The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-19

cIry-Quccr Way cE Selling Grain,
Etc.
(copyright. 1907. b. Frank @. Car
penter.)
Omduruaut The biggest native
city Of the sultan. The capital Of the
Mahdi and the KhaIifa II the future
great commercial center 81 this part
Of the world I wish l could show IL
to YOU a. ] saw it while riding on dom
key back through it with its Egyptian
governor II is one Of the qu~ereSt
cities OF the world. and one Of the
most important TO Africa Of the ru-
ture. Pounded by the Mahdi. or the
MohammCdan Messiah. and the scene
OF the most artOcious cruelties and eX-
t~rayagaucics Of the khalIfa VINO sue
ceeQed aIm. it once contained about
one million Of African Sudanese. 1t
was then q great military camp, com
posed Of one hundred thousand mud
houses. and inhabited by tribes from
ali parts of the million square miles,
comprised in the realm of that savage
governor. The Khalifa forced the peo-
pie TO come here 10 live that he might
have their services in time Of war, and
he allowed them to 60 home only to
cultivate and harvest their crops,
which they were forced to bring here
for sale. He made Omdurman his
seat Of government, and he had his
own residence here inside Il great wall
of sun-dried brick which inclosed
about sixty acres and in which was
an oDen-alr mosque Of ten acres or
more. Here the khalifa had his pal
ace and here he kept his -four hum
dred wives. Just outside here he
had the great battle which ended in
the destruction Of himself and the
city.
Omdurman in 1907.
The Omdurman of today is on the
site of the great city Of the khalifa.
1t lies at the junction of the White
and Blue Niles, in the bend where the
White Nile flows into the main stream.
BY the course of the river it is about
eighteen hundred miles from the Medi-
t~erranean sea, and, in a straight line,
perhaps an equal distance north of
the valley of the KongO. 1t is far in
and from the Red sea, and hundreds
Of miles from the source of the Blue
Nile in the Abyssianian Hills.
The Omdurman of the present is
laid out on practically the same lines
as hat of the past, and it covers al
most the same ground, although 1t has
much fewer people. During my trip
| climbed to the top of the old palace
d. Of the khaIifa, and took d look over
the city.
The houses stretch along the Nile
for seven or eight miles, with a thicket
IF boats upon the shore opposite
where the Blue Nile flows in. Some
IF the town is on the main stream,
and it reaches out from the river in
every direction. 1t is a native city in
every sense Of the word. IN it's many
thousand houses there are not d score
which are Of more than one story, and
YOU can count the houses made of
burnt brick on your fingers. 1t is a
city of mud, pure and simple. The
one-story mud houses have mud walls
about them. and the mud stores face
E+GnatS ~ IrA1 nn1N NCitI, mud Tho -yocf
Enclosures of the khalifa are made of
mud bricks and the houses inside,
which 20 form the quarters of the
Anglo-Egyptian soldiers and officers,
are of sunbaked dirt.
Standing on the khalifa's palace
enc can follow many of the streets
with his eye. Some of them are of
great width. but the majority are mar
row and winding. The whole city, in
fact, IS a labyrinthe cut up by the new
laid out by the British, with
the holy buildings and the khalifa's
government structures In the center.
Guided by the Governor.
l vas shown through the city by
the All the towns of the
Soudan nave a British official who rules
them; but under each such governor is
a sub-gOvernor, who must be a native
Egyptian. This man is the real exc
Cut1Ve, as far as carrying out the or
Gers of the government is concerned.
He represents the natives and under
stands all about them and their ways.
The MamOur, with whom | went
through Omdurman is an ex~-cavalrv
officer of the army of the khedive.
His name is Capt. Ahmed Handy. ana
he fought with the British in their
wars against the khalifa. He speaks
English well, and, as he understands
both Turkish and Arabic, he was able
to tell me all about the city as we
went through.
| came down the Blue Nile from
Khartoum in a skiff. The distance is
about five miles, but We had to tack
back and forth all the way. and the
trip took over two hours. The
Mamour met me on landing. He had
3 good donkey for me-; and we spent
the whole day in going through one
part of the city after another, max
Ing the notes and taking the photo
graphs which now lie before me.
Queer People These.
/ wish / could show YOU the On,-
durham natives. They are stranger
than any [ have seen in my African
travels. They come from all parts of
the Sudan ard represent FORTY or fifty
odd tries. Some of the faces are as
black as a stove, some are dark brown
and others have the color or rich
Jersey cream.
One OF the queerest men | met dur
ing my journey was an African with a
cOInplS&loh as rosy as hat of a tow
headed American baby and hair quite
rs white. He was a water carrier.
dressed in q red cap and long gown.
He had two great ans on the ends of
4 pole, which rested on his shoulders.
and he was trotting through the
streets carrying water from one of the
wells to his black Sudanese customers.
His feet and hands We're bare and they
were as white as my own. / stopped
aim and made him lift his red fez cap
- see Whettsfr his hair was white by
ere. 1t was faNen. however. rather
O. silver, and he told me that his
fears numbered only Twenty-Five. The
glamour talked with him in Arabic and
earned that he was a pure Sudanese.
ming from one of the provinces near
he watershed of the Kongo. He said
'hat his parents We're Jet black. but
feat many men of his color lived in the
region from whence he came. stood
nim up against the mud wall in the
street. ana had two Sudanese women.
fach blacker han the ink with which
this paper is printed. stand beside
rim n then made their photographs.
The man did not like this at first, but
uhcn at the close ] gave him a coin
worth about twenty-five cents he sa-
saamed to the ground and went away