; security

prevails, and general satisfaction is expressed with the present

rule.’ Once more, or, rather, nearly for the first time, life and

property are safe. Relieved from the scourge of war and tyranny,

people are everywhere resuming their old occupations. They have

even recovered from the shock of finding themselves under just and

settled government, and are no longer content merely to exist. New

wants are being felt, and with the advance of material prosperity

trade and commerce are springing up.

There are, however, considerable obstacles to the development of

trade. First of all there is a lack of labour. Partly this is due

to lack of population, but partly also to other causes. Slavery has

left its mark, and many of the Arabs are too proud and too lazy

to take part in manual labour; in laziness, though not in pride,

many of the negro tribes are fully their equals. Secondly, there

is the difficulty of communications in so vast a country, and the

lack of transport. Thirdly, the Soudan is very poor, and capital is

wanting. Still, every year shows an improvement in these respects.

The population is steadily growing, partly by natural increase, and

partly by immigration from neighbouring countries of people who had

fled during the rebellion. Attempts have also been made to assist the

increase by colonization. A number of old soldiers from the Soudanese

battalions, who are enlisted for life, were permitted to retire,

and with their wives and children were established in villages on

the Nile and at Kassala. The villages were organized on a more or

less military basis, with a well-known non-commissioned officer as

chief. Each colonist was allotted two or three acres of good rain

or pasture land, or an acre of Nile foreshore. He was given grain

for sowing, besides a quantity of dhurra sufficient to support him

until his crops grew. Markets were also started. Unfortunately, the

experiments were generally unsuccessful. The colonies at Dongola and

Berber failed altogether. It was found that the black when released

from the strict discipline of the regiment was more anxious to enjoy

doing nothing, after the manner of his ancestors, than to work,

and if he saw a chance of living by begging or stealing he was apt

to leave his cultivation alone, and go off to some town.

At Hellet Abbas, on the White Nile, it was found that if the rains

were good the colonists would prepare the ground and sow the crop,

but if it came to artificial irrigation and shadoof work they soon

tired of this heavier labour and left the crops to wither. Happily,

a much better account comes from Kassala. The Mudir of that province

reported:

‘The colony of blacks established at Kassala continues to thrive,

and in every way justifies its existence. They have a well-laid-out

village, and are eager to cultivate along the Gash, and have also a

fair amount of rain crops. Labourers can nearly always be obtained

from amongst them for public works, and there are some very fair

masons who are permanently employed. I wish we had the means of

teaching some of them carpentry and blacksmith’s work as well. They

have acquired a good deal of small stock.

‘Those of Gedaref are not so thrifty, and are lazy; they do not

cultivate so much or so well, but I hope for improvement.’

Transport and communications are indeed vastly better than they

were in Egyptian days. The railway from Halfa to Khartoum makes an

all-important difference. It has already given an immense stimulus

to the export trade; without it there would have been quite another

tale to tell of the last five years. But except in the province

of Berber it does not tap any local resources. Great part of it

lies in an uninhabited desert. Every train leaving Halfa has to

carry with it 1,520 cubic feet of water. And there are 200 miles

of river between Halfa and the outer world at Assouan, and then

700 miles more to the sea. Carriage of goods over such a mileage,

with its necessary transhipments, is a long and costly business,

nearly prohibitive for bulky articles. Coal, for example, is seldom

less than £4 a ton at Khartoum, and often nearer £6. No one who

had to build a railway in the Soudan for commercial purposes only

would think of crossing the desert to Halfa; his first thought would

be to connect Khartoum with the sea-board at Suakin.

There is also the railway from Halfa to Kerma, thirty miles

from Dongola. But this, too, was laid down in haste for military

purposes. It is laid so badly, with such sharp curves and such

steep gradients, owing to the nature of the country, that no heavy

trains can run on it, and with the present rolling-stock an engine

has sometimes to make three or four starts before it can master an

ascent. It is worked at a loss of about £20,000 a year, and it has

become a serious problem whether the money so spent could not be

employed much more advantageously elsewhere, so many are the claims

on the Soudan Exchequer. It would be far better to take up the whole

line, and relay it from Dongola to connect with the main-line at Abu

Hamed. For not only is this a much easier country, but the southern

part of the province, which is the richer, and inhabited by a more

industrious and hard-working population, would be opened up. But at

present no money is forthcoming either for this or for the complete

repair of the existing line. So poor Dongola is in the tantalizing

position of having a railway, and yet not being able to take full

benefit of it. It is actually suffering from a surplus of foodstuffs,

and is a year behindhand in its exports.

The province is famous for its dates; not only is it a great exporter

of the ordinary fruit, but it also produces a golden date, which is

said to be the best in the world, better, even, than the Algerine

date, so well known in Europe. It has also abundance of irrigable

land as good as Upper Egypt, which it very much resembles in general

climatic conditions. As its numerous and interesting antiquities show,

it once supported a very large population; but now a great deal of

land is lying waste, and the population, though increasing very fast,

is still not more than about 100,000. With better communications

its prospects are very good. When Egypt becomes overcrowded, as it

must in time if the present rate of increase is maintained, Dongola

will offer a fair field to Egyptian immigration. The conditions

of life are so similar to those in Egypt that it cannot fail to be

the most attractive part of the Soudan. Even as things are, owing

to the partial advantage afforded by the railway and facilities of

transport by boat-carriage on the Nile, the trade of the province is

increasing. Cotton goods and luxuries like tea, sugar, coffee, and

perfumeries, are the principal imports, and cereals are exported as

well as dates. The people are wealthier, and anxious to buy such goods

as cutlery, crockery, soap, agricultural implements, and hardware,

but well-to-do traders have not as yet exploited the field, as they

would do if the railway difficulty were solved.

Once Khartoum is connected with the sea by railway, the principal

obstacle in the way of trade will have been removed, and, fortunately,

this is no longer a mere vision of hopeful men. Practically the

railway has already been begun. It will strike across the desert to

the Atbara, crossing the mountains near Sinkat, and then run along it

to join the main-line near where it crosses that river. If the railway

does not come to Berber itself, Berber will probably travel up the

Nile to meet it. Arab towns are not very difficult to shift. The

whole route has been carefully surveyed, and a good deal has been

spent in improving the port of Suakin. Materials are being rapidly

collected. This time careful preparations are being made; there will

be none of those kaleidoscopic changes of policy which were so fatal

in 1885. It may confidently be expected that in two or three years’

time there will be something to show very much more substantial than

a tennis-court at Dover built of much-travelled material, the only

result of our former exertions. For the construction of the line the

Government will be its own contractor. The Soudan Railway Department

has a very capable staff, and they will be able to do the work as

efficiently as any outside contractor, and much more cheaply. It is

hoped that as far as possible native labour may be made use of. It

is a hopeful indication of a change of spirit among the Arabs that

the local sheikhs have agreed to bring their tribesmen to work;

the experiment is worth trying even if it fails. No such thing has

ever happened in the Soudan before.

Meantime Suakin is looking eagerly forward. Its inhabitants have

naturally suffered by the complete diversion of trade to the Nile

Valley route. Very few of them can even afford to repair their houses,

and the town shows signs of decay. Most of the people are unemployed,

and labour is very cheap. There was formerly a good deal of trade with

India and the Red Sea ports, but most of this has fallen away, and

nearly all the Indian merchants who formerly had their headquarters

there have left. But now that the desert which shuts off the Soudan

from the sea is really to be bridged over, there will be a great

change. The one seaport of these immense territories cannot fail to

be a busy and prosperous place.

Once the new line is completed, the distance from Khartoum to the

sea will be reduced by about two-thirds, to some 450 miles, with a

proportionate reduction in expense of carriage, and it will then be

possible to think of building other feeder lines in various parts of

the Soudan. A branch line to Kassala and on to Gedaref and Gallabat

along the Abyssinian frontier will tap a very rich district and

open up the Abyssinian trade. Possibly in the distant future such a

line may be continued southwards so as to connect with Uganda. In

the recent agreement with Abyssinia, powers have been taken to

build in Abyssinian territory for this purpose. But this is still

a long way outside practical politics. Of far more importance for

the immediate development of the country would be a light railway

from Omdurman or Duem to El Obeid, or across the rich Ghezireh from

Duem to Wad Medani on the Blue Nile, or, again, from near Wad Medani

to Gedaref. Easy communication with the sea will render it possible

to bring the necessary plant into the country at a reasonable cost,

and the experience gained as to material and labour in building the

Suakin line will also be invaluable.

Meanwhile the provincial Governors are doing all they can to improve

the caravan routes and roads. In great part of the Soudan this

is simply a question of increasing the number of wells; metalled

roads are scarcely necessary as yet, outside a few towns. Wheel

traffic is almost non-existent; the camel and the ass are the great

public carriers. It is rather strange that the camel has not been

more used for pulling wheel transport than he has. One camel can

pull three or four times as much as he can carry. All the heavy

machinery of the Nile Valley Gold Mining Company, working in Nubia,

has been transported in this way from the river, a distance of sixty

miles. Rarely a camel may be seen hauling a plough in Egypt. But

there are limits to the use of camels. They cannot breed successfully

south of parallel 13°, and in all the country south of this the

serut fly makes it almost impossible for either them or horses to

live at certain seasons of the year.

