The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-31

lars. Angelo Capato tells me that he
is authorized To offer Mr., Hunt S2ec-
900 for 1t as a whole, but, ne adds.
Mr.. Hunt VIII probably keep II ana
/ develop i upon mis- own lines as a new
addition to the city Of khartum.
selling Cotton in Omdurman.
Speaking Of the cotton Of the Su-
dan. / visited an d street IN omdur-
man YESTERDAY. devoted 70 selling the
( native rrDduct
The chief cotton market Of this reg
/ ion consists Of many little sheds GOV
cred with mats facing a dirt road II
is situated not far from the center OF
the city of Omdurman and there are
several thousand acres Of mud nuts
reaching out on all sides Of it Both
the sheds and the streets are filled
with cotton. The cotton IS brought
in in bags If mating and is sold just
as il is when picked from the plants.
The samples are displayed in fiat,
round baskets, each of which holds
: perhaps . bushel and when carried
away it is put up in bags and not
in bales. A great part Of ii goes to
the native weavers who turn It into
cloth. using the smallest factories
one can imagine.
Not far from the street where the
cotton is sold / found a little factory.
which put the raw. material through
all the processes and urned it into
native cloth. The estab lishment con-
F +INL'fi VI q EAdIt 9OZtIl IIluNi IFtlIS, nut
off from tn" street by a mud wall,
which with the huts. formed q court.
In the court q dozen black-skinned
women were sitting on mats IN the
ground, ginning and spinning while
the weaving went on in the huts at
the back. The gin was somewhat like
a clothes WrinSer. save that the rolls
We're about as big arOund as the or
binary candle, and that the whole
machine was so small that it could
have fitted into a peck measure. One
woman turned the machine. While
another put in the cotton and picked
out the seeds as they failed to go
through. Near the gin sat two women
who were swapping the lint with bow
strings to separate the fbers and fur
ther over there were a half dozen
others, sitting cross-legged. and spin
ming the link into yarn b hand.
| went TO the mud huts at the back
and looked i'll at the weavers. They
We're black boys and men, who sat be
fore rude looms on the edge of holes
in the ground. The looms were so
made that they could be worked with
the feet, the shuttles being thrown
back and forth by hand. The latter
moved through the cloth with a whis-
ting noise, and this was about the
only SOUND to be heard. The cloth
turned out is very good. 1t is we'll
woven, soft n brings good prices. It's
wearing qualities are better than those
of the Manchester and American cot
tons. l asked what wage the boy
Weavers received, and was told 10
cents q day.
The New Omdurman.
The British government is rapidly
improving Omdurman. When the NAH
di lived here it contained six or eight
hundred thousand people: and it still
lover about the same space as then,
although its population is not more
than seventy THOUSAND. 1t is a city of
mud huts, TheSe are not a dozen two
story houses in it, and the place still
looks somewhat like a large native
camp. When | first rode through it
asked my guide whether the holes in
the walls had not been made by can
non balls, why, man, those are the
windows. The houses have no other
windows than those The huts are
all fiat rooted, with drain pipes ex-
!, tending out into the streets, so that
the water pours down the necks OF
the pasSerby when it rains. The stores
are mere square rooms, facing the
: streets-they rent for a dollar or SC
a month-and everything is simple
and exceedingly cheap.
t The government is improving things
: gradually. 1t is making a new plan
t for the city and has already laid GU,
| many wide streets. 1t has taken the
5 sixty acres which the khalifa had fol
l his special headquarters and will build
WV 1lIlIISS VI III uiSI 10 upoIl II
: This tract is still surrounded by 6
great wall. twelve or fifteen feet higl
and -four or five feet in thickness. I
once contained an o%pen-air mosque
e and also the chief buildings of the
khalifa. In another part of the towr
! there E.-in be seer S~ecOnd-ClaSS dwell
ings: ana in a third dwelling of tn,
3 third class. The civil engineers have
already laid out a park in the cente,
of the city, and the vegetation in it 1
watered by women who bring the sup
ply from the Nile in great jars OF
4 their heads. In this park the banC
will play every Friday afternoon.
: The Native Hospitals.
Omdurman has now hospitals
which have been recently established
by the Sudan government. was ia
! ken through them by the governor
and the English and Egyptian doctor
, in charge gave me every o%pportunit,
| to see their work. | was even offer
ed the chance to be present at severa
: surgical operations, including the cut
ting off of the leg of a patient VIII
had just come in, but | declined. TIL,
L hospitals cover five or six acres. Thei
buildings are of one story and the,
are made of sun-dried brick. but the.
are cool and we'll lighted. The pa
t tientS are black men ana women o
many tribes. There were several hun
e dred in the various wards, and tn
q doctors told me that during the pas
t year they nad given treatment t
twelve thousand sick who ad beel
e brought to the doors of the hospital
and in addition to the eight or min
hundred patients Who were kept in tn
o hospital itself. The British are great
p ly improving the sanitary condition
of the natives. They have cleaned u
TT the city. and it now l0oks remarkabl
n we'll for a native town. 1t is rapid
IS growing. and Will probably be tn
is commercial capital Of the Sudan. l
q Will keep its African character, bu
e will be modified by the new Africa
:. and, as such, Will be one of the mos
G, interesting cities Of the continent.
a Slavery in the Sudan.
The British are doing what they ca
to break no slavery in the Sudan. TIL
region was once one of the chief slav
markets of the continent. Slaves Wer
brought by the thousands from Cen
III trai Africa to khartum and Omdur
~ man. and they found their way theme
down to Egypt. During the Egyptia
~ rule there We're military stations i
different part of the country an
they became centers of the slave trad,
and when the navigation of the Whit
Nile was declared free it was made
slave route. Later on the Arabs raid
~ ed the natives of Central Africa an