TILE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 29, 1907.
A Country Whose Cotton May Compete With That of United States
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A PTJDAN COTTON GTTT.
(Copyright, 1S07. by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
ARTl'M (Special Corr.-ond-
XJT 1 of Tno Dee.) 1 Ho,
I HrltlBh ofticlals hare tell mo
intti mw u"; " ' "
tho . Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
will be. upplylng a good
liaro or the raw material needed for the
cotton mills of Manchester. If ao, It will
be far In tUe future. The total amount
of cotton rained la but a few million
pounds, and the exports of last year
were only 4.000 bales. There Is
no doubt but that the Sudan has vast
area of good cotton lands, but large Ir
rigation works will have to be con
structed before they can be brought Into
cultivation, and Egypt Is kicking at
every attempt to rob her of the Nile.
, Natlre Cotton Every where.
At present cotton Is raised In a small
way In every one of the thirteen provinces
of this ewuntry. It is grown to a con
siderable extent along the Nile between
here and Egypt. In Berber and Don
gola. two large provinces of lower Nu
bia,; the most of the crop Is useU by the
local weavers, who make It Into a rough
white cloth known as damar, which
f orrjiu a large part of the clothing of the
Sudan. '
Some la grown along the borders of
Abyssinia, and there was formerly a cot
ton . factory In one of the towns of Ka
alla. BtlU further south, In the prov-
lnce of. Seanar, there are branches of the
Blue Nile whose valleys are famous for
cotton. The governor there bad a cot
ton show last week which attracted a
hundred exhibitors, and he has set up a
few small cotton gins which are now be
ing worked. That region has exported
considerable cotton to Abyssinia.
In the Red Sea provinces there are
several large plantations, nd I am told
that a good crop la expected at Tokar,
where cotton growing Is an established
Industry.
The governor of the White Nile prov
inom hua raoantlv renorted that he is suc
ceeding in raising Egyptian cotton, and
that two acres of ground at Dunn lant
year turned out from three to four bales
each, with only three artificial water
ings. The sirdar tells me that the vast
plain between the White and Blue Nlles,
known as the Ueslreh, could be made to
produce vast quantities of cotton, and It
Is 'believed that It can be raised In the
Baur el Oaxel, away up on the edge of
the Congo watershed. In . the Blue Nile
province the cotton acreage planted this
year Is twice as large as It was last, and,'
In the White Nile province an Increase
of about 1.30(1 acres Is reported.
$300 per acre, and it will then rent for
enough to pay a good Interest on that
sum. Thirty thousand acres at $200 per
acre means $6,000,000, and this, I am as
sured. Is not an overestimate of Its prob
ablo value, If It can be brought under cul
tivation. I mot Mr. Hunt In New York shortly
before I left for Africa. He then hoped
to be in Egypt at the time of my visit, and
asked me to call upon him at his plan
tation. He met with an accident, however,
which kept him In the United States longer
than he had Intended. I asked him some
questions about his plantations then, but
he had little to say. Ho Is modest In
talking about himself, and the information
I have given here Is not from him. I find
that, he has the respect and esteem of
every one here, and the general opinion is
that he will succeed. I am told he . Is a
large owner of lands In the suburbs of
Khartum. About three or four years ago
lie bought sltxy aores Just outside the
town, paying $100 or $150 per acre for it.
The total coat was under $10,000. That land
is rapidly Increasing In value, and la said'
to be now worth anywhere from one
quarter to one-half million dollars. Angek)
Capato tells me that he is authorized to
offer Mr. Hunt $200,000 for It as a whole,
but, he adds, Mr. Hunt will probably keep
It and develop It upon his own lines as a
new addition to the city of Khartum.
COTTON MERCHANTS 05" OMXrtTRMAJf.
lived here It contained 600,000 or BOO,-
000 people; and it still covers about
the same space as then, although Its
population Is not more than 70,000. It is a
city of mud huts. There are not a dosen
two-story houses in it, and the place still
looks somewhat like a large native camp.
