Reading for Everybody.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2122, 22 February 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

Reading for Everybody.

KHARTOUM.

A GREAT CITY IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.

PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF SOUDAN CAPITAL.

(By Frank Carpenter in the Now Orleans Times-Democrat.''

A real estate boom in the heart oi Africa! . . , . . , . Farm lands- rising sky lngh ! Town lots selling at tabulous prices! New streets reaching out into the desert 1

Residence and business blocks going up. and the people crazy at the increase in values! That is what we have here at Khartoum.

1 have already told you oi the prospority of the Nile Veliev., of the mushroom growth i’o Alexandria and Cairo and how farm lands in the Delta are' selling at from £‘loo to £*2oo per acre. Similar boon conditions prevail in Upper Egypt and farm lands are rising all .along the great river. Aesiout, Luxor, Assouan and the towns and villages of Lower Nubia are thriving, amt away up here 1 find the same things going on. Lands on the Island of Tuti, in the Bine Nile, opposite Khartoum, are priced out of sight, and real estate speculators are trying to buy all they can in the Gezireh, that rich' territory between the Blue and the "White which here come together. In Khartoum" itself building lots are selling at the Government auctions for two hundred tunes what their owners asked for them seven years ago; and in Halfaya, the suburb which lies at the end of the railroad on the opposite side of the river, the farms have bee'll divided into lots and are. being sold ■ for .manufacturing purposes. Farm ■ lands ilear the river which not long ago were to be had for £4 an acre are now worth from £3O to £4O per acre, and some even more. THE CHICAGO OF THE SOUDAN. Khartoum x is bound to be thte Cliitho junction of two of the greatest rivers of North Africa, giving it na--jdgable highways to Abyssinia and to 'the rich, lands along the watershed of the Congo. It has railroads connecting it with the Mediterranean, and with the exception of one stretch of less than six hundred miles, where fhe cataracts lie, it lias the main stream of the Nile to give it cheap freight rates to Europe. Within the past year or so it has opened a raiL road to Suakim, on the lted Sea, and in time it will be one of the great stations, on the .main route b-- steamer arid rail from Cairo to the Capo. Khartoum is the capital of the An-glo-Eg.vptian Soudan. I wonder if you know what that means. If veil do you are wiser than most men, not on the ground. This country is a world in itself, and it is, to a largo extent, unexplored. It „i« of va°t size. It begins at the upper end of Egypt and reaches to Uganda and the Belgian Congo. It is more than 1000 miles wide; and it covers ltogether twice as much territory nb France and Germany combined. It is more than one-foiirth as large as the Philippines added thereto; ° and it has some lands which are richer than almost any part qf our country- The province of the Gezireh, to which .1 have referred, could be irrigated and form a.countrv more fertile and bigger than Egypt, and there ..are regions of good rainfall in the south, which are susceptible to cultivation. The Soudan has vast forests and rich deposits of iron* and other nnneials. It has extensive grazin'* lands, and at the time when the Main dt began his wars against the Khedive and tht Christians it contained a population of more'than 12,000,. ,-j. It would probably support ten tinms that wnumber, although it has only about 2,000,000 to-day. This country is mll (tributary to Khartoum. The .best parts of it are reached by the Upper Nile system, and the other regions .will 'be -tapped by railroads, £omt of which are already planned and soon to be built. THE STORY OF KHARTOUM. I - called upon the Governor of Khartoum this afternoon arid asked him to held me the story of the city. jS.iid he: , ' “The buildings which you see here are all new, hut the town is older than somt of the mushroom cities of (the United -States. It was born before Chicago, being foundetj. by Malommed Ali in 1821. It grew with remarkable rapidity, and along about etn years later it was made the sent of the Government of the Soudan and became an important commercial centre. It was such iiis-t before the insurrection of the inahdi occurred, and it was here that Gordon ruled and here tliit he was killed. He was, (butchered on the steps of a building on -the site of the present Governor’s /palace. After that the malidi declared that Khartoum should 'be wiped out. Ete destroyed all the houses And made the inhabitants come to his new capita], 'Omdurman, which ho jjbad laid out on the other side of the AVifite Nile, about five miles to the southward. "When the people left they /tore off the roofs and pulled out tho Uoors of their houses, and carried them along V) gse in their new houses at Omdurman. “After that, for years, -and until Kitchener same, Khartoum was nothing but a brick pile and a dust heap. Omdurman had swallowed up not- only its Whole population, hut that of a great part of the Soudan The khalifa forcecUtno tribes 'to come here to live, in order thv.t ho might have their men ready for his 'army in times of war, and the result was .that .Omdurman had more than -a half ■million inhabitants, while Khartoum had nothing. LIKE WASHINGTON. “Then we dud 'the war with the khalifa, and we finally conquered .him,” the Governor continued. Uo 'adduced the greater part of Omdtii man to ruins and then -began planning, the building of a great c tyThe idea at first was to lorce him pto ,ple to move from Omdu-rmian .to Khartoum, but at was finally decided that it would 'be far better to iv.xvtd native city there, and to make t;h - nlace the Government and centre, with a manufacturing and commercial town at Hailnya, on >fit northern bank of the B no Nile. “The 'Khartoum of to-clay •. :-i- mki .out after somewhat the same y .ui ayour capital alt "Washington : m I-• the reasons that doerm-med the p.n,.._ jwore the same. Washington c' -> -plotted at about tho French revolution, an r .. it* • ,v |- • was L’Enfant, a French on-.m-.i-He nMnncd the city so thc--.it could fee easilv defended an wise of » • lion and at the same time be bcatiti- - ful Jpor that reason tpc streets we ' ' made to cut one -another glee with avenues running 1 through them, -forming sqm at-, and circles, whore one faurnin couM to piand many streets, Kitclunei had -the same idea to Iv . He directed his rrclntcc s k > jfcbo streets wide, wah l l ' squares, and to l'.avc t-ae v. ‘ ringed that gating gun i a tho chief crossings cod-d command the Wholo city. Ibe iw.il--.ifa-