Above all, access to the sea will greatly stimulate the use made of

water carriage within the country. In the Nile and its tributaries the

Soudan possesses a system of natural trade-routes unequalled in Africa

for internal commerce. The river traffic, though already growing,

is merely in its infancy. The Government has a considerable fleet of

steam and sailing vessels between Wadi Halfa and Assouan, and also on

the Blue and White Niles. They are also encouraging an English company

which has placed some steamers and steam-barges on both rivers. On

the Blue Nile there is regular steamer communication with Rosaires,

426 miles from Khartoum, during high Nile, about six months in the

year, and even in low Nile most of the river is navigable by native

boats. On the White Nile, now that the sudd has been cleared, steamers

and native boats can ply the whole year round up to Gondokoro. In time

the Sobat may prove a very good route for trade with Abyssinia. And

the Bahr el Ghazal, with its network of waters, is in this respect

the most fortunate of all the provinces. Many of its waterways are

still blocked by sudd, but every year the navigation is improving. A

serviceable channel is now available on the Jur River as far as Wau,

and large steamers will eventually be able to get up even much further

than this. The other rivers will in time be opened up. In a country

where at present everything has to be carried on men’s heads, this

will be an extraordinary benefit from every point of view, and if

the province answers at all to its old reputation as one of the most

fertile spots of Africa, it will do very well, in spite of mosquitoes,

serut flies, malaria, guinea worm, and all its other plagues.

As for the lack of capital both for private enterprise and public

works, that, like the lack of population, can only be cured by

time. Overhasty development could only do harm, even if it were

possible. As trade improves and agriculture develops, the people will

become more wealthy, and the two will react upon each other. That

large sums will be invested by private capitalists or firms is not

to be expected for years to come. But even now an Englishman is

erecting flour-mills at Wad Medani, and if his venture succeeds

it may be followed by others. The Government is doing all in its

power to encourage agriculture by small loans for the purchase of

seeds, water-wheels, and cattle to work them. Perhaps some form of

State-supported Agricultural Bank will be established.

The Soudan is an agricultural country; in that direction alone

can real progress be made, and the progress depends mainly upon

irrigation. Between the Atbara and the Blue Nile, and between the

Blue Nile and the White Nile, there is, as has been pointed out,

a great field for irrigation works on a large scale, but the amount

of crops now grown by direct irrigation is very small. Along the

Blue Nile water-wheels are numerous for the first ten miles above

Khartoum. There used to be 3,000 between Khartoum and Berber, but

in 1898 there were no more than seventy; and though the number has

increased, it has yet nothing like reached the old level. The same

is true of the rest of Berber Province and of Dongola. There is also

a certain amount of irrigation on islands in the White Nile above

Khartoum. When the river is falling, large mud flats appear in the

centre of the stream. To these the people transport their cattle and

belongings; they sow their seed in the mud, build themselves huts,

and set up shadoofs to water the growing crops of wheat, barley,

dhurra, and onions. They begin operations towards the end of January,

and in good soil the crops are harvested by May.

What perennial irrigation can do is shown by the gardens at Khartoum,

where lemons, figs, oranges, pomegranates, bananas, vines, and all

kinds of vegetables, grow in profusion all the year round. But at

present nearly all the crops are rain crops. The height to which

water has to be raised out of the Blue Nile is too great for extended

irrigation by mere lift. For the first 150 miles from Khartoum the

banks are 26 to 30 feet over the summer level, and further south

33 to 39 feet, the difference between summer and flood level being

about 23 feet. The soil of the Ghezireh is a rich alluvial deposit

sometimes 150 feet deep. The inhabitants build small dykes across the

general slope of the country so as to prevent the rain running off

too quickly, and sow their seed as soon as the rain has fallen. The

result as described by Sir R. Wingate a year or two ago is as follows:

‘I recently rode from Wad Medani on the Blue Nile to opposite Duem

on the White Nile, eighty miles across a perfectly flat plain sown

almost throughout its entire length with dhurra, which was standing

6 to 8 feet high. As there is only one crop sown during the short

rainy season, and as this is planted and harvested within a period of

sixty to eighty days, it follows that, if a system of irrigation were

possible in the Ghezireh it would become a huge granary capable of

supplying, not only the whole Soudan, but other countries as well.’

But, of course, any schemes for utilizing the waters of the Nile

have always to be considered in reference to the prior claims of

Egypt. It is only to Egypt that the Soudan can look for the money

necessary to carry out great works, and, naturally, Egypt would

not allow irrigation to be developed in the Soudan unless her own

needs were amply safeguarded. Whenever Egypt undertakes the great

works contemplated on the Upper Nile, the Soudan will share in the

benefit. That will not be for a long time to come, and meanwhile the

Soudan has opportunity to develop her resources and her population so

as to be able to seize the chance when it comes. There seems to be no

reason, however, why works on a small scale should not be undertaken,

subject always to the question of expense, to utilize in the Soudan,

by means of basin irrigation on the Blue Nile or the Atbara, some

of the flood-water during July, August and September, which is only

an embarrassment to Egypt now that perennial irrigation is adopted

so universally in that country. It is only in the preceding summer

months, when the Nile is low, that Egypt is forced to watch the

proceedings of her neighbour with such a jealous eye. It would be

rash to prophesy exactly when irrigation works will be undertaken,

or what form they will take; but it is certain that they will come,

and when they do, their effect upon the Soudan will be immense. The

subject is of peculiar interest to England; the lands in question

are capable of producing other crops than cereals, and, as will

presently be shown, for none are they more suitable than for cotton.

Quite apart from any such speculations upon the future, the external

trade of the Soudan is capable of great expansion under present

conditions. An examination of the returns of imports and exports

during the last years before the rebellion is a very useful guide

to the capacities of the country. The figures are taken from Colonel

Stewart’s report.

There are no returns of imports except for the port of Suakin, but

these embrace practically the whole. Of course, a certain amount

came in by the Nile Valley route, just as now a certain amount

comes in by Suakin instead of by the railway. The position has been

practically reversed, and for purposes of comparison it is fair to

take the imports formerly entering the port of Suakin and those now

carried by the railway. The most important item was cotton goods,

which amounted to about 25,000 to 30,000 kantars annually. Linens were

about 200 to 300 kantars, and woollens 100 to 300 kantars. There was

also a certain amount of silks and silk thread and sewing cotton. The

Indian trade brought in a good deal of grain and tobacco. In 1881

the import of Indian rice amounted to 20,000 kantars. Petroleum

(6,000 kantars), oil, zinc, copper, and iron, appear in the list,

as well as flour and provisions of various kinds in large quantities,

and candles, boots, and clothes. The peculiar tastes of the Soudanese

in luxuries are reflected in the large imports of sandal-wood, and

scents and perfumery, especially fish-scent (700 tons, or 15,400

kantars, a year). Both men and women are particularly fond of strong,

greasy scents. In all native festivities and entertainments these

scents are a very prominent feature, and a native marriage can

be smelt a very long way off. Last, but not least, comes a very

peculiar item: in one year no less than 11,000 dozen umbrellas were

imported. There is certainly enough sunshine in the Soudan, and

in parts of it rain also, to justify a large number of umbrellas,

but it is difficult to believe that 132,000 umbrellas would find a

ready sale in the Soudan to-day. Perhaps the Khalifa particularly

disliked the umbrella-carrying class.

In 1901 the imports of cotton goods had already reached their former

level, amounting to about 28,000 kantars. But the trade is growing

rapidly: in 1902 the imports had risen to 38,000 kantars. Considering

that the population is no more than a third of what it was in 1881,

this is striking testimony of the good effects produced by just

government and a railway. The imports from India have, of course,

fallen away. Scents are far below their former figure, but the

imports of flour and rice have risen; 343 tons of flour and 43 tons

of rice were carried in 1901, and 733 tons of flour and 108 tons of

rice in 1902. Tobacco, oil, and petroleum are also increasing. There

is also a very important article of import which reflects both the

improved purchasing power of the Soudan and the increased production

in Egypt; this is sugar. The railway carried 1,700 tons in 1901, and

nearly 3,000 tons in 1902. Soap, likewise of Egyptian manufacture,

also appears in the returns to the extent of some 140 tons a year.