When I first rode through it I asked my
guide whether the holes in the walls had
not been made by cannon balls at the time
of the battle. He replied, "Why, man,
those are the windows. The houses have
no other wlndowe than those." The huts
are all flat roofed, with drain pipes extend
ing out into the streets, so that the water
pours down the necks of the passersby
when it rains. The stores are mere square
rooms, facing the streets they rent for
a dollar or so a month and everything is
simple and exceedingly cheap.
The government is improving things
gradually. It is making a new plan for
the city and has already laid out many
wide streets. It has taken the sixty acres
which the khalifa had for his special head
quarters and will build dwellings of the
first class upon It. This tract is still sur
rounded by a great wall, twelve or fifteen
feet high and four or five feet In thickness.
WEAVING COTTON IN THE SUDAN.
pies are displayed in flat, round baskets,
each of which holds perhaps a bushel; and
when carried away it Is put up In bags and
not in bales. A great part of it goes to
the native weavers, who turn It into cloth,
using the smallest factories one oan Imag
ine. Not, far from the street where the cotton
Is sold I found a little factory, whloh put
the raw material through all the prooe8e
and turned It Into native cloth. The estab
lishment consisted of a half dosen mud
huts, shut off from the street by a mud
wall, which, with the huts, formed a court.
In the court a dosen black-skinned women
were sitting on mats on the ground, ginning
and spinning, while the weaving went on
in the huts at the back. The gin was some
what like a clothes wringer, save that the
rolls were about as big around as the ordi
nary candle, and that the whole machine
was so small that it could have fitted Into
a peck measure. One woman turned the
machine, while another put in the cotton
and picked out the seeds as they failed to
go through. Near the gin sat twe women
who were snapping the lint with bow
strings to separate the fibers, and further
over tnere were a nan aoxen omers, su- It on ..-,. .,... ,, ,nrt
ting cross-legged, and spinning the lint intoxal(0 th() chef bul,dlngi of the khai,fa. In
another part of the town there will be
Selllnar Cotton in Omdarman.
Speaking of the cotton of the Sudan, I
visited an odd street In Omdurman yes
terday, devoted to selling the native pro
duct. The chief cotton market of this region
consists of many little sheds covered with
mats facing a dirt road. It is situated not
far from the center of the city of Omdur
man, and there are several thousand acres
of mud huts reaching out on all sides of
it. Both the sheds and the streets are
filled with cotton. The cotton la brought
in in bags of matting and is sold just as It
la when picked from the plants. The sam-
yarn by hand.
I went to the mud huts at the back and
looked In at the weavers. They were black
boys and men, who sat before rude looms
on the edge of holes In the ground. The
looms were so made that they could be
worked with the feet, the shuttles being
thrown back, and forth by hand. The lat
ter moved through the cloth with a whist
ling noise, and this was about the enly
sound to be heard. The cloth turned out
is very good. It is well woven, soft and
brings good prices. Its wearing qualities
are better than those of the Manchester
and American cottons. I asked what wages
the boy weavers received and was told 10
cents a day.
The British government is rapidly im
proving Omdurman. When the mahdl
second-class dwellings; and In a third
dwellings of the third-class. The civil en
gineers have already laid out a park in
the center of the city, and the vegetation
in It is watered by women who bring the
supply from the Nile in great Jars on their
heads. In this park the band will play
every Friday afternoon. '
Native Hospitals.
Omdurman has now hospitals, which have
been recently established by the Sudan
government. I was taken through them by
the governor, and the English and Egyp
tian doctors In charge gave me every op
portunity to see their work. I was even
offered the chance to be present at several
surgical operations. Including the cutting
off of the leg of a patient who had Just
come. In, but I declined. The hospitals
cover five or six acres. Their buildings are
of one story and they are made of sun- '
dried brick, but they are cool and well
lighted. The patients are black men and
women of many tribes. - There were several
hundred In the various wards, and the
doctors told me that during the last year
they had given treatment to 12,000 sick who
had been brought to the doors of the hos
pital, and In addition to the S00 or 900
patients who were kept in the hospital
itself. The British are greatly Improving
the sanitary conditions of the natives. They
have oleaned up the city, and it now looks
remarkably well for a native town. It is
rapidly growing, and will probably be the
commercial capital of the Sudan. It will
keep Its African character, but will be
modified by the new Africa, and, as such,
will be one of the most interesting cities
of the continent.