Khartoum .as you now r-oo it. ■“Tho town is laid out in throe great, sections, and all hinklinK l>lans must first he suWrtc-l to tb<■ «o vernment arcbiteets -before construction can be issued. he see tion alone the -Ado is devotee to the £ e ?» buildings, ar.d the resiliences of the officials and to other can Itfford good houses. Back pf that -there are dfreets v,..iere hoiuuj Af a- smaller c ass may he 'built, and tribe? hac-k still and more to xho south is- a third section of houses jfor natives. The e&y is so i • (that it «au grow iilong these ,and we -believe that it -will some day he on* of -the 'largest and most beau- ; : -‘'Wff the cities of .intwror Atria*. v AN OASIS env. i. .iaVe now been in Tvh-; Vi-ini over ,a Iweek, and find if msr.t .atercating. :x... .111 Uv n ..nURr.

Jew miles of llalfaya, which lies opposite here on the other bank of the .Nile, that I saw signs of vegetation. ,Tho ti'iiu then entered a region of .thorn bushes iten or fifteen lect h'gh; beyond which patches of grass bleach,od by the snn were to he seen, -and .closer, other evidences of cultivation. The Arabs wore digging out the thorn (bushes on it‘lu> edge of the desert and ,staeking ’them up in piles .for fuel. There avore >a lew ani-tnuL grazing oh the scanty grass. There is desert all about Khartoum, and everywhere .back from the N’le the lands ore nothing.but rock and sand. Out of Itliese -bleak and -arid'surroundings rises a city of green. All along the river, for adistance of more than two mites, runs a wide uvenue .shaded by'trees and backed by buildings and private houses in beautiful gardens. This avenue is a succession .of parks from one end of it to me oilier. It- begins with the- Botanical .and Zoological Gordons, where all the .trees of the tropic and sonii-trop.’es luxuriantly grow, and where one may .see. the soap tree, the -monkey-br'eail tree and other curious examples of .the Soudanese flora. There are several and. tigers in the garden. •,ind there is also a' mighty giraffe. Next ao tile Zoological Garden is the Grand Hotel, a long bungalow - shaped .structure, and-beyond are the two-Siorey -homes of many officials, a!! beautifully shaded by date palms. The first public building on this avenue is the pots uul telegraph oliiee. Beyond 'it are the officers of the War Department, with public gardens behind them, an;l fauthor still is the great white palace in which the Go-vernor-General of the iSoudau lives and has his offices. This is directly on the river, with a beautiful gardenbehind it. Farther ulong the avenue is the Soudan Chib and the hospital, ami away at the south the large buildings or the Gordon Memorial College, wiilh the'British barracks at the end of the direct. This avenue runs right along the Blue Nile, witn beautiful views in .sight nil the may. On the edge of the river are numerous saksyehs, or huge water wheels,' moved around by bullocks with humps on .their hacks. They raise the water from thojiver into the ditches ami canals, which carry it over the city and make vegetation possible. The saki.vehs start at seven o’clock every turning. Their wheels are never greased, and as 'they move they screech and groan and sigh. There is one in front of the Grand Hotel .which serves as an alarm clock, for sleep is murdered at the moment itbegins. : BUSINESS KHARTOUM.

