The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-25
MISS LUcu. sMYTHE
KHARToM AMI THE SUDAN.
Changes Condition of the Country
 Win Last lev Years.

From tn eondon Staniard
 Ten y{s ago the Sudan was the prey of nine and war. Today it may be descrd, in the words of q traveller [ of the tide experience of Douglas Sladen a tropical Utopia. Khartoum L Is groyg into a noble city which as vou etpach 1t by the Sudan govern
 ment 1way, the desert railway which
 Kitch 1r built, is seen in a beautiful
 settinlof palm trees among which rises e splendid white palace of the
 ooyejr general. It has public gar
 dansl church, a hotel. and on the rivei fine steamer is at the service , of Fists who wish to make eXcur- sioJ The territory of which it is the l earl Is under a system of govern mel which has produced wonderful reIs The revenue of the Sudan in , 1Sl when the English took 1t over, wi estimated at fS000, though 1t ned to be f35 ,000 Eight years later } hs estimated at over fS00,000. This
 U 1t exceeds a million. There was in r an increase of more than 40 per It over the preceding year in the l Ia under cultivation, although the ' le was one of the lowest ever known.
 lren years ago the Khalifa, the head the Mahdist movement, was still five, for it was not until November 24,
 b99, that Colonel (now Lieutenant keneral Sir Francis) Wingate struck he last blow at the remnant of the Mahdist forces at Omdebrekat. When the governor general of the Sudan took ID his high post the country was in leplorable condition. Before the rise of the Mahdi Is supported eight and lalf million people. Of these three and half million had died of famine and disease, and nearly as many more in lighting against the Mahdi, the British, md one another. Fewer than two mil ions survived the period of war and want. Nearly every town and village vas in ruins. Flocks and herds had Even the precious date rees had been hewn down in large numbers by the Mahdis followers.
 With the exception of that portion of he route between Shellal and Wady Hal Ia the Sudan can now be reached from Cairo by rail, but the pleasure traveller, )f course, goes by the river as far as aalfa, where he disembarks and com oletes the journey to Khartoum by the 'ailway which was constructed as part ,f the campaign against the Mahdi. Be- ween Wady Halfa and Khartoum there ire five cataracts, and the difficulty of carrying a large army over this part of he TlYer WOulQ ndN6 DtGi BO great lIdt Kitchener determined to fling a railway across the desert. This railway extended o Khartoum, which is the Sudan govern nent railway of today, is about 600 miles n length and in 1907 carried 342, 126 pas Iengers.
 The journey across the desert is more interesting than might be imagined. The ,ffect of sunset on the vast stretch of sand, which at such time is trans ormed into lake of gold, Is something which can only be seen In the Soudan, md you may be fortunate enough to wit ness mirage rivaling the palm studded nundation of the Nile at Sakkara. rwenty-three miles beyond Berber the Atbara river is reached, over which the is carried by means of an iron bridge. The battle was fought at Nak- lila, 37 miles away. Between the Atbara md Shendi are the pyramids of Meroe, .ombs of the rulers of the Island Meroe, alluded to by Strabo. Fifty niles beyond Shendi begins the sixth cataract, where the Nile at the entrance o the gorge narrows down to width of only 300 yards. From this point the line 'uns to Khartoum north, whence the traveller is conveyed to the town across he river by a steamer in about 15 min ltes.
 Khartoum stands at the confluence of he Blue Nile and the White Nile, on the ongue of land between the two rivers. In the palace of the governor-general Is what for Englishmen is a sacred spot he room, which has been built into the new palace, where Gordon met his deS Sbh. Among the sights are the cantonmeifts. where contingents of 20 Sudanese tribes ire encamped, so that the curious nay see them living under their own fierce Baggara Arabs, the Jaalin, the cannibal Nyam-Nyams, and others At Omdurman can be seen re- mains of the Mahdi's tomb, destroyed after the occupation, the Khalifas house. exactly as he left 1t; the great market