TILE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 29, 1907. A Country Whose Cotton May Compete With That of United States - . - , 't t i ' I- . rr v..v. i y, -vtV -:' ' A - L.- VVr ' a I "S ' i ' U .v 1 - V'"- V .vi:i i - .:fi:.;;V - v ' t' 5 2 '" 1 j- f ,7 r l ..." - T. 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 ;.. ....... t-vr,'t.f ' - y. v...... l ' if. "1lt .'"( Vv i .' i , li:.-.-'. wv- .( T ' if' - J VrSTW OF TUB RECONSTRUCTION OF ROMS, TAKSN FROM tTKHIND TBS UAF1TOU