As for imports so for exports Suakin was the chief channel of trade

before the rebellion. But a good deal also went by Korosko and

the Nile, principally gum, senna, coffee, and ostrich feathers. An

inappreciable amount, probably, also filtered through to Egypt by

Assouan or Assiout. Far the biggest item of the recorded trade was

gum. The export for three years was—

_Kantars._

1879 144,706

1880 135,646

1881 150,861

Next came cotton, cleaned and uncleaned, averaging about 20,000

kantars per annum. Coffee amounted to about 7,000 kantars, principally

from Kassala and the Abyssinian frontier. The Soudan is a land

of strange diseases, but it is also a land of medicines. Besides

tamarinds, as much as 3,300 kantars of senna was exported in

1880. Ostrich feathers from Kordofan and Darfur came to about 200

kantars, and there was also about half that amount of guttapercha

from the Bahr el Ghazal. Miscellaneous exports included skins and

hides, mother-of-pearl from the coast, mats from Kassala, and ivory.

To-day gum-arabic is still easily first among the exports. The best

kind of gum is the white gum produced from the gray-barked acacia,

called hashab; there are also inferior kinds called talh, or latch,

produced from the red-barked acacia. The gum is used for giving a

glaze to linens and other woven fabrics, for stiffening cotton-stuffs

and calicoes, and for making sweets and chewing mixtures. Kordofan

is the home of the gum trade; a good deal, but chiefly the inferior

kinds, comes from the forests of Sennar and Kassala, but nearly all

the best white gum comes from Kordofan, especially the part round

Taiara between Duem and El Obeid. Here there are limitless forests

of hashab. The taking of the gum does not permanently injure the

tree, and the only obstacles to its gathering are the distances to be

travelled without water, and the lack of labour. Every new well means

a fresh productive area, and people migrate temporarily from other

parts of the Soudan for the gum harvest. Most of it is brought down

by boat from Duem, some directly on camels from El Obeid to Khartoum,

where it is sorted on the beach. Of this first-rate white gum the

Soudan has practically a monopoly, and when the Soudan was closed

to trade its price went up enormously. This naturally brought out

substitutes: inferior gum from West Africa came into use, and glucose

also took its place. Still, there was a good demand for it after the

re-occupation of the Soudan, and in 1900 the price was still 65s. per

cwt. Since then the production has gone up by leaps and bounds, but,

unfortunately, this has been accompanied by a great fall in prices,

at one time as low as 27s. 6d. per cwt. The figures of the export

trade are:

_Kantars._

1899 41,963

1900 60,912

1901 170,781

1902 220,000

The trade has now far outstripped its former limits. To a young

country, a profit of some £200,000 a year divided between the

merchants and producers on the one side and the Government on the

other by means of royalties and railway receipts is no mean advantage.

As for the other former exports, the trade in ostrich feathers

from Kordofan and Darfur has begun again, and there seems no reason

why it should not be developed. Ostriches are farmed successfully

in Egypt near Cairo, and the conditions are even more favourable

for their establishment in the Soudan. Nor is it unlikely that the

Soudan will be able to supply a part of her own tobacco and sugar,

which now bulks so largely in the imports. In former days the

sugar-cane was cultivated largely in Dongola and along the Nile

in Berber Province. The fertile plains around Kassala bore crops

both of sugar-cane and tobacco. The district of Fazokhl, beyond

Rosaires on the Blue Nile, used to produce 1,000 kantars of tobacco

per year. It is also found in Fashoda; and in the south-western

part of Kordofan, where the soil is the richest in the province,

both tobacco and sugar-cane grow easily wherever there is water,

to say nothing of the Bahr el Ghazal. The coffee came principally

from that part of the country which has since been taken over by

Italy or Abyssinia, and, though it is grown in Kassala, the trade

in it is not likely to come to very much. This coffee, however,

which is of the Abyssinian kind, and not a first-class coffee,

is still quoted in the London market at about 50s. per cwt.

But the most promising feature in the old returns is the

20,000 kantars of cotton, even though as yet the trade has not

revived. Though the figure is in itself insignificant, it is a proof

that the thing can be done. Cotton is indigenous in the Soudan. It

grows wild in Fashoda, although the native Shilluks seem never to have

taken advantage of this circumstance, preferring to go completely

naked. Most of the former cotton export came from Kassala. The Khor

Gash, a tributary of the Atbara, comes down in flood during July

and August, and partly inundates the plain, leaving behind a rich

alluvial deposit—splendid cotton soil. There was formerly a cotton

factory in Kassala town. In the districts of Gallabat and Gedaref

cotton is now actually being grown, and it is proving the foundation

of increasing trade with Abyssinia. Abyssinian merchants eagerly

buy up all that can be grown. Further south, in Sennar Province,

the valleys of the Dinder and the Rahad were once very famous for

cotton, which was also largely imported into Abyssinia. Here, too,

the cultivation is increasing as the people settle down. The district

of Tokar, near Suakin, along the Khor Baraka, produces, perhaps,

the best quality of all the cotton in the Soudan. It, too, in former

days produced very much more than now. While along the Nile itself,

in the neighbourhood of Khartoum and in Berber and Dongola Provinces,

enough cotton is grown to supply small local industries, in which

a rough white cloth is woven, one of the few local manufactures in

the Soudan. Beyond a doubt, not only is there a great deal of land

admirably suited to grow cotton in the Soudan, but also the climatic

conditions, given only water, are peculiarly favourable.

Cotton and its culture are thus no novelties to the inhabitants

of the Soudan. The point is the water; it all comes back to water

and irrigation. If the Soudan is to be of any real interest to the

cotton-spinners of Lancashire, its export must be counted not by a few

paltry tens of thousands of kantars, but by hundreds of thousands,

perhaps by millions. And for that there must be irrigation works on

a large scale. The soil is there in the Ghezireh and elsewhere, the

climate is there, the water is there, and the irrigation works will

come. But once again, there is no need for hurry. The interests of

the whole Valley of the Nile have to be considered. The undertaking

is too large to be gone into without the utmost care and patient

deliberation.

It is eminently satisfactory that the Government is fully alive to

all the possibilities. They have started an experimental farm at

Shendi, where trials are being made of different sorts of cotton,

of different methods of culture, and of different periods of sowing,

as well as calculations of the cost of production and of carriage to

the ginning factories in Egypt. Already some most interesting and

important results have been obtained. It has been definitely shown

that the cotton which is sown in June and July promises better, both

in quality and quantity, than that sown in the autumn or in March

and April. At that time the heat is not so great, and the river

is rising, so that the cultivator gets his water during the most

necessary time at the least cost, because with the least effort. If

this is confirmed, it is extremely important, for the water will be

taken at a time when the Nile is high, and when, therefore, Egypt can

afford to allow it to be used without suffering in the least degree,

apart altogether from new Reservoir works.

As regards quality, it appears that the cotton grown, if not so

good as the very best kinds of Delta cotton, is at least as good as,

or better than, the best American, both in colour and staple. It is

calculated that at the present time 1 acre producing 4 kantars will

produce gross receipts of 1,060 piastres, against an expenditure of

1,000 piastres, showing a profit of 60 piastres, or 12s. 6d. per

acre. But when the new railway has reduced the cost of fuel for

the pumps, and also the cost of carriage, the expenses will be no

more than 700 piastres, showing a profit of 360 piastres per acre,

or 75s. It is estimated that the new railway will reduce the cost

of freight by 50 piastres per kantar, and, wherever the Soudan has

its own ginning factories, the profits will, of course, be all the

greater, because only the prepared product will be carried. There is

at present sufficient local demand for cotton to make it generally

more profitable to sell it on the spot than to carry it to Egypt,

but as the production increases it will soon outstrip the local

demand. Any private capitalist investing money in cotton in the

Soudan would be able to buy and clear land on the river in Berber

or Dongola at from £5 to £6 per acre, so that he would get a very

reasonable return on his investment. He would have the further

advantage that in the Soudan two of the worst cotton diseases,

‘worm’ and ‘hog,’ are unknown.

Cotton and corn are the two great foundations on which the hopes of

commercial prosperity in the Soudan are founded. The Negro Soudan

is still comparatively unexplored, and its resources cannot be

estimated. There is, however, a chance that the Bahr el Ghazal will

do great things in rubber. Rubber-trees are known to be plentiful;

rubber has already been produced in small quantities, and specimens of

absolutely first-class quality have been obtained. But it has yet to

be shown that the best kind of creepers are numerous, and also that

they can be successfully tapped without killing the plants. So far,

it does not seem likely that the Soudan has any great sources of

wealth underground. Iron is found and worked in small quantities in

the Bahr el Ghazal, and at least two ore beds are known in Kordofan,

but there is no fuel to work them, and no means of transporting the

ore. As for gold and the precious metals, several prospecting licenses

have been issued and search is being eagerly made, but, except the

copper mines of Hofrat-en-Nahas, nothing has been discovered at

present. The only known gold-bearing district, the Beni-Shangul,

is now included within the territories of Abyssinia. Gold was

formerly worked in this district by the Egyptians, not at a profit,

and perhaps, in any case, it is no great loss to the Soudan (even

if it had not already been occupied by the Abyssinians), for that

gold may not be discovered in the Soudan is the earnest prayer

of every official in the country. The true wealth of the Soudan,

such as it is, lies in its water and its soil. A find of coal would

be a very different matter, and much more valuable than gold, but,

though discoveries are constantly being rumoured, coal is not yet.