Slavery in the India,
The British are doing what they can to
break up slavery In the Sudan. This region
was once one of the chief slave markets
of the continent. Slaves were brought by
the thousands from central Africa to
Khartum and Omdurman, and they found
their way thence down to Egypt. During
the Egyptian rule there were military sta
tions In different parts of the country, and
they became centers of tho slave trade,
and when the navigation of the White Nile
was declared free It was made a slave
route. Later on the Arabs raided the
natives of central Africa and sent up their
slaves to Khartum. The trade was some
what checked while Gordon ruled, but it
broke out again under the mahdl, and
when the British took hold Omdurman was
one of the chief slave markets, and slaves
were brought in in droves from all parts
of the country. Since then the buying and
selling of slaves has been stopped, as far
as possible, but It Is still carried on in
many of the provinces, and It will be a
long time before It can be entirely eradi
cated. Sixty-seven slave dealers were cap
tured last year and tried. Fifty-eight were
convicted and more than fifty received
sentences In the penitentiary of from one
to seven years each.
What a Swiss Bor Did.
While I was at Asslout, about 300
miles south of Cairo, Dr. Alexander, the
president of the training college there,
told me how a poor Swiss boy broke up
the slave trade of upper Egypt. Said he:
"This incident occurred Just before the
British occupation of some years ago.
The boy, whose name was Roth, got the
Idea that it was his mission to aid in
abolishing slavery, and that his Held lay
in the Sudan, lia had no money, but he
worked his way to Alexandria, and thence
up the Nile to Asslout, landing here
without a cent. He applied for work at
the mission schools, telling us his plans,
and we finally 'arranged that he could
teach French. While doing so he studied
Arabic, and went out through the coun
try to learn all he could as to slavery.
He spent his vacations living with the
people, traveling, about and visiting the
villages. It was then contrary to the
law to sell slaves In Egypt, but Roth
learned that the trade was going on, and
that caravans were bringing slaves from
the Sudan down here, and that they were
then sent to Tunis and Tripoli and thence
to Constantinople. One d ' he came
Into the mission and said nat a big
slave caravan was encamped outside
Asslout, and that the. men hid their
slaves in caves during the day and sold
them at night. He begged me to go with
him to the governor and demand that
they be punished. I did go, but was not
able to do anything.
"After this," continued Dr. Alexander,
"Roth despaired somewhat, but said he
Intended to go to Cairo and get the Eng
lish consul general to help him. He
did so and convinced the consul general
that his story was true. The two wont
together to Rlas Pasha, who was then
foreign minister, and demanded that the
sale of slaves be stopped. Roth had then
the English government behind him, and
the Egyptian government had to respect
him. They gave him a company of 100
soldiers and told him to go back to Assl
out and capture the caravan. It was
probably their Intention to notify the
slave dealers in time so they could get
away, but Roth stopped his special train
outside the town, divided his company
into two bands, surrounded the caravan
and took the traders and sixty-seven
slaves, whom they had with them. Ha
brought the slaves to the mission school
and said he wanted me to hold them, as
the Egyptians would not dare to take
them from under the American flag.
"Shortly after this there came a mes
sage from the governor of the province
ordering that the slaves be given up. The
messengers were backed by soldiers, but
nevertheless I refused, saying it was Im
possible on account of the absence of
Dr. Hoge, the superintendent of the mis
sion. The next day Dr. Hoge arrived,
and the governor sent for him. He
abused him for not giving up the slaves,
whereupon Dr. Hoge charged him with
wanted to evade the law, and told Mm
that if Asslout had any respect for the
law or had a governor who was any
thing of a man, the caravan would have
been already arrested and the owners
punished.' He then demanded that this
be done, and as a result the slave deal
ers and slaves were taken to Cairo to be
tried there. The government of Egypt
did not dare to whitewash the transac
tion, and It was forced to dismiss the
governor and punish the slave dealers
Roth was afterward appointed an agent
of the Egyptian government to keep down
the slave trade. He came to the Sudan
and carried on his work there In connec
tion with Gordon and Slatln Pasha, and
Slatln speaks of him in his book entitled .