The business parts of Khartoum -ire on the streets back from the river-ami running parallel with it. 'Chore is one great-si] ua re devoted to the markets. This covers ten or more acres, and th.e Abbas Square, in which 'the mosque stands, a little farther .west, is fully twice us large. The -business section has -two banks and many stores, managed chiefly by Greeks. They Italians also'have some large establishments. One of tlio biggest of all is the -house of Angelo Ha-pato. a nrin who might bo called the Marshall Field of tile Soudan, for he fins a large business here, with branches all over the country and desert shops far no the Nile. The stores have covered porches in front of them, or they face arcades which keen off the sun. , ; , The mosque at Khartoum is one of the most beautiful buildings in Africa. It is a great two-storev structure of white stone, with minarets rising high above it. The galleries of tlx© minarets have a lace-work of stone running arouiul them, and the towers are covered-with Arabic carvings. The mosque is named after the young Khedive, and lie has, I am told, furnished much of the money for -its erection. . Khartoum has also a new Coptic church of large size, as well sis a Church of England, and the schools and chapels of the- United .. Presbyterian mission of our country. So. you see, it has abundant religious facilities, notwithstanding its position on this far-away part of the globe. WHERE WOMEN DO THE WORK. I have been interested in watcflithe women at work in the building of Khartoum. New houses and .business blocks arc now going up almost everywhere, and every, mason .and mechanic has his women helpers. The laborers come from all parts of the Soudan, and the women of a halfdozen tribes may he 'working on the same building. I wish I could show you some of these women as I see them laboring on the buildings and on the banks vthe Nile, They arc luStv block girls, straight and plump, and so lightly dressed that- one can see all .the outlines of their forms. Some (have but a thin sheet of blue cotton wrapped loosely arouiul their .shoulders, and another wound around the waist, so that it falls to the feet. The upper garment 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 steadv the load on her head. ' LABOR AND WAGES.

The wages these women receive are pitifully low. (Sixpence a day is big money for a woman, and a a nan cun be hired for lOd or less. For .these ■wages the women unload the stone boats on the Mile, wading out imto (he river and coining back up the banks with two or three .great -rooks piled high on the head. They carry sand in baskets and spread it over the stones on the road-ways, and they si tdo-wn oil the sides of the roads and break stones for inecadaniising. They carry the mortar up the scaffolding to the masons, -ami. finite an army «f them is employed in -bringing water in five-gallon coal oil cans -up from the Nile. Some of the streets are thus sn-rinkle-d, and many of -the wardens of Khartoum -are kept -moist i nthis wav. -Here, at the Grand Hotel we have a half-dozen women who carry water all day long to irrigate the garden. I have asked some onestions here ato labor. The builders tell me it is almost impossible to got -sat the.', want; and that the im-;e wages they .pay the greater the danger ol a lahoi' famine. The trouble is, the natives will not work if -they have' money, and when wages are high they work so much the less. All they need ’is their food, and a family can live on 3d and less per day. L'lie food consists chiefly of boiled durrn or sorghum meal, and the drink us native boor, which costs almost nothin,,, y n la n can get a suit of clothes foi - r - an! l a woman can bo outfitted roi less. When food is cheap the prices of labor rise, and when at is deal they fall. The native reasons that *‘“-o5 \i the labourers need the noik to pay fir i f - and the competition brings WjTfctrtikMnS gR SS Si supply buiklins «jI s*„ wil «>'!<> *•,-*•* i”'l3 Tor his brickmaking machine 1, ?m* VI- « Ktortocm to was going on here, fie su ttle town booming, and decided to i d 0 Tie has bought a native bmek,«iid and. pending the -arrival of his chine is now making bucks hv hand S 'native labor. Ho started on , a month or so ago, and he■ t dh n e has has already contracts foi n oie than 5,000,000 bricks. -He is employ i, V r several hundred Soudanese men and women at Od to lOd a day, but he says ill at their labor is poor and unreliable.