No account of the commerce of the Soudan would be complete without

a mention of those wonderful people the Greek traders.

It is well known how, on the day after the Battle of Omdurman,

a Greek arrived in the town and opened a store with all kinds of

goods brought somehow from Suakin. This man is now a prosperous

and wealthy merchant, with large shops in Khartoum and Halfa, and a

finger in every sort of commercial undertaking. He is no longer alone

in the field. Whether it be true or not that trade follows the flag,

undoubtedly the Greek trader follows the British flag. They are said

to be principally Ionian Islanders, so perhaps they have a hereditary

liking for it. Just as from Alexandria to Halfa every town in Egypt

has its Greek traders, carrying on business as storekeepers, dealers,

and innkeepers, so, from Halfa to Gondokoro, from Suakin to El

Obeid, every town in the Soudan has its Greeks. They are ubiquitous;

in Khartoum and Omdurman alone they number about 800. One wonders

what they were all doing before the Soudan was open. Some of them,

no doubt, stayed on right through the Khalifa’s time.

As a vulture scents carrion from afar, so the Greek scents any

possible opening for trade with the natives. The gum trade,

the feather trade, the corn trade, all are in his hands. There

is nothing that a native wants, however humble, from beads and

kerosene-tins to silver, that he will not sell, exactly in the

form required. Naturally a gambler, there is no speculation that

he will not undertake, no risk he will not run. He can stand any

climate, he can live in native huts, and eat native food. He may

be unscrupulous in his dealings, and he has to be sharply watched

by those in authority, but as a trade pioneer in a new country he

is invaluable, and his enterprise contributes largely to make life

possible for more exacting Europeans in desolate places. Some day,

perhaps, when the Arab has mastered his methods of trade, he will

find his match, but at present he holds the field.

CHAPTER XXI

TAXATION, REVENUE, AND EXPENDITURE

At the beginning of every year the Soudan Budget, with the estimates

of receipts and expenditure for the year, has to be submitted to

the Egyptian Council of Ministers. The total amount to be granted

to the Soudan from the Egyptian revenues is then decided, and any

consequent alterations in the Budget made. The Governor-General

and the Financial Secretary are responsible for seeing that the

total sum so granted by Egypt is not exceeded, but while this limit

is observed, credits can be transferred from one head to another

without reference to Cairo. Any special or unforeseen expenditure can

be defrayed by Egypt by special grants sanctioned by the Egyptian

Council of Ministers, and the Egyptian Minister of Finance has at

all times the right of inspection, audit, and supervision of the

Soudan Government accounts. Practically, of course, this means

that the finances of the Soudan are subject to the control of the

British Financial Secretary and the British Consul-General at Cairo,

but that the Soudan Government exercises a very wide discretion as

to the disposal of its revenues once realized.

The revenues of the Soudan are therefore at present made up from

three sources: first, taxation, fees, licenses, etc.; secondly,

the receipts of certain earning departments—_e.g._, railway,

steamers, post, and telegraphs; and thirdly, the contribution from

Egypt. Of these the third is still, it must be confessed, the most

important, but the first is steadily growing. Strictly speaking,

the second should not be included, for although the earnings of

these departments are materially increasing, and although without

them very little could be done, their annual accounts do not as yet

show a profit, for various reasons that will be explained.

The principles of taxation are not new. Many of the taxes are the

same in kind as those which were formerly in force not only under

Egyptian rule, but also under the Khalifa’s. It was wisely decided

that no innovations should be introduced based on Western notions,

unless they were unavoidable. The taxes are of a kind to which the

people have long been accustomed, but, of course, great care is taken

that they shall be fixed at a moderate rate, and that no one shall pay

more than is actually required by law. It was the uncertainty of the

amount to be paid, the illegal imposts levied by the collector on his

own account, and the dates at which they were collected, that made the

old taxes so often cruel and ruinous. The uncertainty of the amount

to be paid had, however, an attraction for the Oriental. It varied

with the circumstances of the year. The Government wished to get all

they could, and in a good year they exacted a most excessive amount;

but in a bad year they took little or nothing at all. According

to the Western system a fixed moderate amount has to be paid every

year, and a whole or partial failure of the crop is not considered

any excuse. The latter system is, of course, far the most just and

economically sound, but it lacks the elasticity of the other. It

is the constant endeavour of European administrators in Oriental

countries to endeavour to combine the advantages of both systems. In

the Soudan the system of petitions direct to the Governor-General is

a means to secure this result. When adequate cause is shown, he is

able to remit taxation wholly or partly, and there have been several

cases in which he has done so, notably in Berber and Dongola Provinces

in 1900, when the low Nile caused a great deal of land to be thrown

out of cultivation. Of course, such remissions are inclined to play

havoc with a Budget framed on careful estimates. It cannot be helped,

and at any rate it is only one of many difficulties which have to

be encountered in balancing a Soudan Budget. Unforeseen expenditure

often becomes necessary, but happily during the last two or three

years the receipts have been increasing unexpectedly also.

Although the taxes remain the same in principle, a comparison with

the former state of things shows the difference in the methods

of assessment and collection to be so great as to amount to a

revolution. Then, as now, the Government in the Soudan was, according

to the general rule in the East, the admitted owner of the soil,

and the cultivator had to pay a tax amounting to one-tenth of the

produce for its use. The actual sum to be paid included all other

taxes, as house-tax, animal-tax, and so on. Each district was rated

at so much in the Budget; this sum was divided among the villages

and communes until the individual cultivator was reached. The nomad

and other tribes which did not cultivate the soil were assessed

at an annual tribute, according to their wealth in camels, cattle,

and horses. In Berber and Dongola the tax was not on the produce of

the land, but on the instruments of irrigation. It varied according

to the instrument and according to the quality of land. One sakieh

was calculated to be capable of watering 8 acres, and if more land

was cultivated an increase was made in the tax. It has already

been mentioned how these water-wheels were often taxed in a sum

far beyond their possible earning capacity. It was the same with

the assessment of the districts and the tribute of the tribes. The

official estimates were seldom or never realized as far as the public

exchequer was concerned (although the bullying tax-collectors took

much more for themselves). Arrears accumulated, in spite of every

effort, and became a direct incentive to discontent and revolt. In

the year 1879 the deficiencies of the amounts actually received

below those estimated ranged in the different provinces from 10 to

60 per cent. The figures of the Budget were, in fact, pure fancy,

especially when the country was disturbed. But the thing was even

worse than it looked. Districts and tribes, though they might not pay

all that was asked, paid a great deal more than they could afford,

and consequently, as the money had to be found somehow, they found

it by indulging in the only prosperous trade—that of slavery. In

other words, the Soudan lived largely by expending its capital.

Owing to the alteration in the boundaries of the Soudan, it is

somewhat difficult to calculate what the amount raised in taxation

from the present territories amounted to. As nearly as can be made

out, it was about £360,000 a year nominally, with a nominal deficit

on the whole administration in the same provinces of £70,000 a

year. Absolutely nothing was spent in the development of the country;

salaries, rations, and clothes for the army of occupation made up

almost the whole of the expenditure.

As compared to this, the actual sums raised in the Soudan by taxation

during the last four years have been as follows:

£E.

1900 95,000

1901 155,000

1902 190,000

1903 200,000[7]

But the conditions are so different that nothing can really be deduced

from this comparison. The figures show clearly that the country is

advancing steadily. The burden is lightly borne. It would be very

easy to exact far more than this without any positive discontent,

but it would be a most unwise policy to do so, for it would be at

the expense of its future progress.

The taxes are no longer assessed by the district. The tribute from the

nomad tribes is the only exception to the rule that the Government

deals directly with the individual taxpayer. They are no longer

collected by irregular and irresponsible bullies; they are payable

at the most convenient seasons, and they are moderate in amount. So

great a difference in detail is almost a difference in principle;

but the names are the same. Of the whole collected the receipts from

land-tax and ushur are about a quarter—_i.e._, about £50,000

a year. The land-tax proper is no longer levied according to the

instruments of irrigation, but, as in Egypt, according to the acreage

and situation of the irrigated fields. Land irrigable by wells and

foreshore land irrigable by flood pays 20 piastres (4s.) per acre;

land on the mainland irrigable by water-wheels and shadoofs, 30

to 40 piastres; and land on islands similarly irrigable, 50 to 60

piastres. All other lands—that is to say, lands which depend for

their water-supply not on irrigation, but on rainfall—are taxed at

the rate of 10 per cent. _ad valorem_ on their produce. This tithe

is called ushur. At first it was paid almost entirely in kind, but

it is now collected as far as possible in money, and, as the money

in circulation increases, payment in kind—a most inconvenient form

of payment—will be altogether abolished. The date-tax—2 piastres

(5d.) on every date-palm that has begun to bear fruit—is akin to

the land-tax. It produces some £15,000 a year.

