THE EASTERN SUDAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20867, 8 May 1931, Page 11

THE EASTERN SUDAN.

DEVELOPMENT OF AREA. ENTRANCE OF CIVILISATION. . BENEFIT OF BRITISH RULE. Very rapid changes in tho va:st territory of tho Anglo Egyptian Sudan in the past ten years arc spoken of by Mr. and Mrs. D. N. MacDiarmid, who returned to Auckland from the Sudan yesterday. They are pioneer agents of the Sudar United Mission, ancl their work is wel. known throughout New Zealand. The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is an areaof about 1,000,000 square miles, stretch, ing roughly for about 1500 miles south of Khartoum, which itself is some 1200 miles from the mouth of the Nilo. Abou'i the end of last century, owing to tins dreadful results of tho Mahdi misrule, it 3 population was reduced to about 2,000,000, but under wise and firn British administration it has since increased to between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000. Reference to conditions ot travel gives a clear indication of how rapidly events have been moving iu the Eastern Sudan. When, at the request of the Government, Mr. and Mrs. MacDiarmid went out in 1910 to start a mission station at Heiban, a centre y in tho Kordoian province, it entailed a journey of 17 days by camel and threo days on horses to reach their destination from the Nile Now, from Ileihan they can reach tho railway in one day's motoring, or even, in tho event of emergency, in about an hour and a-half by aeroplane, for there aro plenty of suitable landing grounds scattered about the country. A Pacifying Influence. It was impossible to use the direct route ten years ago because of tho dangerous hostility of tho native men, and Heiban was a strong military post maintained to keep.- order. Five years after the establishment of tha mission station the natives had beco:rne so much more peaceful that the military post was abandoned as unnecessary. Whereas ten years ago no natiVe could go far from his own borne without danger of attack from enemies, they travel all over tho country now with entire freedom.

Mr. MacDiarmid's personal acquaintance with the Sudan dates back to 1913, when he went out with the first, party of Australian and New Zealand missionaries to start the work of the Sudan United Mission in the' AngloEgyptian Sudan. After seeing them settled at Melut, on the Nile, he pushed on alone through southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, finally coming out at Mombasa. During the war lie gave three years' service with the Y.M.C.A. in the Sudan, and was most successful in organising the Boy Scout movement there.

An important link in the development of the country commercially has been the work of t.l/e Government in deepening and improving the harbour at Port Sudan on the Red Sea, until it lias become a very busy and important port frequented by lavge liners. It is a coaling and oil station and an outlet for the export of cotton.

Growth of a Town. Mr. MacDiarmid quoted one specific instance yesterday as typical of the developments now going on. Ten years ago the little town of Kadugli was a very small trading post with no cotton grown in the neighbourhood. Five years ago it sent away 5000 kantars—a kantar is about 1001b. of cotton. Last year it sent away 100,000 kantars, and had to put up a second ginnery to cope with the trade. It is now a large market in which such imports as Australian butter, .dripping and tinned foods may be bought. A large part of the world's supply of gum Arabic conies from the Kordofan, and among its untouched natural resources are forests of frankincense. When Mr. and Mrs. MacDiarmid first knew the country none of its languages had ever been reduced to writing. Now at the mission press a,t Heiban books are printed in two of the languages by boys trained in the school there. - For her successful and scholarly work in reducing the language of the Heiban Nubas to writing, and for a thesis she on the language, Mrs. MacDiarmid was recently granted the very rare degree of Doctor of Literature of the University of New Zealand.

Mr. and Mrs. MacDiarmid had a particularly interesting ' commission to execute for the Government just before they left the country. They agreed to make as complete a survey as possible of all the languages in use in the Kordofan Province, an area considerably larger than New Zealand. A Language Survey. With travelling facilities provided by the Government they succeeded in identifying 45 different dialects, which later examination proved could be classified into ten distinct groups. They made a number of interesting discoveries which it is hoped will throw light on the somewhat mysterious origin of the Nubas and their ethnological relationships. The whole matter is the subject of a report which has been submitted to the Sudan Government. The Governor-General, Sir John Maffey, and other leading officials have been so impressed with the work of the mission through its schools and medical and preaching services as a civilising and pacifying agency that they are most anxious that it should extend its activities westward to pagan tribes hitherto quite untouched by any outside influences. To this end the Government lias offered from a special fund undof its control to pay for the building of new stations in strategic centres and finance the upkeep of them and of schools attached to them by yearly grants;. The mission is asked to find and support thi> staff to work these stations, and a special effort is to be made to take fldvnntacft of this most favourable offer at as tany a dato as possible. Tim mission is valued by the Government as an important agency in comliatini; ihe snmiA of Mahommedunism. Mr. and Mrs. Mne.Pwmid aw v.l only a brief stavjn AuvklanvU Mw. Diarmid has returned with of settling in Now S£e»d»nd the ministry of tho Prx\<l\vtevt;»n v r.K»v«v