Services E.45,173, Veterinary Department £E.9,255; Total £E.568,352. Area of land cultivated = 2,700,000 faddâns. Slavery: the professional slave dealers and raiders, finding that their trade becomes more dangerous every year, and that the Government are serious in their intention to destroy the business, are gradually abandoning it. To transport slaves is now a very risky and difficult matter, and only the most devious routes can be used, for the British Inspector is ubiquitous. Moreover, the natives are beginning to realize that the slave traffic is punishable by law. Domestic slavery must necessarily linger on for some years, but the natives will soon find that paid servants are cheaper than slaves, and then it will die a natural death. The slavery department needs more inspectors, especially near the Abyssinian frontier. Education. In 1916 there were 56 Elementary Schools in the Sûdân, with 4,375 pupils; eight Primary Schools, two Training Colleges, with 102 pupils; and the Upper School (Gordon College), with 60 pupils. Justice.-The greatest care is taken by officials in the Sûdân that the law shall be administered without fear and without favour, and the method of procedure in a matter of criminal inquiry and as to arrest is borrowed from the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure; that at the hearing is that of an Egyptian (or, substantially, of a British) court-martial. Magistrates and judges have two classes of people to deal with, the negro and the Arab. As an illustration of the caution with which the principles of European criminal justice have to be applied Mr. Bonham-Carter quoted the following case. It appears that a man called Kwat Wad Awaibung was tried on the charge of murdering Ajak Wad Deng, and having pleaded guilty he added: "The murdered Ajak Wad Deng owed me a sheep, but would not pay me. He said he would show me his work, and next day my son was eaten by a crocodile, "which was, of course, the work of Ajak Wad Deng, and for "that reason I killed him. We had had a feud for years as I was a more successful hippopotamus hunter than he was, and "for that reason he was practising witchery over me and my family.". 66 66 66 Irrigation and Cotton Growing.-Experiments have proved that Sûdân cotton is of a very fine quality, and the Government want to grow it largely. In 1913-14 the British Government lent the Sûdân £3,000,000 for cotton growing. In 1921 the British Government lent £6,000,000 to assist the irrigation schemes which had been decided upon, but this sum was found to be insufficient, and the work had to be stopped for want of Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General, visited England to discuss the matter with the British Government in May. 4.-Wâdî Ḥalfah to Kharțûm. The traveller wishing to visit Kharțûm from Wâdî Ḥalfah may do so by two routes: (1) He may either travel thither direct by the Wâdî Ḥalfah-Kharṭum Railway, or (2) he may ride to Karmah through the Baṭn al-Hagar, and proceed by steamer from Karmah to Kasingar at the foot of the Fourth Cataract, by horse or camel or train to Abû Ḥamad, and thence to Kharțûm by the main line. The distance by the former route is about 575 miles, and by the latter about 950 miles. A glance at the map will show how much time and distance are saved by the Sûdân Railway, which, in going direct to Abû Ḥamad, cuts off the great bend of the Nile between Korosko and Abû Ḥamad; on the other hand, the traveller who goes direct to Kharțûm from Wâdî Ḥalfah will see nothing of the temples and other remains which still stand in certain parts of the Cataracts, and the Pyramids at Kurru, Zuma, Gabal Barkal, Nûri, etc. Every traveller who can spare the time should take the opportunity of visiting Gabal Barkal and the remains of the temples of Piankhi, Senka-Åmenseken, and Tirhâkâh, and the Pyramids of Gabal Barkal and Nuri. The ruins of the Christian monastery in the Wâdî alGhazâl are worth a visit. It is now easy to visit Old Donkola, and the Island of Arkô, where there are statues, and the famous quarries on the Island of Tombos. The river scenery between Marawî and Dabbah is lovely, and there is much to interest the traveller who cares for the Sûdân in the now thriving Province of Donkola. The cost in time and money of paying a visit to the site of Napata, the ancient capital of the Northern Sûdân, need not be great, and we may be sure that the authorities, through their able governor of the province, Colonel H. W. Jackson Pâshâ, will afford every reasonable facility. Until the opening of the Karêmah Railway it was not possible to visit the interesting bend in the river where Marawi lies, without considerable cost and trouble, but now all this is changed, and we may hope that tourists will be sufficiently numerous to induce the Government to continue the line to New Donkola, and perhaps even to Karmah. The closing of the Ḥalfah-Karmah line will be deplored by all archeologists, for to all but people with much leisure and money it practically cuts off the possibility of visiting Gazîrat al-Malik, Samnah, Kummah, ‘Amârah, Sâi, Suwârdah, Dôshah, Saddênga, Ṣulb, and other sites where ancient remains exist. I.