The land-tax in some form will be the staple of the future revenues of

the Soudan. Every year as population increases and more land comes

under cultivation it will form a larger proportion of the total

receipts. In many of the remote parts of the country, owing to the

great distances and the small number of officials, it is hardly yet

in working order, but with improved organization all may be expected

to bear their just share of taxation, and the receipts will benefit

accordingly. Any large scheme of irrigation and cotton culture will,

of course, send up this branch of revenue by leaps and bounds. Second

in importance to the land-tax, and for the time being exceeding it,

come the royalties charged on exports of gum, ostrich-feathers,

ivory, india rubber, and a few other articles, at the rate of 20

per cent. by weight. The extraordinary growth of the gum-trade is

mainly responsible for this item, which makes up another quarter of

the taxation revenue. Ivory receipts can hardly be expected to come

to very much, but ostrich-feathers and rubber will probably show a

marked increase in future years.

Other minor receipts were estimated in the Budget for 1902 as follows:

£E.

Animal-tax 9,500

Tribute from tribes 8,000

Ferries and fisheries 4,000

Sale of salt 1,530

Stamped paper 1,200

Customs 5,400

Slaughtering dues and market fees 5,200

Road-tax 2,000

Rent of Government lands 1,300

Boat-tax 1,000

All these taxes are familiar in the Soudan. Some of them, especially

those small in their results—and there are a good number more of

less importance than those named—will probably be abolished as soon

as the country is able to stand the immediate loss. But as yet even

the most objectionable in principle do not act as restrictions to

trade. They only distribute the burden of a very light taxation, so as

to make all classes contribute something, and the Government is still

so poor that even a few hundred pounds are of very great importance.

The Customs are set down as producing only £E5,400, and this demands

a word of explanation. £4,500 of this is taken at the port of Suakin,

the remainder on the land frontier in Kassala and Sennar. The Customs

on the land side, small as they are, show a steady increase; those

at Suakin have been constantly decreasing, as trade is more and

more diverted to the Nile Valley route. But all Customs duties on

goods coming to the Soudan on this side are levied at the Egyptian

ports, and retained by Egypt. The duties are 20 per cent. per kilo

on tobacco, and 8 per cent. _ad valorem_ on all other goods. In the

year 1903 it is estimated that the sum thus retained by Egypt will

amount to £E70,000, but this has not been taken into account in

calculating the Soudan revenues.

As for the profit-earning departments, their profits are as yet

invisible—invisible, that is, as far as their accounts are

concerned, though visible enough in the increasing prosperity of

the country. Still, the actual takings of the railway and the post

and telegraphs mark progress. They stand for three years:

_Railways._ _Post and Telegraphs._

£E. £E.

1900 38,412 7,900

1901 75,808 9,000

1902 85,000[8] 11,000[8]

But these receipts are far from being any criterion of the actual

amount of work done. They exclude all that was done on Government

account. Up till 1903 all passengers, goods, and messages on behalf

of Government were carried free of charge. But it was found that this

system tended to extravagance. A department, for example, wishing

to buy dhurra for Khartoum, was apt to buy it at Dongola, possibly

at a cheaper rate, and have it brought by rail for nothing, rather

than buy it locally and disburse something for the cost of local

camel or mule transport. This was good business for the department,

which had only a certain credit allotted to it, but waste from the

point of view of the railway, by which the cost of transport was

borne. Now each department is charged in the books of the railway

or post-office for all services actually rendered. The change is,

of course, only one of book-keeping, but it is a good instance of

the way in which good book-keeping works towards economy. With this

alteration the working of the profit-earning departments makes a

much better appearance. The estimates for 1903 are:

_Receipts._ _Expenditure._

£E. £E.

Railways 143,970 143,777

Post and telegraphs 24,428 34,800

Steamers and boats 69,028 86,223

The maintenance of the army in the Soudan is the item most affected

by this alteration. The sum to be paid to the Egyptian War Department

is set down at £E193,658 for 1903 as against £E122,548 for 1902.

The Steamers and Boats Department has been too recently organized

for an opinion to be formed upon its working, but the Railways are

soundly and economically managed. The increase of traffic has made

it possible to reduce the ratio of working expenses, though the

high price of fuel is still a great obstacle. Besides the ordinary

expenditure there has also been a good deal of capital expenditure,

which was very necessary considering the haste with which the line

was laid down as a purely military railway. These sums are: In 1899,

a special credit of £E390,000 for the completion of the line from

the Atbara to Khartoum; in 1900, a special credit of £E15,000 for

culverts and bridges on the same portion of the line, and a loan

of £E55,000 for general development and purchase of rolling-stock;

and in 1902-1903, a loan of £E528,000 (spread over five years) for

the same purposes; and a special advance of £10,000 for the survey

of the proposed Suakin-Berber line. All these sums, together with an

advance of £E31,000 for the improvement of the harbour at Suakin,

have been found by Egypt. The Soudan pays 2½ per cent. on the loans.

The nature of the country makes it inevitable that the postal service

should show a loss for some time; but the telegraph service would

show a profit over actual working expenses, but for the fact that

so much is expended every year on extension, and this is credited to

ordinary expenditure. £E18,500 was, however, borrowed from Egypt in

1900 to meet a special difficulty. The wooden poles were sometimes

devoured by white ants, and were also liable to rot. After various

experiments it was found best to bolt the poles on to steel bases, and

it was to meet this emergency that the loan was contracted. The new

plan has been found to answer admirably, and it has also facilitated

telegraph extension, because the shorter poles (12 ft. 6 in. instead

of 18 ft.) make a much more convenient load for a camel. Besides the

wires along the railway, there is now telegraphic communication from

Berber to Suakin, Suakin by Tokar to Kassala, Kassala to Gedaref,

and Gedaref to Gallabat. A line from Gedaref connects at Messalamia

with a line down the Blue Nile from Khartoum by Wad Medani to Sennar,

which then crosses over to Goz Abu Goma on the White Nile, and

is continued to Fashoda. Another line runs from Khartoum to Duem,

on the White Nile, and thence to El Obeid. In time the telegraph

will be continued south to Uganda, and whenever this takes place the

telegraph tariff convention arranged by Mr. Cecil Rhodes for through

communication between Alexandria and Cape Town will come into force.

If the gross takings of the railways, post and telegraphs, and boats,

are included in the revenues of the Soudan, the Budget wears a more

imposing aspect than if only the net expenditure of each of these

departments is included. The estimates for 1903 stand thus:

£E. £E.

Expenditure—Civil 624,226

Military 193,658

-------

817,884

Receipts 428,163

-------

Deficit 389,721

By starving the administration it would be possible to make this

deficit a great deal less, and, on the other hand, it would be very

easy to make it a great deal more. A country which has been going

steadily, even rapidly, backwards for so many years affords unlimited

opportunity for capital expenditure. Indeed, a large part of its

ordinary expenditure is really capital, so far as it is incurred

for permanent buildings, railways, telegraphs, and all the other

machinery, not only of government, but of elementary civilization,

which were all entirely wanting. The item of public works bulks

very large in the civil expenditure. It is inevitable that the

expenditure should increase with the development of the country,

but it is a satisfactory symptom that it is not increasing so fast

in proportion as the revenue. The civil expenditure, too, goes up,

while the military expenditure goes down. In the following table

only the net expenditure on railways, etc., is included:

EXPENDITURE.

_Civil._ _Military _Total._

(including

Gunboats, etc.)_

£E. £E. £E.

1899 230,000 281,000 511,000

1900 271,000 282,000 553,000

1901 330,000 222,000 552,000

1902 350,000 193,000 543,000

1903 380,000 193,000 573,000

The richer provinces in the Soudan might prosper very much faster

if they were allowed to devote the whole of their own revenues

to the development of their own resources. But, of course, the

whole receipts have to go into the common purse, and then be doled

out again in the interests of the country as a whole. Naturally,

there is a tremendous fight every year between the Mudirs, who are

responsible for the provincial budgets, and the central Treasury. Two

provinces stand out prominently in the matter of profits—Kordofan

and Dongola. Dongola had pride of place at first, but then Kordofan

passed in a stride, through the revival of the gum trade. But Dongola

is still a good second, in spite of her railway difficulties, through

the date-tax and the land-tax. Two-thirds of the whole amount raised

by this latter tax is supplied by her. Halfa Province, or, rather,

District, also shows a good profit by means of the land and date

taxes. The Ghezireh Province, the kernel of the Soudan, makes a

favourable appearance. Sennar just pays its way. The others all show

a deficit. Khartoum, of course, stands in a different category, as

also Suakin. But Berber and Kassala may soon be expected to redeem

themselves. Fashoda is as yet very undeveloped, and naturally the

Bahr el Ghazal, only just occupied, comes well at the bottom of the

list. That this order of financial merit will be maintained unchanged

is most unlikely.

