Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-20
RACE OF FARMER GIANTS
Till the Ground Along the Banks of the Blue
Nile
Are Compelled to Overcome All Sorts
of Obstacles - Their Disap-
PearinE H0mesteads.
From tine London Mail.

From tine London Mail
On the banks of the Blue Nile. some 200
miles from its mouth, and in region so
cceSSible that even the all-penetrating
Briton has been slow to. reach It, Sir VIII
liam Garstin has just discovered a colony
of giants. They are endowed with physical
attributes such as would have driven their
old fairy tale ancestors into permanent re-
tirement. These giants are farmers For
gen ration after generation they have TILED
the soil along the banks of the Blue Nile
and titled it in spite of obstacles that make
the annual harvesting of the Kansas cy
clone seem like summer in an amateur
garden.
The old family homesteads of the Nile
giants have most annoying habit of dis
appearing internationally. This popularity
due to the uncertain temper of the sluggish
stream that flows by their doorsteps-has
caused the giants to acquire amphibious
habits. Instead of abandoning the region
entirely and seeking a more trustworthy
neighborhood they have, with infinite pa
thence and forbearance, studied the whims
and eccentricities of the river. When it is
high they move up out of the wet and cul-
t!vate the high lands. When it is low they
move all that Is portable onto the mud
Islands that appear the moment the stream
subsidies, and on these little mud piles they
raise rice and grain, and a really incred ible
amount of farm produce. This alternating
between the banks and the middle of the
stream is kept up year in and year out.
Sir William Garstin, under secretary of
the Egyptian public works department, re-
turned to Cairo recently from an extended
Journey up the Blue and White Niles on the
English gunboat Metemmeh. He found the
Shillocks, as the tribe of giants is called al
Mogren-el-BohoOr or the Meeting of the
aters He asserts that he was most ia
Vorably impressed with the Shillocks They
ara good looking TO hppiD with and hnttpr
than that, they are honest Their most
marked physical characteristic is their
tremendously, lond arms, which hang
below their knees. They are men of re-
markable bodily strength, and can endure
fatigue and hardship that would soon kill
IN ordinary mortal. Sir William found that
hardly any of them failed to be at least a
foot taller than the tallest Englis hman in
the party, and many much larger than that
Their attire is conspicuous by its absence.
When Shillock giant has donned his head
gear ne Is ready for breakfast, but no man
ever StirS out without 1t or without his
spear in his hand, and this weapon in
variably is decorated lavishly with ostrich
feathers at the point. The Shilock women
are much smaller than the men and are
Inferior to them In looks. They wear their
heads closely shaved and array themselves
winter and summer alike in skins, which
they wear after the style adopted by a
sandwich man. The Shillock is not re-
lig1OuS man, and, beyond some vague ideas
of the desrablity of propitiating malevolent
spirits he is influenced by no creeds what
ever. His only modern vice is the harmless
one of smoking, and he INDUCES in that
on scale BETTING his stature. The pipe
which he smokes will hold comfortably
half pound of tobacco and when he becomes
weary of holding it between his teeth he
passes 1t over to his wife and she carries
1t until he wishes it again
The most serious obstacle which the Eng
liSh traveller encountered on his inland
voyage was the SUD or mass Of vegetation
which is loosened by the action of the
water and floats down stream. Frequently
the river was completely damned by it
ana progress was impossible until it had
been cut away. Some idea of 1t can be OBJ
tanned by the experience of Sir Samuel
BAKER. With 1000 men constantly working
az 1t he was able to proceed only twelve
miles in thirteen days. The sud regulates
the now of the river but whether its re-
moFai would result in an Overabundant
supply of water to the countries far north
at Hood and a shortage at other seasons is
question still unsettled. Al present this
mass or vegetation is the most serious OBJ
Stacle IN the opening up and future cuIti-
walton Of the country
Ahother enemy to civilization which the
engineers nave encountered is the relentless
white ant. Anything not ma lie of iron it
viii destroy utterly. 1t has been decided
therefore, that the poles of the transconti-
mental telegraph will all have to be of iron