-Wâdî Ḥalfah to Abû Ḥamad by the Desert Railway, which is 232 miles long, was begun on May 15th, 1897, and reached Abû Hamad on October 31st of the same year; the average daily progress was about 14 miles, but 3 miles were made in one day early in October. The gauge is 3 feet 6 inches. The line was laid by Lieut. (now Sir P.) Girouard, R.E., Lieut. (now Col.) E. C. Midwinter, C.B., and other officers, during the summer, through an unmapped and waterless desert, and the work was so well done that trains carrying 200 tons of stores and supplies, drawn by engines weighing, without tender, 50 tons, could travel over it in safety at the rate of 25 miles per hour. The survey camp was always six miles in advance of railhead, the embankment party, 1,500 strong, followed at the average rate mentioned above, and the plate-laying party, 1,000 strong, came next. One section of the last party unloaded the sleepers, and another laid and spaced them, a third party adjusted them, a fourth party fixed and spiked the rails, and a fifth party levelled the line with levers. This done, the engine and train advanced, and so kept supplies of material at hand for the workers in front, whilst gangs of men behind straightened, levelled, graded, and ballasted the line. The camp moved forward about six miles every four days, and rations and water were supplied from Wâdî Ḥalfah. Every 20 miles a loop siding was made to allow trains to pass each other, and each station had a station master, two pointsmen, and a telephone clerk. Between Wâdî Ḥalfah and The stations are ten in number, and the various sections of the line may be thus described: Abû Hamad the line rises about 1,200 feet. Wâdî Ḥalfah to No. 1-17 miles, up-hill the whole way. 7 8 9 slight down gradient. slight down gradient. 10 (Junction)-13 miles, irregular, with curves. ,, 10 to Abû Hamad-18 miles. fairly level. 66 At No. 4 station are three wells, two of which yield water from a depth of 90 feet, and a reservoir was made there; at No. 6 station are two wells, 84 feet deep, which join each other, and there is no reservoir. The water is pumped up by Worthington pumps. At other places in the desert small supplies of water were found, but they were too highly charged with mineral salts to be used in the engine boilers. From No. 6 a narrow-gauge (2 feet) railway runs to the gold mines in the Eastern Desert. Nos. 2, 4, 6, and 9 are coaling stations, but all coals had to be brought up from Alexandria. The sight of a locomotive, or steamer on wheels," as the natives call it, hauling its tender, and water tanks, and a long row of trucks piled up with 400 tons dead weight of railway material across the desert at night, and breathing forth fire and smoke like a genuine 'Afrît in the Arabian Nights, impressed the imagination of the dwellers in the desert with the idea of Lord Kitchener's "magic" more than did the British soldier. When the first locomotive reached Berber, many of the natives hastened to touch its oily and dusty tender, believing it to possess magical powers, and some of them declared that the touch had cured their ailments! There are no antiquities in the desert between Wâdî Ḥalfah and Abû Ḥamad. II.-Wâdî Ḥalfah to Abû Ḥamad viâ The Wâdî-Halfah-Karmah Line (gauge 3 feet 6 inches) was begun in 1877 by the Khedive Ismâ 'îl, who had the rails laid as far as Sarras, a distance of 33 miles, and it was continued by the British to Akâshah, 55 miles further south, in 1884. In 1896, when the reconquest of the Sûdân was ordered by the British Government, Lord Kitchener determined to carry the line on to Karmah, at the head of the Third Cataract, a distance of 201 miles. It was found that the original piece of line had been badly laid; that the Dervishes had torn up 55 miles of it, and burnt the sleepers and twisted the rails; that only two engines were capable of moving; and that practically an entirely new line from Wâdî Halfah to Karmah would have to be built. This wonderful work was done in 13 months by a few young Royal Engineer officers under Lieut. (now Sir Percy) Girouard, R.E. On March 21st the Sirdar ordered the advance; by June 4th the line was working to Ambukôl Wells, 68 miles from Wâdî Halfah; on August 4th it reached Kôshah, 108 miles from Wâdî Halfah; and on May 4th it reached Karmah, 201 miles from Wâdî Halfah. Of the 13 months occupied in its construction, five had been almost wasted for want of engines and material, and in repairing the damage caused by rain storms, and meanwhile, at intervals, the Sirdar, Lord Kitchener, fought and defeated the |