The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-05-24
The City of Khartoum.
A Description OF the Metropolis of the
SOudan.


A Description of the Metropolis of the
SOudan.
NesO York Observer
Khartoum is the chief city and the seat
of government of the Egyptian Soudan.
1t is situated on the peninsula formed by
the junction of the White Nile and the
Blue Nile, and has population of about
&c, 600 in times of peace Emphatically
Is Khartoum city of the desert, for
waste of sand encompasses it on all sides
as far as the eye can see. Though the
desert is healthy enough, the town itself
has a bad sanitary reputation part of it
lies so low that after an inundation pools
of water stagnate without any attempt at
drainage, until the seeds of fever and pes
thence are sown far and wide
Viewed from distance Khartoum ap-
pears very picturesque, with its shining
river, stately government buildings. and
towering minaret, but closer inspection
dispels all the romance about it and salutes
the nose with multitude of odors Mar
row and dusty lanes wind around between
high walls, which are occasionally broken
by door or gateway. The houses are
mostly bare huts, one story high, with fiat
roofs, and they are built of dark Nile mud
or of sun-baked bricks. The more substan-
tial buildings are occupied by the govern
ment, or the European residents. The
palace of the Governor general of the Sou
dan is pleasantly situated on the banks of
the Blue Nile, and is an extensive edifce,
faced with stone, and backed by large gar
den. Khartoum has also many smaller
gardens of datepalms, orange and citron
trees, pomegranates, grapevines and prickly-
pears and round about the place may be
seen the two methods of irrigation that
have from time out of mind prevailed upon
the Nile: the shadoof, pole weighted at
one end with stones, and at the other with
bucketful of water, to be raised by man
ual labor, and the sakiyeh, huge wheel
with water-pots on its circumference, turned
day and night by oxen, and creaking and
groaning so awfully as to make sleep i'm
possible to any one who has not heard it all
his life.
The inhabitants of Khartoum are Arabs,
Egyptians, Turks, COpts, Syrians, Greeks
and Armenians, beside few Italian, Ger
man and French traders, European consuls,
officers and missionaries. The appearance
of the street is as diversified as in most
oriental towns; brown Arab girls show
their bare arms and feet, with silver anklets
and blue skirts, while balancing jars of wa
ter on their heads untamed Bedouins of
the desert stalk about in their dirty white
dIapery the soldiers of the Soudan set off
their inky skin with white uniform gray
bearded Turks play chess or backgammon
all the day long before their doors; hardened
old slave dealers clothe their wickedness in
white turban and roses; half-naked peas
ants go to and from market with melons on
their heads; and fat negresses wallow in
the mud Of the Nile, under pretence of
bathing, like hippopotami. Rambling ba-
SaaTs in covered and uncovered streets dis
play for sale an odd mixture of fish, flesh,
fowl, vegetables, European goods and orr
entail triAes, subtle scent pervading the
whole, The people of Khartoum support
winter temperature of eighty degrees, and
summer temperature of 100 degrees, and
this hot climate may furnish some excuse
for their almost phenomenal laziness. One
traveller says their chief occupation seems
to be to lie on their backs in the shade and
kill flies, and the children in the schools
have not even energy enough to brush
away the flies, which may be seen feasting
around their eyes in two black rings.
The importance of Khartoum is due
entirely to its trade, for it is the CONNER
cial centre of the vast Soudan, or Country
of the Blacks, All the native products of
the heart of Africa, ivory, hides, SIENNA,
gum Arabic, ebony, ostrich feathers, come
here in caravans and are exchanged for
European goods or money. From Khar-
toum they are transported by boat and
caravan to Carlo and Lower Egypt, and
though railroad has been planned direct
to Khartoum, it will continue to bea dream
of the future, until Egyptian finances are
in more satisfactory condition. The mer-
chants of Khartoum do not want for legit-
innate business, but they have often shown
marked preference for the traficin slaves.
They send into the interior an expedition
of two or three hundred men, armed to the
teeth and carrying few hundred pounds of
glass beads to hribe the natives with.
This expedition is received with open arms
by some black chief, who forthwith aspires
to conquer his neighbors with the help OF
his civilized friends. An attack is made
upon the nearest village; an hour before
dawn the matched roofs are fired, and
while the men are shot down by the light
of their burning homes, the women and
children are taken captive and marched OF
slaves. The cattle found around the vii
lage are exchanged for the friendly chief S
ivory, but disputes between the traders
and their host usually result in the killing
of the latter and the enslayement Of his
subjects. A settlement is then permanently
established in the black country, when once
year caravan with ivory and slaves
wends its way to Khartoum. This iniqui-
tous dealing in human flesh has long been
a hideoas blot upon Khartoum, and that it
is no longer carried on so openly as Of old,
civilization owes to the persistent energy OF
Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon.
The Soudan provinces were annexed to
Egypt more than half century ago. Me-
hemet Ali founded Khartoum as . means
of ciyilizing Central Africa, bat It rapidly
degenerated into q slave market, and It Is
doubtful whether the SoadaR has ereE been
a paying iAyeStment, politically or hnanca-
ally, to. the EgyptiaA Goxes1saest Only
Ia few vears aga Geaesal GDadpn occupied
1.-THE palace Of Khartonm as goyeSnor-gener4
Tai IT SOudan, and gained the goodwill
Of the entire population BY his wise and