It will be noticed that the estimated deficit for 1903 was some

£E390,000, and this is Egypt’s contribution towards the current

expenses of the year. The same sum was contributed in 1902, and

it has been agreed that this subsidy shall be continued at the

same figure for some years to come. The approximate amounts so

expended in former years were: 1899, £E385,000; 1900, £E417,000;

and the same in 1901. On the basis of this contribution, which

is called ‘Insuffisance,’ the estimates for the Soudan are

drawn up. Considering all the difficulties in the way of accurate

calculations, it speaks well for the Soudan officials that their

expectations have been so nearly realized. In 1899 and 1900, when

the accounts were finally made up, there were found to be deficits of

£E23,000 and £E40,000. But in 1901 the finances of the country took

a great turn for the better, and, although expenditure exceeded the

estimate, this excess was so much overbalanced by unforeseen increase

of receipts that sufficient surpluses were realized in 1901 and 1902

to make good the deficiencies of the two previous years. During the

years 1899-1903 Egypt has therefore expended close upon £2,000,000 in

these annual grants; she has also paid over, partly as special credits

and partly as loans, another £1,000,000 for capital expenditure on

railways and telegraphs, as already mentioned. There are deductions to

be made from this sum of £3,000,000 in calculating the actual cost

imposed on Egypt by the Soudan; but as these are the actual amounts

on which the Soudan Budget is calculated, they must be set down here.

It sounds, perhaps, a strange thing to say that the Soudan finances

are in a sound condition when such sums have to be contributed by

Egypt, but such is certainly the fact. The great feature is the

recuperative power of the country, so markedly displayed since 1901,

and there can be no doubt that if, with Egypt’s help, the two

principles of low taxation and irrigation can be steadily applied,

they will produce, if not as great, yet a similar result to that

which they have produced in Egypt itself.

CHAPTER XXII

THE COST OF THE SOUDAN TO EGYPT

The Nile Valley presents some peculiar examples of political

organization. At one end of it is Uganda, a British Protectorate

under the administration of the Foreign Office. At the other is

Egypt, nominally an independent despotism, tempered by international

Boards of Control in several departments, notably finance, and paying

tribute to a suzerain Power—Turkey—but in the military occupation

of England. Between comes the Soudan, where, except at Suakin,

the British and Egyptian flags fly side by side. It is ruled by a

Governor-General, joint representative of the King and the Khedive,

whose acts have to be approved by the British Consul-General at Cairo,

and it is jointly occupied by the troops of both Powers. If it is

difficult to decide upon the exact position of Egypt, what shall be

said of the Soudan? International jurists have in it a fair field of

problems on which to exercise their wits, not to mention the peculiar

status of the Lado enclave. But whatever imaginary difficulties

may be conceived, one thing is certain: the hoisting of the British

flag leaves no doubt of the fact that the Soudan is not in any way a

part of the Turkish Empire. The difficulties and complications which

have been caused in Egypt by the Capitulations and the consequences

derived from them definitely cease with the boundaries of Egypt. It

is easy to see that those who framed the Convention of 1899 were

thoroughly determined on this. Article VIII. lays down that the mixed

tribunals shall not extend to the Soudan, except Suakin, and, to

further preclude any chance of international trouble, it is expressly

stated that no Consuls or other foreign representatives shall be

permitted in the Soudan without His Britannic Majesty’s consent,

and that no special privileges shall be accorded to the subjects of

any one or more Powers to trade, reside, or hold property, within

the limits of the Soudan.

Otherwise, there was no reason why the Soudan should not have been

placed in exactly the same position as Egypt, whatever that may

be. In every other respect it is, in fact, in the same position as

though the Egyptian flag flew alone, especially in the matter of

cost. When the British taxpayer is looking at a map of the world

in order to get some satisfaction for his Imperial expenditure,

and casts his eyes over Africa, he doubtless comforts himself with

the reflection that in the Soudan England governs, but Egypt pays,

and wishes that other portions of the Empire were managed on similar

principles. England governs, and Egypt pays, but the division of

labour is not unfair. If the Egyptian finds it hard to realize the

meaning of a veiled Protectorate, the more unsophisticated Soudanese

would find it totally impossible. The flag is a visible symbol which

appeals to him directly, and contributes largely to the maintenance

of peace. Many a tribe submits contentedly to British dominion,

which would indignantly scout the idea of submission to Egypt

alone. As a matter of fact, the British Government does contribute

something in money, for it bears the cost of the British battalion

at Khartoum and its barracks. Still, it is to the Egyptian Treasury,

and not the British, that the Soudan has to look, and it is worth

while to estimate rather closely the sums which Egypt has to find,

and the advantages which it gains in return.

The cost of the Soudan Campaign from the opening of the Dongola

Campaign in 1896 to February, 1899, was £2,345,345, made up as

follows:

£

Railways 1,181,372

Telegraphs 21,825

Gunboats 154,934

Military expenditure 996,223

----------

Total £2,345,345

Since then, up to the end of 1903, the ordinary expenditure of

Egypt in the Soudan has been, as was shown, about £2,000,000, and

the capital expenditure about another £1,000,000. In other words,

the Soudan has cost Egypt nominally about £600,000 a year for the

last five years.

But as a matter of fact the real cost during the five years has

been a good deal less than this. Various deductions ought to be

made. In the first place, Egypt takes all the Custom duties on goods

going through to the Soudan. These came to about £60,000 in 1902,

and were estimated at about £70,000 for 1903, an estimate very

likely to be below the mark. It is safe to reckon that during the

five years they amounted to nearly £200,000. Then, the expenses

of the Egyptian army of occupation in the Soudan are charged to

the Soudan Government. During the first two years these amounted

to about £300,000 per annum. Taking an average of £200,000, we

get a sum of £1,000,000 under this head. If the Soudan had not been

reconquered, Egypt would have had to maintain nearly as large an army

as at present, and although the cost of maintenance is naturally

larger in the Soudan, it would not be unfair to deduct another

£800,000 as money that must have been expended in any case. Of

the capital expenditure, £600,000 was in loans for railway and

telegraph development. Although the prospect of repayment of these

loans is somewhat remote, they ought not to be written off as pure

out-of-pocket expenses, seeing that the Soudan Government pays 2½

per cent. per annum upon them. Two and a half per cent. on £600,000

is equal to 5 per cent. on £300,000. An investment with this return

would be more advantageous to Egypt than extinguishing an equal

portion of her debt, and it is therefore reasonable to deduct that

sum from the total expenditure. All these allowances added together

make up a sum of £1,300,000, bringing the average annual cost to

Egypt during the five years down to £340,000; while in addition to

all this the Egyptian revenues have also directly benefited through

the Railways and Post-office by the extra passengers, goods, letters,

telegrams, and money orders, passing to and fro.

Still, when all deductions have been made, it cannot be denied,

especially as the Soudan still calls loudly for more capital

expenditure, that the reoccupation of that country, from a strictly

financial point of view, though in one aspect philanthropic, is not as

yet philanthropy at 5 per cent. But there are certain solid advantages

which, though their value to Egypt is difficult to calculate in terms

of money, are worth to her many times over the actual sum which the

Soudan costs her.

First of all comes the fact, so often insisted upon, that the whole

of the upper waters of the Nile are now in the secure possession of

those who are responsible for her welfare. This supreme and vital

necessity overshadows all others, and would by itself have forced

her to undertake almost any sacrifice. In fact, as all the water in

Egypt comes through the Soudan, her contribution may be looked upon

as a water-rate calculated at an exceedingly low figure. Secondly,

she is relieved from all fear of foreign invasion. The frontier is

once more at rest, and no longer troubled even by raids. There is

a vast difference between a peaceful and comparatively prosperous

neighbour and a horde of furious barbarians hammering at her gates.

Further, the pacification of the Soudan enabled the burden of

conscription to be diminished. The army was reduced by 5,500 men,

and the period of service was reduced from fifteen years to ten,

of which five have to be spent with the colours, and five in the

reserve or police. Considering how much the Egyptian fellah dislikes

military service, those who are affected by this change probably

regard it as the greatest benefit of all.

A new field has also been opened for Egyptian trade and the employment

of Egyptians. A constantly expanding market at her door for sugar

and other goods is no small advantage. A good deal of the money

spent in the Soudan, though lost to the Egyptian Treasury, is not

lost to Egypt, for it takes the form of salaries for numbers of

Egyptians in the Government service, and the money orders passing

from the Soudan to Egypt show that at least a portion of it returns

immediately. Moreover, the Soudan is gradually losing its old

traditional terrors, and more and more Egyptians, though as yet in

small numbers, are returning to settle there when their period of

service is over.

Lastly, the good name of Egypt has been restored; one of the evil

pages in her history has been finally turned. The country which

she once ruined by her misgovernment and oppression and by her

greedy haste to share in the profits of the slave-trade, and then

abandoned to barbarism, has been rescued, and set moving once more

on the paths of civilization and good government. It is right that

in the days of her prosperity she should do something to assist her

less fortunate neighbour.

