The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1899-07-14
RACE OF NILE GIANTS.
CULTIVATE SOIL ALONG THE UN-
CERTAIN RIVER.
they Are Compelled to Ovcrcomc All
Sorts of Obstacles-1hcir Disappear-
ing Homestcads - Their Attire Is
Conspicuous by Its Entire Abscpcc.

Sorts of Obstacles-1hcir Disappear-
ing Homestcads - Their Attire Is
Conspicuous by Its Entire Absence.
On the banks of the Blue Nile,
some 200 miles from it's mouth, and in
region so inaccessible that even the
penetrating Briton has been slow
to reach it, Sir William Garstin has
just discovered n colony of giants.
They are endowed with physical attri-
butcS such as would have driven their
old fairy tale ancestors into permanent
retirement. These giants are farmers.
For generation after generation they
have titled the soil along the banks of
the Blue Nile, and titled it in spite of
obstacles that make the annual har-
vesting Of the Kansas cyclone seem
like summer in an amateur garden.
The old family homesteads of the
Nile giants have a most annoying habit
Of disappearing Internationally This
peculiarity-due to the uncertain tenn
per of the sluggish stream that flows
by their doOrs-has caused the giants
to acquire amphibious habits Instead
OF abandoning the region entirely and
seeking more trustworthy neighbor-
hood they have, with infinite patience
ana forbearance, studied the whims
and eccentricities of the river. When
1t is high they move up out of the wet
and cultivate the high lands. When
1t 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 Il really incredible
amount of farm produce. This alter
mating between the banks and the
middle of the stream is kept up year
in and year out.
Sir William Garstin, Under Sccre-
tary of the Egyptian Public Works De
partment returned to Cairo recently
from an extended journey up the Blue
and White Niles on the English gun
boat Metemmeh. He found the Shil-
locks, as the tribe of giants is called.
at Mogren-el-Bohoor or the Meeting
of the Waters. He asserts that he
was most favorably impressed with
the Shillocks. They are good looking,
to begin with, and better than that
they are honest. Their most marked
physical characteristic is their tre-
mendously long arms, which hang be-
low their knees. They are men of re-
markablc bodily strength, and can en-
dure fatigue and hardship that would
soon kill an ordinary mortal. Sir Viii
liam found that hardly any of them
failed to be at least a foot taller than
the tallest Englishman in the party,
and many were much larger than that.
Their attire is conspicuous by it's
absence. When a Shillock giant has
donned his headgear he is ready for
breakfast but no man ever strs out
without it or without his spear in his
hand, and this weapon invariably is
decorated lavishly with ostrich feath-
ers at the point. The Shilock women
are much smaller than the men and
inferior to thcr in looks. They wear
their heads closely shaved and array
themselves, winter and summer alike,
in skins, which they wear after the
peS IL ANiol'ltt " Il SLlAlNl " ltu llttll. L Lt
Shillock is not a religious man, and,
beyond some vague ideas of the desir-
ability of propitiating malevolent spir-
its, he is Influenced by no creeds what
ever. His only modern vice is the
harmless one of smoking, and he in
dulges in that on 4 scale BETTING his
stature The pipe which he smokes
,,-i1 1,,1I Isl,
tobacco, and when he becomes weary
Of holding it between his teeth he
passes it over to his wife and she car
ries it until he wishes it again.
The most serious obstacle which the
English traveller encountered on his
inland voyage was the sud or mass
of vegetation which is looscned by
the action of the water and floats
down stream. Frequently the river
was completely damned by it and all
progress was impossible until It had
been cut away. Some idea of it can
be obtained by the experience of Sir
Samuel Baker With LOCO men con
proceed only twelve miles in thirteen
days. The sud regulates the Gow of
the river, hnt whether its removal
would result i'll an over-aDundant
supply OF water to the countries far
north at flood time and Il shortage at
other seasons is question still unset
tied At present this mass Of vegita-
ton is the most serious obstacle in the
opening up and future cultivation of
the country.
Another enemy to civilization which
the engineers have encountered is the
relentless white ant. Anything not
made of iron it will destroy utterly
1t has becn>decidcd, therefore, that the
poles of the transcontiuental telegraph
will all have to be OF iron.-.Iondon
Mail.
HhPING EEATS OF HORSES