CATASTROPHES THAT THRILLED THE WORLD. THE LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD HOW .100 BRITISH SOLDIERS LOOKED DEATH IN THE FACE. Doixi the British soldier know how to die? Read the story of tho wreck oi the Birkenhead, and lot us tluui'k God that, wo are of a race winch breeds such heroes. It was on a bleak day in January, 1852, that tho ship whoso very name still fires the blood, steamed out of Queenstown on her long vovage to tho Capo. With her 2000 toils and her engines of 5(54 horse-power sho was counted a big and powerful boat half a century ago, though sho would be but a pigmy beside the leviathan oi our day, and she carried about 700 souls, most of whom woro soldiers, impatient to get at close quarters with the Kuliirs, who were proving so troublesome 0000 miles away. THE GALLANT SHIR IN A STORM From the first, bad luck seemed to tollow in the wake of this southwardhound vessel, with her crowded freight of humanity. Her paddles had scarcely churned their wi\y a hundred leagues before the storms began to rage around the Birkenhead, and the gallant ship was straining and struggling helplessly in mountainous seas; while the soldiers, battened down and huddled on tho crowded lower deck, were reduced to the extremity of misery More pitiful was the plight of the women and children, some of whom succumbed to the horror of the situation and were silently drooped overboard—three of tho poor creatures leaving new-born infants behind them. ANCHORED IN SIMON’S BAY. But tho Birkenhead was a stout craft, with a lion-hearted cantain; the elements retired baffled from tho contest, and she emerged nt last into calm seas. With the blue sky overhead, and all the discomforts of wintry tempests survived, sho made a rapid voyage towards her distant goal; and as every day brought tho end nearer, tho spirits of her passengers. rose. Who could fail to bo gav in such summer seas as lie south of tho Equator, or with tho prospect oi fighting and glory so near? And it was with a light heart that they saw the coast of South Africa—• their “Land of Promise”—flit by, tho Cape of Good Hope rounded, and the good ship safely anchored in Simon’s Bay.

A RACE TO BEAT THE STYX. Here many of the women and children, with the sick ones, were landed, and tho Birkenhead set out gaily on her “last lap,” which was to take her first to Port Elizabeth and, then on to East London, where the soldiers were to join Sir Harry Smith’s army for servico on the frontier of Cape Colony." Where a few weeks earlier all was gloom, now all was exhilaration and joyous expectsition of a brilliant campaign. The land of their desire was now in daily sight as the stout little vessel skirted the shore; and, to add to the excitement, the ship was racing under full steam in order to outstrip the -Styx", a vessel carrying munitions of war. Who would bo tho first to reach the goal? “The Birkenhead, for tho last dollar,” if her captain could anyhow manago it! Not a yard must be lost; and as tho perspiring stokers shovelled tho coal into the furnaces, the helmsman hugged the shore: Too near for safety? Well, what of that? They could afford to take a little risk; it added to the zest of the race, and—there was bigger danger ahead for Tommy. And thus,' with faster and fasterrevolving paddles and her wake of foaming waters, the Birkenhead raced along tho South African coast, so near at times that it seemed as if a biscuit could have been > thrown on shore—raced, though no one dreamt it to fearful destruction AN ALARM AT DEAD OF NIGHT.

