The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-08

browns hanging about her. and the chil- dren ran out of such tents as we passed on the way. The Sudanese are naturally fond of children, and especially so when times are good and conditions settled as they are now. They want as many chil dren and grandchildren as the Lord will give them, and as most of the men have two or three wives it is not an uncommon thing for a father to have several addi- tons to his family per year,
 What is your present population and it's possible future?'
 We have today, I should say, at least 2OOOOO0 in the Sudan. As to the future l cannot prophecy that with any degree of accuracy, although l can safely say that the Sudan can support tens of mil lions if it's lands were properly used. II is said that there were 12000,O00 natives here before the times of the Mahdi. and there is no reason why there should not be five times as many in the future as there were then. That would give us a population of 60,000 GOO. and the probability is that we will some time time far exceed that figure. Egypt, with a cultvahle area of 12,000 square miles, has about 12.- 0O0,000 With peace, fair government and the development of our agricultural re- sources along modern lines, the Sudan may have a future beyond our concep- tion."
 In kordofan and Darfur.
 Your excellency has been travelling on camel back through Kordofan. Is that country likely to be valuable in the fu- ture?"
 q do not see why it should not be-" re- piled the governor general. Tt is one of the stock rearing regions of this part of the world. producing a vast number of cattle and camels Much of the meat now used in Khartuln comes from Kordofan and camels are reared there for use throughout the Libyan and Nubian des- erts. The southern half of the country is devoted to cattle, and is inhabited by stock rearing people. Every tribe has It's herds, and many tribes are nomade, driv- ing their stock from pasture to pasture. North of latitude 13 the camel country begins and one finds camels by the thou sands. The country seems to be especiai- ly adapted to them.'
 What is the nature of the land west of Kordofan?"
 'I suppose you mean Darfur. That coun- try is ruled by a sultan who pays tribute to us It is d hilly land trayersed by q mountain range furnishing numerous streams. II is we'll populated. and for a long time a center of the slave trade. The natives there are comparatively quiet at present, although every now and then war breaks out between some of the tribes This is likewise so in Kordofan lHe pSoDle are DTdNe dDu ana they have freqent Vendettas The chief want of Kordofan is railway communicat ton, and we hope to supply that as soon as we can."
 The Minerals of the Sudan.
 here asked the sidar to tell me some thing of the mineral deposits recently dis covered in this part of the world. He re- piled:
 "We have not prospected the country as yet, although we are beginning to do so We expect to make a thorough geo. logical survey and have begun by plat ting some of the provinces and drawing maps which show everything in connec- tion with them. l refer to maps like these'
 The sirdar here showed me careful sketches of the several provinces, re- duced to a small scale, and much like those which our geological survey is mak- ing of the United States. As I looked over them he went on:
 Our surveys, at present, are chiefly devoted to the topography of the country and to data as to their resources and peo- pie. We have not done much in the way of mineral investigation. We know, how ever, that some of the provinces contain iron and copper This is so of the Bahr- el-Ghazal, where the people use iron and steel implements made from the native ore. They have been mining copper there for long time. It is generally believed that there is gold in the different parts