'Fire and Sword In the Sudan,' He died
while fighting the slave trade there."
FRANK Q. CARPENTER.
Reconstruction of Imperial Rome a Colossal Undertaking
R
OMB, Deo, 28. Prof. Marcelllanl, will be interesting. compared in magnitude with the pyramids
a modest but learned archae- Tho models of the various imperial build- of Egypt, Intact and complete as It stood
ologlst who has made the topog- ings are made of terra cotta, painted and before fire; earthquakes and modern gen-
raphy of ancient Rome a Ufa often gilded after the style of their orl- orations had reduced It to ruins,
study, has, after seventeen glnala. The different kinds of marbjes. the stone clppl surround the huge building.
montns oi paueni ana careiui coior or pronse, tne staiues, mes ana trees The Imperial bex painted and with
is the Portlcus Margarltaria, an arcade unhealthful position against the cliff of
for Inwelera n1 mlrinmltha. aunnnrted bv the Palatine.
Cotton at Kksrtan,
Here at Khartum there has been a con
siderable increase in the amount of cotton
planted, and the farmers tell me that the
crop pays well. Angelo Capato, one of
the richest of the Khartum merchants, who
has 6,0(X) acres of land, says that be raised
100.0UO pounds of cotton last year, which he
shipped to Alexandria for sale. It was
sent there unglnned, and It brought U
oeuta a pound, or hi cent more than tho
cotton of the lower Nile valley, Mr. Capato
says that he bought his land for $6.60 an
acre, and that he has already been offered
$ra per acre for (00 acres, but that he would
not take it Bald he:
"I can make & or t per cent net out of
my land by renting It at $20 per acre for a
money rent, and If I plant It to cotton,
several times as much more. I am now
using steam pumps and am Importing
steam plows; and it may be that 1 shall
some time have a cotton factory and gin
ning establishment right here."
A ,
Leigh float's Urrat Plantation.
One of the moat daring cotton flaiillng
enterprises to be found In the whole Nile
.vajley lias bean started by an American.
X refer to Mr. Leigh Hunt, who. In con
nection with Mr. Bloat Fasaett and others,
made a big fortune In gold mines In Con-a.
Mr. Hunt has a concession of something
like 80,000 acres bordering the Nile, Just
opposite where the river Atburu, or LSluck
Nile, flows Into the main ttrrnm. The At
bara brings down almost all the mud which
the Nile spreads over Egypt, and these
lands are so situated that they ran be
easily Irrigated.
Mr. Hunt has Imported a, number of
steam pumps, and Is gradually putting
water onto the land. He has built a house
there which has cost something like HO. IO,
and I understand that he has spont some
thing like $1,000,000 in the development of
his propvrty.
Ills lands He near the Junction of the
Cape to Cairo road, which runs from Alex
i andiia south to Khartum, and the Nile
and Ked 8ea railway, which connects that
road with Port Sudan on the Ked sea.
This will give him two outlets for his cot
ton. He can either send It to the Red sea
across the Nubian desort by a short rail
way haul of about 800 miles, or down to
the Mediterranean over the Cape to Cairo
route, a distance of considerably more than
1.UC0 miles. The probability Is that It will
all go to the Red 'sea. and thence by steam
ship to Europe or the United States.
As yet the experiment Is not far enough
advanced to be pronounced an unqualified
success. Mr. Hunt has had trouble with
his labor, with his machinery and with
insect psts, and espei'laUy the locusts,
which hsve eaten up a large part of his
crops. These difficulties can be overcome,
and the land promts te be worth a great
fortune. I understand that it was given
him by the government at a low rale in
consideration of his developing It. It will
i ot, with Its Improvements, only a few
dollar par acre, and when the water is
put upoa It, It should be worth mere than
work, succeeded In reconstructing In terra are all faithfully reproduced.
cotta the principal buildings of Imperial Sometimes a single broken column has
Rome. His models, complete In every de- served to reconstruct a whole portico, the
tall, are now exhibited in a hall near the representation of a temple on an old ooln
Forum. ' has been copied In the present reconstruc-
To attempt an adequate even though tion, and when such materials were lacking
brief description of Prof. Marcelllant's work old prints, descriptions by classto authors
would fill volumes. Nothing short of a and the researches of learned men in past
treatise on ancient topography would give generations have been utilised and made
a correct Idea of this vast undertaking, to serve for the reproduction of temples,
gilded stucco reliefs, is seen between the
nineteen arches, and the poles for the
awning are on the roof.