It has been said that for the present Egypt will continue her annual

grant to the Soudan of £E390,000 a year. But she will also be called

upon to find some large additional sums. The Soudan requires capital,

but has no credit of her own on which to borrow. The British taxpayer

ought not to be called upon, even if he had not borne his share

already, since it is not his interests, but those of Egypt, which

are primarily concerned. But Egypt herself is not in a position,

owing to international complications, to contract new loans,

nor is it at all desirable to impose additional taxation for the

purpose. Private enterprise, even if it was possible to employ it,

would in the end be too expensive. But the problem is not insoluble,

though difficult. Lord Cromer in his last report gives a most

admirable summary of the position:

‘I hope and believe that, although the difficulties are

considerable, they will not prove insurmountable. A hopeful feature

of the future is to be found in the fact, on which I have dwelt at

some length in my Egyptian Report, that the programme of fiscal

reform in Egypt is now completed. It cannot be doubted that the

people of Egypt are now very lightly taxed. Strongly as I should

object to any increase of Egyptian taxation for Soudanese purposes,

I can see no objection whatever to maintaining such taxes as at

present exist, partly with a view to providing the capital necessary

for the improvement of the Soudan. Indeed, far from there being any

objection, I believe the adoption of such a course to be strictly

in accordance with Egyptian interests; for, until capital is spent,

the Egyptian Treasury cannot hope that any considerable reduction in

the present Soudan deficit will be possible. I am, of course, aware

that the purely Egyptian requirements, such as improved justice and

police, to which allusion is made in my Egyptian Report, must, in this

connection, take precedence of the necessities of the Soudan, great

though these latter be. I am, however, not without hope that, if due

care and deliberation be exercised, if the projects on which capital

is spent be chosen after a thorough examination of their merits

and practicability, and if everything in the nature of undue haste

and precipitation be avoided, money in fairly adequate quantities

may eventually be found both for the improvement of the Egyptian

administrative services and for the development of the Soudan.

‘There can be no question as to the direction in which capital

expenditure is most required. As I have said in my Egyptian

Report, the construction of the Suakin-Berber Railway is absolutely

essential to the well-being of the Soudan. I need only add that all

the testimony which I received during my recent visit to the Soudan

strongly confirmed me in the opinion which I had previously held on

this subject.’

Such words coming from Lord Cromer are full of hope and encouragement

for the administrators of the Soudan. The man who found means to

overcome the financial difficulties of the Reservoir works at Assouan

is more than likely to surmount those of the Suakin-Berber Railway.

In the long-run Egypt herself will benefit as well as the Soudan. Of

course, most of the trade now passing through Egypt will return

to its natural channel by Suakin and the Red Sea. The Customs

now taken at Alexandria will go directly to the Soudan, but as

soon as this happens a corresponding reduction can be made in the

Egyptian contribution. Nor will purely Egyptian trade with the Soudan

suffer. The Nile Valley route will remain, but it will be cheaper for

goods from Lower Egypt to travel via Suez and Suakin. The import as

well as the export trade of the Soudan will be vastly encouraged, and

every step forward in prosperity will make her a better market for the

goods of Egypt as well as those of other countries. Once the railway

is made, but not till then, there is a possibility of the revenues of

the Soudan improving sufficiently to make the country self-supporting,

and able to dispense entirely with any annual grant from Egypt.

It is calculated that the construction of the new railway will cost

£2,500,000. Taking this as a basis, and assuming that Egypt was

able to make an arrangement under which the money should be repaid by

annual instalments over a period of ten years, with interest at 5 per

cent., it would involve an average annual addition to her expenditure

of £318,750, or a total cost of ten times that sum. If the period

was twenty years, the average annual cost would be £185,625, or, say,

£200,000. It is rash for an outsider to speculate on such subjects,

and the figures are merely given as a rough illustration; but it

seems certain that Egypt could easily bear any such burden. Nor does

it appear a sanguine forecast to estimate that within ten years of

the completion of the railway the revenues of the Soudan will have

so greatly benefited, both by the direct cheapening of supplies,

fuel, and other material, and by the development of trade generally,

that at least a saving of £200,000 a year will accrue to Egypt,

even if she still finds it prudent to contribute something.

What future capital Egypt will have to find must be uncertain. The

whole situation will be changed by the advent of the railway. But if

all the signs of the times can be trusted, whatever her expenditure

may be, she will have no reason to repent of it.

NOTE.—Since the above was in print, new light has been thrown on

the subject by a passage in the Note on the Budget for 1904 by Sir

Eldon Gorst, Financial Adviser to the Khedive:

‘The Council of Ministers has authorized the Ministry of Finance

to advance out of the Special Reserve Fund the amount required

for the construction of a railway to connect the Valley of the

Upper Nile near Berber with the Red Sea at Suakin. The preliminary

survey of the proposed line has been completed, and an estimate of

its cost prepared. The total sum required, which amounts to about

£E1,770,000, will be spread over a period of from three to four

years, so that there should be no difficulty in meeting the charge

out of the annual increment of the Special Reserve Fund, but it will

be obviously undesirable to sanction any further large grants out of

the fund during this period. The construction of the railway will be

put in hand without delay, and if no unforeseen contingency occurs,

it may be hoped that it will be available for traffic in about three

years’ time.’

The Special Reserve Fund is made up of the free balance remaining

at the disposal of the Egyptian Government when all other claims on

their receipts have been settled.

CHAPTER XXIII

CONCLUSION

Some time ago a small detachment of Egyptian troops was passing

through a village in a remote and primitive part of Kordofan. A

soldier of the party, going to draw water at the well, there met,

like Jacob, one of the daughters of the people, who helped him in

his task. Out of gratitude for her assistance or admiration for

her charms, he gave her one of the few things he had to offer, a

large red cotton handkerchief. Attired in it, the damsel excited

the admiration and envy of all her fellows, and from this chance

seed arose a demand for Manchester cotton goods. But as the desired

articles could not be purchased for nothing, the supply of charitable

soldiers being limited, the inhabitants had to apply themselves to

the collection of gum in order to be able to satisfy their wants. And

thus the exports improved as well as the imports.

In different forms the same process is going on all over the Soudan,

and the sternest admirer of Arcadian simplicity could hardly deny

that the people are happier and better because of it. The country

is not such an El Dorado that they are likely to be corrupted by

excessive wealth. Their awakening needs can only be satisfied by

means of habits of industry. Thanks to good government they are

able on the one hand securely to enjoy the fruits of their labour,

and on the other hand, they are prevented from taking any short-cuts

to fortune by raiding their neighbours and selling them into slavery.

If it were necessary to justify British interference in the Soudan,

the fact of the repression of slavery would alone be sufficient. If

the slave-trade does still exist, it does so only precariously in a

few remote holes and corners. The markets of Khartoum and Omdurman

and other centres are greater and more various than they have ever

been before, but this one traffic, once their principal feature, is

absent and gone for ever. No change could be greater or eventually

more beneficial in its effects on the whole life and character alike

of the slave-owners, the slave-dealers, and those unhappy tribes

who involuntarily furnished their material.

The establishment of personal liberty and of security for life and

property, elsewhere the commonplaces of government, is not always

the result of civilization in Africa. They are new, at any rate, in

the Soudan. But it would ill become the English rulers of the Soudan

to take any credit to themselves if their five years’ record had

no more to show than this. They must not be content to be judged by

comparison with any former rulers. After the Khalifa’s tyranny,

almost any government would seem mild and beneficent. It is not

enough merely to have stanched the wounds by which the patient was

bleeding to death; the foundations must be laid for his complete

restoration to health and vigour. Judged by this test, however,

they need not fear the verdict.

The chief difficulty is the universal ignorance and superstition that

prevail. But these ancient fortresses are being directly assaulted

every day by the extension of a sound system of education. The

strong administration of equal justice, and the increasing growth

of trade and commerce, work powerfully in the same direction. All

three agents are stimulated by the improvement of communications

by river, road, and railway. There is hope in the fact that, though

the people start from a very low level, their past has not been one

of complete barbarism. Although Egyptian and dervish rule repressed

all habits of industry and culture, the people of the country which

was once the kingdom of Sennar had considerable repute as weavers,

goldsmiths, curriers, and potters. They still practise a native

form of inoculation for small-pox. And, to take their traditions

still further back, it is said that in some places, in the elaborate

dressing of their hair and the use of ornamental sandals on great

occasions, they reproduce the fashions of ancient Egypt. Ed Damer,

near the junction of the Atbara and the Nile, now a paltry village,

had once a university of its own no less than Sennar.

