Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-14
SUDAN MISSION NEEDS


DR.. H Kari W. Kunm. general secretary
Of the Sudan United Mission. who was
recently a guest Of Rev. DR.. and Mrs. l.
T. Kelly, in Conversation with Star re-
porter, described affairs in the Sudan.
DIR. Kumm. q geographer. in addition to
being the frst white man to visit the South
ern Lybian desert and the cAnnibal regions
Of Sudan. has published works In German
upon the geography OF Nubia and an ac-
count OF the Arab tribes OF the Nile valley
and the meteorolosy Of the Guinea coast.
TT ia question" DIR. Kumm said.
whether more important crisis. either
from commercial, religious or political
standpoint. ever confronted the civilized
world than the great Sudan problem.
region equal in size to China, the United
States or Europe-minus -Russia-traversed
and Benus with population OF eighty
million souls, is passing under the sway OF
the great dominant nations.
"a long line OF discoveries has from
time to time bIaxed the way through this
Land OF Darkness.-Mungo Park. the
Scotehrnan. in 1899: Denham an dClabberton
in 1873. crossing the Sahara from Trfpoli to
Lake Chad Barth, the standard authority
on West Central Sudan. who visited and
in Northern Nigeria. which Canon Robin
son describes as the largest market town in
Africa; Dr. Nachtigal, next to Livingston
the finest African explorer, a keen OBJ
server and the f1rst European to cross the
Sudan from west to east. preserving his
Christian faith and testimony even when
face to face with Mohammedan fanatics.
1.-THE great Sahara desert. two thousand
miles in length by four thousand In width.
is penetrated from north to south by five
well-dehned trade routes. No man has ever
crossed 1t from east to west.~and its sands
are strewn with the bones of hapless men
and animals who have fallen by the way.
The great waterways Niger. Nile ana
Benue play an important part in the devel-
opment Of the country. Along the river
banks are countless villages The Benue,
three times. the length of the Thames, is
navigable In rainy season for three hun
dred miles by ocean steamers and for six
or seven hundred miles by river steamers 1t
Is more than two miles broad In places
The French railroad connects the Senegal
and Upper Niger. The road projected by
the German government viii! connect KAN
erun and Lake Chad. The English govern
ment has begun a road from Lagos to
Kano. These various carriers will drain
the country of cotton. ostrich feathers.
ivory. palm oil, shea-butter. rubber, gums
and tin. The forests afford mahogany and
other rare@ woods. The conquest OF pagan
and Mohammedans Is surely opening up
new and extensive areas of country In what
was once terra incognito.
Speak Various Dialects.
There are about 213 native tribes in the
Sudan. spea king various dialects, but IN
general it may be said that a knowledge OF
;the Haussan language will carry the trav-
eler through the $4,000. 600 peoples of west
Sudan, and of the Arabic through the
forty-odd millions of East and Central
Sudan.
1T may be stated general fact that
the dwarfs or pigmies.I are to be found In
the forest and the taller races in the swamp
lands. The finest type is met with in he
Haussa race of northern Nigaria. This
people is much on a par with the Abyssin-
ians-tal, strong, prominent nose, hgh
forehead-rather a Grecian type of face.
Men of seven feet in height are to be seen.
"All these various peoples are poor. but
their wants are easily supplied with bowls
of porridge and native fruits. There are
great fertile plains in the Sudan on which
rove herds of cattle, horses, sheep, goats
and fowls of every variety. The standard
of value is the cheap cotton handkerchief,
such as can be purchased In the markets
of Manchester for a penny each. In ex-
change a fine Morocco skin can be pur-
chased, worth from 81 to 81 in the home
market. 1t must be borne in mind, how
ever, that transportation is precarious and
that one out of every three or four cara
| vans is captured by the robber bands who
lie In wait
Government Is tribal-each village hav-
ing its chief-these in turn being tributary
10 king. In some instances the success
sion is to the nephew, in others. elective.
The native religion Is fetfchism and Idol
worship. About 40.000.O00 of the popula-
ton pagan. the balance Mohamm edan.
While the preference of the natives Is for
Christianity, numerous converts are being
made by the MohammedanS. whose access
is easy through the protection afforded
teachers and traders. AS the tenets of the
Koran enjoin death upon infidels, II can
readily be seen what menace Is threat
pad to fyi iOf1 hyt o IA la nm
ism. and how necessary 1t is that the hand
full of twenty missionaries should be largely
reinforced by self-sacrficing teachers OF
the Christian faith.
In the Cannibal Regions.
THE cannibal regions along the Murchi-
son range-north and south of the Benue
river-have been explored but little. In re-
Spouse to the entreaties of Miri. King OF
the Gazumas. l went to visit that tribe
It's cannibalism is Of the lowest type. Not
only enemies, but their own sick, feeble and
aged people eaten. / saw no grave
yard In its place were three sacred hol-
low trees and an Enclosure in which were
ladders framed of human skulls and bones.
This benighted race was eager for the
white teacher and while at Vase / was
visited by eight kings with an appeal to
send help to their tribes Rev. Mr.. Aitken
of the Church Missionary Society told me
Of tribe which, knowing nothing of the
Christians God, keeps a, Sabbath of rest
in Imitation of the white man
1.-The slave traffic Is still quietly prac-
| ticed. Il myself saw little children mourn
fully tramping the two-thousand- mile jour-
ney of the Sahara toward hopeless and
unhallowed bondage in Turkish homes"
The pathos and Importance of the Sudan
crisis was illustrated by DR.. Kumm as fol-
lows:
"A chief and his followers came down
from their remote village into missionary
outpost to ask that white teachers might
be sent into their country to tell of the
Christians God. Two years passed before
| the appeal could be granted. Upon ap-
preaching the pagan village sign of life
could be seen by the mission visitor. Sud-
| denly at a distance there appeared upon
| the public square that Sabbath morning a
strange spectacle. An entire tribe upon
| its knees with eyes closed. hands raised
| TO heaven. was sending Its mute. dumb ap-
| peal to the unknown God. The chief in
| formed the new conner that this had been
| their custom four five hours each Sab
bath for two years.
1.-The great Christian world Is confronted
| In the Sudan with paganism and Isiamism.
\ Unless immediate aid Is sent Mohamme-
| danism will be the conGuering and almost
! ineradicable faith"
| Dr. Kumm expressed surprise that while
| chairs OF geography vera common in Euro
| pean universities he found little IL any
1 auch rroytaion N American institutions