The colossal statue of Nero or of the
sun in gilt brorise, the work of Zonodorus,
with the seven rays around Its head, may
ten rows of stone pilasters, where the ne
gotlatores exhibited their precious mer
chandise in booths and In shops made by
means of brick walls raised between pairs
of stone pilasters.
Further along on the same line follows
the House of the Vestals, an oblong
brick building surrounded by streets on
every side, its most prominent feature be-
be seen near the Coliseum, with the Meta ing the atrium from which the whole
which Is meant more for students of arch
aeology than tor ordinary sightseers. A
thorough knowledge of Roman history Is
Indispensable in order to appreciate the
work and to realise how faithfully tho re
construction of the monuments It contains
has been done. Still even to the uninltl-
pulHer!,, liasll'ras and fora, of which not
nr.K piiiule sAne standing on another exists
at the present day.
T' A'rrnnte(rrum Flavlum or Coll
soum is the most prominent building In
Prof. Marcelllanl's model of lmperal
Rome. It stands Isolated, wonderfut and
Sudans on the left. Back of the Colos
sus Is the Temple of Venus and Rome,
Veneris et Romae, and Immediately be-
bulldlng is often named. Its architecture
may lie compared to that of medieval
double-storied cloister, necessarily very
bind it the Basilica of Constantlne, with airy and spacious to give the Inmates, who
ated the reconstructed city of the Caesars immense, a striking monument, lightly
its nave and two aisles. Its vaulted celling
supported by eight fluted columns of pro
connesian marble and Its entrances on the
Via Sacra, decorated with four large col
umns of porphyry.
On the opposite side of the Cllvua Sacer
were seldom allowed to go out, the chance
of taking bodily exercise.
The atrium was surrounded by state
apartments on the ground floor, while the
private rooms of the vestals were on the
upper floor. The house was built in an
Here towers the Domus Galana or
House of Caligula to the height of 1D0
feet, whose facade is representod In its
present ruinous state, although only in
Us substructures built by Ualigula to
raise the slope of the hill. The palace,
with Its state apartments and halls and
porticoes, is all gone.
Here may be seen also the Domus,
Agustlana or House of Augustus, the
very seat of the empire. It is divided
into three sections, the first, from the
side of the Vella, occupied by the
propylaia, the temple of Apollo, the
portico of the Dlanalds with its fifty
marble statues of the Dlanalds and in
equal number of equestrian figures of
the sons of Eglstus, and the Greek and
Latin libraries. The middle section wan
occupied by the shrine of Vesta, and
the last on the side of the Circus, by the
imperial house Itself, a set of magnificent
buildings crowded with the masterpieces
of Greek, Tuscan and Roman art.
Separating the House of Augustus from
the baths of Septlmlus Seven Is the
stadium of Domltlan, oblong shaped, with
a curved end, 160 yards long and 47 wide;
the Circus Maxlmus, which unfortunately
is not visible in either of the two so
nompanylng illustrations; the gardens of
s.donls, laid In oriental style, with large
pots of sliver, In whloh were sown the
special plants sacred to the god who rep
resented the sun and was regarded aa
the promotor of vegetable life; the pal
ace of Septlmlus Beverus; the Beptlao
nium, consisting of seven rows of col
umns symbolising the seven bands of
heaven, and many other temples and
palaces Innumerable, with columns, por
ticoes, statues and gilt bronae deoors
Hons.
Underneath the Palatine Is seen the
Forum, where the destinies of the ancient
tContlnued on Page
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VrSTW OF TUB RECONSTRUCTION OF ROMS, TAKSN FROM tTKHIND TBS UAF1TOU
