Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-02-16
KHARTOUM.

Khartoum, the chief city as well
as the capital of the Soudan country
claimed by Egypt, is about 1900
miles from Cairo. 1t stands on the
peninsula formed by the junction of
the Blue and the White Nile. The
dock-yards and principal landings
are on the Blue Nile The water in
the river is about 1,400 feet above
the level of the sea. There is an ex-
tensive quay on the banks of the nv
er, where the principal commerce of a
country as large as all India naturally
centers. The provinces of the Sou
dan are not commercial to any great
extent, but these great rivers bring to
this point large number of ships.
The principal productions are ivory,
hides, senna, gum Arabic, and bees
wax. The inhabitants of the vast
country are notoriously indolent,
and some have said that bees are the
only industrial beings in the whole
country. A great part of the city
lies low, so that at high water it is
flooded, rendering it unhealthy, but
it is believed that some day remedy
for that evil will be provided. The
gardens around the city are extensive
and contain long rows of date palms,
many of which are half century
old, and have become very valuable.
The climate is severe. From June
till October the thermometer ranges
from 90 TO 100o in the shade and
is about so in winter during the
daytime. The city was founded by
Mohammed Ali in 1928 and at the
opening of this century only few
fishing huts marked its site. In
1859 the population was estimated at
$4,000 but in the next ten years the
disturbed state of the country brought
the number down to $4,000. Since
then, however, there has been
marked recovery, and of late the
population has been about $4,000.
The town. though consisting chiefly
of mean mud built huts, has a num-
ber of substantial modern dwellings,
the most imposing of which is the
stone-faced palace of the governor in
/ which Gordon took up his abode.
The Christian population is very
small, but Khartoum is the seat of
Roman Catholic mission which was
established by Pope Gregory XVI in
1916. Protestant missions were
long conducted by Prof Ignaz Knob
lecher. Several European consulates
are established there.
CHINESE GRAVEYARD CUSTOMS
The Chinese in this country adj
here tenaciously to their old-country
customs. To provide food for the
dead, and servants to wait on them
is too foolish for any portion of the
human race. Last week was the
time for this custom to be observed,
and the Herald says that every Chi
nese grave In Woodlawn and Green
wood Cemeteries has been decorted
with incense paper, joss sticks, roast
ed pig and other articles. At one Of
the graves was laid a whole pig,
roasted beautifully brown and nicely
spiced, the odor of which, when car
ried past the crowd that were look
ing on, was so aromatic that it made
them hungry. The whole pig thus
roasted was little over two hundred
pounds. After an honr's exposure
before the spirits of the dead, it was
brought home in the evening. 1t
was cut up into three-pound slices
and sent around to the different shops
on Mott street and eaten up. The
most peculiar of all the ceremonies
of the week was the sending of ser
wants to the dead. This is done by
making paper men and women,
which in the midst of the sacrifices are
burned, the bystanders saying 'Here
are the servants who will wait upon
thee" If there are any important
messages to be conveyed to the dead
they are always written and fastened
upon the hands of the paper men.