Time, of course, must be allowed for these influences to work. Not in

five years and not in one generation can the evils deep-rooted in the

past be swept away. Though all the reforms have been introduced most

cautiously, and with great regard for the prejudices and traditions

of the people, it is still sometimes necessary to teach a sharper

lesson, and to clearly advertise the fact that if the Government

is benign and merciful it is not because it is weak. When such

occasions do arise, as in the case of the last in the succession of

Mahdis, suppressed a few months ago in Southern Kordofan, there is no

fumbling and delay. The blow is struck at once and decisively. There

is a wonderful difference between a prophet with a divine mission to

regenerate Islam by force of arms slaughtering a rabble of ill-led

Egyptian peasants, and an impostor unable to free himself from prison,

or dangling from a gallows in El Obeid after being captured in the

field and fairly tried with all the forms of law.

Such incidents, when properly handled, are only ripples on the general

calm. There have been rumours from time to time of troubles likely to

arise from the action of the Sheikh-es-Senussi. There were internal

troubles in the kingdom of Wadai, which lies to the west of Darfur,

and it was thought that these might force him to abandon his peaceful

attitude, for his influence is predominant in that country. It would

undoubtedly be dangerous if he were to proclaim a holy war, for he has

many adherents in the Soudan as well as in Egypt. But until now his

sect has been founded on rules of conduct, and he and his predecessors

have steadily refused to adopt a militant attitude. The Mahdi was a

good deal afraid of him, and nominated him as one of his Khalifas,

but he refused to accept the position. It is now announced that the

French have occupied Wadai; we have every reason to welcome them as

neighbours. Wadai was one of the few remaining strongholds of the

slave-trade, and its suppression there will facilitate the operations

of the Slavery Department in Western Kordofan. And should any trouble

arise from the followers of the Sheikh-es-Senussi or any other sect in

that quarter, it will be a great advantage to have the co-operation

of the French, who would have the same interest as ourselves in

speedily putting it down. On the other side, now that the frontier

is settled, there is not likely to be trouble with the Abyssinians,

and the Italians in Eritrea and Massowah are the best of neighbours.

It may some day be necessary to interfere in Darfur, though not

during the reign of the present Sultan, Ali Dinar. Ali Dinar has seen

something of the world; he is a vigorous ruler, and he understands

very plainly that his interests lie in keeping on good terms with

the Soudan Government. But some day Ali Dinar will be gathered to his

fathers, and possibly some Rehoboam will succeed him, who will cause

internal dissensions, or someone afflicted with Napoleonic ideas, who

will have to be chastised. Sooner or later, something of the kind is

bound to happen, but it is to be hoped that a country so remote from

the Nile will continue under its native rulers as long as possible.

What the future political status of the Soudan will be depends upon

the course of events in Egypt. As long as Lord Cromer is there—and

long may it be—everyone may feel easy. But when some lesser man

has to stand as buffer between Egypt and the Foreign Office, it may

make a great difference whether Egypt takes her place as definitely a

part of the British Empire or not. Every year the number of British

civilians in the Soudan service is growing. Great as have been the

services of the officers of the Egyptian army, their employment

has this disadvantage, that they are liable to be called away just

when they are most required, and when they have thoroughly learned

the business of administration. It has been good for the Soudan to

have the choice of some of the most capable officers in the British

Army for her civil work, and a spell of civil administration is

excellent training for the soldier. But a glance at the names of

the governors and inspectors of provinces year by year shows what

a number of changes there are under the system. Some of them will

probably throw in their lot definitely with the Soudan; but this can

only be counted upon in exceptional cases. As administration becomes

more complicated, it will be less possible for the soldier to take up

the reins as he can now. Specially trained men will be more and more

necessary. But at present the Soudan civil service is a water-tight

compartment. Its members are in a doubtful sort of position. They are

not in the Egyptian service, nor in the British Colonial Service, nor

are they definitely under the Foreign Office. Up till now there has

been no difficulty in recruiting the small number of capable civilians

required. But as the number increases there may be some difficulty

in obtaining sufficient candidates of the right stamp. Unless the

country becomes very much more wealthy, it has no great prizes to

offer. But if the whole Nile Valley were in practice regarded as

one country, which it really is, and all under one head, with one

combined civil service, there would be much more scope for able men,

and each part of it would benefit by the possibilities of interchange.

It would be a great piece of organization; but, with Indian experience

before us, there is no reason why it should not be a success. Direct

administration ought not to be in the hands of the Foreign Office,

which has plenty of diplomatic business of its own to look after. In

one department, and that a very important one, the whole of Nileland

will, indeed, be so organized in practice. When the great schemes for

the final binding of the Nile are put in hand, they must be all under

one control, and that control will be exercised from Cairo. It would

be intolerable and impossible that every time it was thought desirable

to open the Reservoir gates, say of Lake Albert, there should have

to be negotiations between district governments or departments. The

water of the Nile has made its powerful political influence felt

throughout the Soudan; in time it will play its part in Uganda.

But such semi-continental speculations are unprofitable except for

those who have some power to realize them. For the present the horizon

of Soudan politics is bounded by the railway. From its completion

all immediate plans of progress must take their start. It would be

foolish to take too sanguine a view. Railway communication between

Khartoum and the Red Sea will not smooth away all the difficulties

of administration. There will still be years of low Nile and scanty

rainfall. There will still be an abominable climate during a large

portion of the year. Mosquitoes, sand-flies, and other insects

will still ply their uncomfortable occupations. Dhurra will still

suffer from curious and unique parasites. Cattle will be subject

to murrain. Perhaps cotton, free from ‘worm’ and ‘hog,’

will discover some new foe to combat. Locusts and white ants will

still occasionally devour what they ought not, and possibly develop

fresh objectionable tastes. New Mahdis, unconvinced by the doom of

their predecessors, may still require to be put down from time to

time. Economic laws cannot be expected to work with the same certainty

and freedom from cross-currents as they do in Egypt. In other words,

the Soudan is a tropical country, subject to surprises: it will have

its ups and downs like other places. These and similar difficulties

it would have to face, railway or no railway. But beyond question,

once the line is open, it will be in a far better position to grapple

with them all, and to reap the benefits of the sound foundations

which are now being solidly and patiently laid by the handful of

Englishmen to whose charge its destinies have been entrusted by

Fate. And whatever else of good or evil the future may have in store,

the Soudan has one treasure which makes it certain that it will never

again be allowed to lapse from the pale of civilization, and that is

not the gold which attracted the attention of its former invaders,

with such disastrous consequences both to conquerors and conquered,

but the inestimable possession of the Nile.

INDEX

Abbas Pasha, 30

Abd-el-Kader, 160

Abd-el-Rahman the Just, 151

Abu Hamed, 168, 175, 176, 229

Abu Simbel, temple of, 174

Abu Zeid, 125

Abyssinia:

Bonchamps Expedition from, 170

coffee from, 239, 241

Egypt—

annexations by, 153

defeat by, 144

defeat of, 154

frontier settlement with, 193, 232, 274

gold district in, 245

Gordon’s arrangement with, 155

Khalifa at war with, 166

Nile, treaty regarding (1902), 113

scenery and climate on frontier of, 189

Sennar triumph over, 140, 141

slave-raiding on frontier of, 211

trade with—

cotton in demand for, 242

railway suggested to open up, 232

Sobat as route for, 233

Achmet Bey, 143

Acre, 24, 28

Adlan, King, 140, 144

Agricultural Banks, 105, 234

Ahmed Hamad, 207

Aird and Co., 81

Akobo River, 187

Albert Edward Lake, 121

Albert Nyanza:

Baker’s discovery of, 149

circumnavigation of, 151, 157

dam on, scheme for, 118-123

regulator at, suggestion of, 132, 133

Alexandria, journey from, to Khartoum, 173-177

Ali Dinar, Sultan of Darfur, 190, 192, 193, 274

Amara Dunkas, 140

Ambadi, Lake, 126

American Medical Mission, 223

Angarebs, 182

‘Antiquos,’ 182

Arabia, slave demand in, 212

Arabic, 198, 224

Arabs:

as engineers, 29

characteristics of, 223, 225

intermixture with negroes, 140

misrule by, 19

slave-trade carried on by, 140, 142

Soudanese settlements of (A.D. 700), 139

Training College for, 204, 222, 223

views on slavery, 213

Ardrup, 154

Argin, 166

Assiout Barrage:

beneficial effect of, 89

construction of, 85, 86

cost of, 88, 89

Assouan:

granite outcrop at, 73, 81, 93; quarries, 93, 94

journey to, from Luxor, 174

maximum flood at, variations in, 11

Nile discharges at, 6-10, 75, 89

prosperity of, 91

‘red’ water at, 8

site of, 92

Assouan Dam:

appearance of, 95-98

Barrage in relation to, 28

beneficial effects of, 82-84

compensation cases arising from, 103, 104

construction of—

difficulties of, 82

numbers employed in, 82

time allowed for, 81

cost of, 88

dimensions of, 82

distribution of water stored by, 82, 83, 85

financial arrangements regarding, 79, 84

inauguration of, 92, 98-102

locks on west side of, 82, 96

nature of, 74, 75

Philæ champions’ effect on, 76