Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-07
The Fallen City.

KhartOum may be called the Gate Of Central
Africa European civilization enters at one side
Of the city and African barbarism comes in at
the other. Beyond khartoum from the north
few tourists have ever made their way. and be :
yond khartoum from the south few savages hav
ever yentured. From the south the Nubian
sends his stores of ebony, ostrich feathers
ivory, skins of animals and other products of
the equatorial lake district, while from the
north the trader.carries grain. cotton. gum,
B rummagin knick-knacks and beads to feed
and clothe the 'savages pOuting at the line" AS
the entrepOt of the products OF Central At
RIGA. khartOum is place of some commercial
Importance. Among the SO 0O0 people who max G
up its population there are many Greeks and
Italians. while two or three Americans here find
profitable investments in furnishing beads and
other trumpery to the savages from Kor-
dGfan, Ell Obed and Dafour. The traders
sell canned fruits. meats and vegetables
and make the DongOlowee howl through the
streets after taking some of their rak as a re-
fresher. Arabs in their bournaises. Turks with
the traditional fez. COpts with their bashe and
Birhareen Arabs with their knotted and COM
bined locks OF hair. standing up like quilts OF
the porcupine. wander through its irregular
narrow and badly drained streets. It is no
wonder that khartOum is unhealthy. When it
rains. great pools of stagnant water are formed
and from these feyer3 are generated and the
deadly miasma does its work among the peopIe
The street that borders the river side looks
down upon the water from an elevation along
which stately palm trees and large gardens OF
citrOn and orange trees stand MANY neatly
whitevashed buildings stand along the river
bank, and these are relieved b. the minarets
and mosques which give the place the air Of a
city in Upper Egypt, like BenisJoef or Roda in
large way. There are, of course, the character
istlc mud houses, the tropical foliage the broad
palms and the weeping domes. the dedebahas
hauled on the beach for repairs. the bales of
cotton heaped On the shore, the sacks of gum,
the tusks OF ivory and the steyedore population
who brave crocodiles for their Daitry paras
The palace Of the Governor is an ugly LOOKING
building facing the river, and the heImeted and
casQued negroes who form the guard of honor
are dressed In white uniforms. There is good
dead OF complex scoundrelism in the CITY. II is
the result OF hfty years of the slave trade This
has attracted the worst class OF the rogues who
live On the Levant. An army of men as large
as the army OF the United States is engaged in
Capturing the negroes Of the Upper Nile and il
Is said that 13O, COO slaves, worth about $50 a
head, yearly pass through the tortuous thorouph
fare OF this gateway city, The Turk, with his
Moslem religion, sees no great harm in the traffic.
for he Is taught polygamy and the seryitude of
one race TO another. At Khartoum the barem is
regarded as sacred institution. as the Koran is
the inspired law OF the majority Even il the
mountain passes Of Abbysinia were sealed nm
the seapOrts Of the Cape of Good Hope bockaded,
and ali the outlets of Central Africa barricadad
yet it is believed that the same silent caravans
will be found starting over the deserts and the
same suspicious slave-dealers sneaking through
Khartoum across the Red sea or the Persian
Gulf. For 400 miles south of khartoum the
White Nile is covered with rich cotton fields
which slope away from the banks of the river
from five to fifty miles into the interior The
resources of the country are immense, and
khartoum is destined to play an important part
In the development Of the resources of Central
Africa.