Geriainlv it was the last thought ni captain baimomt s mmU; tor as nigho tell lie leit the deck ant wentDeiow • ms first olfieor lollowed suit, and as the stars twinkled out in tne black sky the vessel went meiniy on way under the charge 01. the second mate. It was a gk'rioas mguic such as is only seen in climes, and many a spldie tamml Uii deck until nucinight had gone. 13y one o’clock the snip was wrapped in slumber, peaeetul and proround, S„Tr„ tew watchful wj. m i Once more the ships bell sounds out but scarcely had its sound.died away on the still night, .broken onlj by , the throb of the engines and the enurning paddles, when it ‘•’ ■ beetled by an ominous c asli. ihe ship shook anti shivered likei a tie a ture in sudden pain, and .cues of alarm rang out, mingled .util shouts of command on deck. In a moment all was wild col fusion; startled mothers shrieked and clung .to their children; soldiers rudely roused front their slumbeas, made a mad rush for the upper deck which soon became crowded "dj bewildered mass ot humanity. Wha t had happened ? “The ship has stiuck on a rock,” was the fearful .answe. which passed from mouth to mouth, anckdeath was already staring them H 1 The .first'mad intpulese of some of the terror-stricken men when they realised their peril was to .rus t to the boats. And who can 'hkinte llll^; yielding in i But it was onl> to u t S e —^'t^irknes S W terror; and as-if by magic eveij foot now in any s »m l ; board, were women' and children o a.ule they must fio saved at . , )(J and v h / 'long as Unmanned to state o Theirs s'.ble moment sixty was to i , . | ’b<j the lower deck men were , mps they plunged g VlTucd, the jagged rent in the Birkenhead's side the sea was pouring am as the soldiers, with frantic energy, toiled at the pumps the water swirled and eddied round them waists. They would he drowned like rats in a hole. But what matteied that so long as the women and the little ones were saved., , , i Meanwhile, on deck, cool-headed j officers wore marshalling the womei| and children, while every soldier whose services were nofr needed stood at his post as if on sentry-du,ty, awaiting the end that was inevitable. There were not boats enough to rescue them ; and even of the few there were some were rendered useless by old and faultv tackle. Many were drowned in the effort to lower boats, but still the work of rescue -went on as coolly and unchecked as if the preparations were for a pleasure trip, officers gently handing the women and children into such boats as were available. . Blue lights flared out into the black

night, rockets were sent soaring and hissing into the darkness, but there were none on shore —that shore which was hut a mile or two distant—to .see their warning. And through it all the work of saving went on—all too slowly: wives and children were taken from the arms of husbands and fathers and strong men were glad to wait for death, knowing that all they held dear would live. HOW HEHO.ES CAN DIE. Down below, in that death-trap, the sea had now swept in and drowned fifty of the gallant men who had manned the pumps at the call of duty; funnel and foremast had tottered and fallen, crushing out many a brave life on the crowded deck. And

It was a sore temptation, this offer of life; but dearer far than their own were tho lives of their wives and little ones, and the boats were already too full for safety. A lew moments more of silent tragedy, of a life-time crowded into twenty minutes; the vessel was engulfed, and hundreds of brave men were struggling in the black waters with a last frantic effort for life. Some seized any Heating hit of wreckage they, could lay hands on; others laid hold of the rigging of the mainmast, which still remained above the surface, and clung to it like so many (lies, while others again, quickly sunk and were seen no mom. To add to the horrors of this tin gedy of the darkness, the sea was infested with sharks; a glimpse of a dark fin, a despairing cry, an upward dinging of am;:., and many a leave mail was carried down into the depths. A few swam or. (looted on wreckage safely to shore ; hut for the rest ,hundreds of them either fell an easy prey to sharks or one by one, worn out by the long struggle, succumbed and were drowned.

When at last morning dawned, of the 6',18 persons who a few hours earlier 1 id retired to rest full of happy anticipation of the future, no fewer than, 454 had perished, and only 184 survived to tell the story of,one'of tile most terrible experiences and most glorious examples of heroism that are to he found in the story of luunr. uit.v.'