The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-24

and as they move they screecn ana Sfoah Grand hotel. which serves as my alarm and sigh There is one in front Of the clock, for sleep is murdered at the mo- ment 1t begins.
 Business khartum.
 The business parts of Khartum are on the streets back from the river and running parallel with it. There is one great square devoted to the markets. This covers ten of more acres, and the Abbas square, in which the mosque stands, little farther west, is fully twice as large. The business section has two banks and many stores man aged chiefly by Creeks The Italians, also have some large establishments. One of the biggest of all is the house of Angelo Capato. a man who might be called the Marshall Field of the Su- dan, for he has q large business here, with branches all over the country and desert shops far up the Nile. The stores have covered porches in front of them or they face arcades which keep off the sun.
 The new mosque of Khartum Is one of the most beautiful buildings in Af- rica It is a great two-story structure of white stone, with minarets rising high above it. The galleries of the minarets have q lacework of stone running around them and the towers are covered with Arabic carvings. The mosque is named after the young khe- dive, and he has, l am told, furnish ed much of the money for it's erection. Khartum has also new Coptic church of large size, as well as a Church of England and the schools and chapels of the United Presbyterian mis- sion of our country. So, you see, 1t has abundant religious facilities, notwith- Al. f- fp a4F part of the globe.
 Where the Women Work. have been interested in watching the women at work in the building of Khartum New houses and business blocks are now going up almost every where, and every mason and mechanic has his women helpers. The laborers come from all parts of the Sudan. and the women of a half dozen tribes may be working on the same building. wish 1 could show you some of these women as I see them laboring on the buildings and on the banks of the Nile. They are lusty black girls, straight and plump. and so lightly dressed that one can see all the out lines of their forms. Some have but thin sheet of blue cotton wrapped
  other wound about the waist so that 1t falls to the feet. The upper gar ment Is off half the time. The girl is then bare to the waist, and her plump bust shows out in the bright sun, as | she raises her arms high to steady the | load on her head. Her skin shines like polish ed ebony, and look as close as you please you can see no sign of q hair on any part of her except on the head. | These African natives, both men and | women, pull out all the hair on their | bodies, going over them once a month for this purpose This custom is com | mon in many parts of the world. It is so with some of the Indians of the l Amazon, so with the Jewesses of Tunls, | who are shaved from head to foot just before marriage, and so with the Moros l of our Philippine Islands, who carry along with them little tweezers to pull out any stray hair that appears.
 Labor and Wages.
 The wages these women receive are | pitifully low. Ten or 15 cents a day is | big money for a woman, and d man can be hired for 20 cents or less. For these 1 wages the women unload the stone boats on inc Nile Wading ont into the riVnr