The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1907-01-12

TOT InOSe whose OeE1reS lie OUTSIDE
the beaten track Of globe trotter and
tourist, the upper reaches of the Nile
offer great inducements. Leaving
Cairo by train, one starts from
what will one day be the northern ter
minus of the great Cape to Cairo
railway, and travels steadily south
wards over the desert for two days.
Then a change is made to Nile
steamer, which southwark, ever
southwark, slowly FORCES its way
against the current of that mighty
river whose history goes back to such
remote impenetrable ages of antiquity.
In another two days Wady Halfa is
reached, and thence a light military
railway bears the weary and DISNEY
eled traveller at length to khartoum.
Over 20 years have passed since Cor
don't magnificent defense of the city
against the Mahdi's hordes and his
tragic fate at the hands of the Der
wishes, thrilled all England to its
depths For the following IA years
the town was practically an abandon
at Omdurman, on the other side of the
river. Then, with the reconquest of
the Soudan by Lord Kitchener, in
1898, everything was changed, and
khartoum arose proudly from its ruins
to be once more the capital of that
vast desert empire whose resources
are as yet hardly realized and are alb
solutely undeveloped. The old palace,
where the great general met his death,
was merely a ruined shell, haunted,
as the superstitious natives averred,
by his uneasy spirit, so it was decided
TO erect a new palace wherein the sir
dar and his retinue might be fittingly
housed On the site of the former
building arose the Gordon college,
really fine educational institution.
Since then have risen in rapid success
sion military hospital, an English
church and hotel, with lines of bar
racks and officers quarters, dominat-
ing the quaint huts and low narrow
bazaars which constitute the native
city.
In the summer months it is said of
Khartoum by those who have the mis-
fortune to remain there that, had
Dante visited it he would have added
another canto to his Inferno only
the opinion is generally expressed in
language more terse than polite. The
thermometer stands at 1872 degrees
in the shade, and the pitileSs sun
= ~ hot ole ,;,,Tr
varied by periodical sandstorms, when
the wind whirls down on the unhappy
place with terrific violence, buryinS
everybody and everything under a
LAYER of choking sand. In addition, all
the myriad descendants CT that swarm
of flies who constituted the fourth
plague of Egypt lead one to ferVently
sympathize with the unfortunate sub
jects of King Pharaoh.
But with the month of October a
change comes Ger the scene. The
mercury gradually falls until it
reaches 50 degrees or so, freshness
creeps into the dry bracing atmos-
phere the nights become cooler and
more restful, and the season is at
hand. Those lady members of the
English colony who have betaken
themselves to Cairo, Alexandria, or
even England, return, like birds TO
their nests, for the feminine element
during the hot weather consists solely
of the missionaries and a couple Of
4nforeedly stOical army medical sis
tiers. The quaint curiosity shops in
the bazaar Turkish up their goods, the
English church holds on Sunday a
fair-sized and smlrtlydressed congre-
cation. the hotel shows signs OF life.
ana finally. with a grand flourish Of
+r,rslpets the Sirdar and Lady Win
gate arrive. take up their abode in
+he nalace. and another season has
begun.
Both the sir,iar' and his wife are i'm
nansely popular, aud contribute not
a little TO the gaiat.r of the city by
entertaining frequently and giving a
succession of dinners, dances and ear.
den parties throughout the season.
Their entertainments, too, have any
thing but.thc stiff. formal air which
usually characterizes official Sathet
irgs. and their dinner parties are ~
necgally popular The guests arrive
in the little donkey-carriages known
As arabea4s, which constitute the
chlg. mode OF locomoloa in Fh9r