IN THE SUDAN

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 143, 21 June 1927, Page 12

IN THE SUDAN

WORK AT HEIBAN

AMONG THE XUBAX PEOPLE

An interesting account of the work being accomplished by missionaries in the Sudan was given to a "Post" reporter by the Rev. Fred Wilson, of the Sudan United Mission, who is at present on furlough in New Zealand.

The journey to Hciban, where Mr. Wilson is stationed, is an arduous one, occupying about nine days from Port Sudan. From the port the train is taken to Khartoum, this portion of the trip taking two days. Mr. Wilson described Khartoum as a modern up-to-date city, with a population of about 30,000 people, including a large number of British residents. Just across tho Nile is the big city of Omdurman, with a population of about 80,000 people. These two cities are being joined by a bridge, which is now being built across the river. From Khartoum the train proceeds in a south-westerly direction for another day, and then the traveller has to resort to horses, which are borrowed from the Arabs. Another six days of arduous journeying brings the traveller to Heiban, the home of tho Nuba tribe of Sudanese.

"The Nuba people are very degraded," said Mr. Wilson, "and it is only within the last fifteen years that they have been brought under Government administration at all. For a great many years they gave the Government a great deal of trouble on account of their inter-tribal fighting. They wore always at war with each other. Fortunately, however, their lighting lias boon brought to an end, and they are now living fairly peaceably together. They know very little of the outside world, for they have never travelled many miles beyond their own villages. They are really frightened to do so. Their villages, which are composed of tiny mud huts, aro' unspeakably filthy, and tho people have no comforts, no furniture of any kind, not even a bed on which to lie. Their food is often of a most unpleasant kind. They eat rats, dogs, cats, snakes, locusts, caterpillars, and, in fact, any animal that dies, no matter what disease it might die of. Tho natives seem to have a hawk-like sense of the presence of a dead animal. I remember once one of the Government inspectors was staying at the station, and during the night two of his mules died from a disease which carries these animals off very quickly, and, although the nearest native village was three miles away, before daylight th» natives had these animals carted oif to oat. The A ruba people have herds of sheep, goats, and cattle, but the only time they cat any of these animala is when one of them dies of some disease. They seldom kill them.

'' Their sole occupation is the growing of grain, and from this they make a thick porridge. They also use this grain in the manufacture of beer. They are great beer drinkers. Even babies' in arms are fed on it, despite the fact that it is very intoxicating. The natives are armed with rifleß which have been brought into the country by Arab traders. With these they have shot out all the large game in that part of the country.

"The Government is developing the country very rapidly for the growing of cotton, and the Makwar dam, which has just been completed, has made possible the irrigation of thousands of acres of land. In our part of the country, however, there is sufficient rainfall to enable th people to grow cotton, and the Government is doing everything it possibly can to encourage the people in this work. This all means that the country is being rapidly opened up for motor traflic.

"The Nuba people know very little about any forms of religion. They know there is a Supremo Being, but their ideas of worship are very few, apart from a few simple sacrifices of animals and beer. Most of the men content themselves with one wife, although a few of tho chiefs have two or three. To get a wife a man must have from 50 to 120 goats, and to got .1 flock of such dimensions takes many years of saving. The people in our province are responding very well to the teachings of the missionaries. Our work, however, has of necessity been very slow, as we have had to spend several years in learning and writing tho language of the Nuba people. At our station we have a boarding school for boys, and here about 60 Nuba boys are being taught useful forma of manual labour."