The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-12-08
1907, by Frank c. Car

Copyright. 1907, by Frank G. Car
penter.)
Khartum.
= AM just back from tn palace.
where have had long talk with
Sir Francis Reginald Winsate. the
III sIrdar of the Egyptian army and
the governor-general OF the sudan
The srdar is the ruler OF the Sudan,
/, country one-fourth as large as all
Europe, and four times the size OF any
principally in 1t excepting Russia. He
has more power than the car. and he
:an do almost anything as to his
country and people. One OF the chief
officers in the wars with the mnhdi
and the khalifa, he Won decoration
after decoration for his bravery and
military services, and was in command
er tho operations which resulted in the
death OF the khalifa in 1889. 1t was In
that year that he took possession of
this country as sirdar and governor
general and since then lie has been
bringing order out of the chaos of this
part OF Africa. He has pacified the
warning tribes. has turned their lances
md guns into plowshares and shep-
herds crooks. and Is now creating
civilized conditions where knye always
been barbarism, Injustice, slavery and
v u
became governor-g neral, he has now
his prospectors travelling through every
part Of this vast region, and is laying
out and starting the railroad, canal.
Irrigation and other movements which
will open 1t up and make 1t one of the
live parts of the world.
The Sirdnr In 1907.
The slrdar is now In his prime. He
has seen perhaps fifty years OF hard.
working life, but he does not look over.
Storty-flve, and were 1t not that his
hair and mustache are mixed with sill.
yer, one would think him much young
err.
An Undevcloped Empire.
During my conversation with his ex-
ccllency asked him something as to
the possibilities Of the Sudan, saying
that most people looked upon it as
nothing else than vast desert. .lie
replied;
THAT ! ea comes largely from the
bleak and barren sands through which
the railroad takes travellers on their.
way to Khartum. They have also read
OF the immense swnmps of the upper
Nile, and, putting the two together,
they look upon the country as only
swamp und desert. The truth Is the
Sudan lis an undeveloped empire as to
4 It's kIlluIeIldl HGoOuICSS.fS IL SiS HANAA w
many climates and OF all sorts of soils.
The desert stops not far from Khartum,
and beyond that is n region where the
rainfall is sufficient for regular crops.
Still further south the country has
more rain than Is needed: nd5in athe.
west are great areas fitted for stock
Fearing"
Take. for instance. the country
along the Abyssnian border and that
B which lies between the White and Blue
Niles. Those regions have been built
up in the same manner as Egypt; and
they contain all the rich tertlli2ing
materials which have made the lower
Nile valley one OF the grnnaries Of the
world. The only difference is that the
Egyptian SOIL, by the cultivation and
watering OF thousands of years, has
been leached Of Its best fertilizing ele-=
.ments; while the soil OF the Gezlreh,
as the region I have referred to Is
called, has hardly been touched,
Il sIndeed. the plain between the White
and sRlue Niles Is SO rich thai, II water
( rs put upon It, 1T will produce four or
five crops q year, and that for many
years In snneessiot Wa have mil Ions
"