COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 87 



Cairo to Shellal, 890 kilometres. 



Cairo to Port Said, 233 kilometres. 



Cairo to Suez, 250 kilometres. 



The cotton trade has in each province certain centres, where 

 there is always active commercial life, and the European buyers, the 

 ginning factories, and presses have their quarters. The largest 

 export houses of Alexandria have their branches here, together with 

 their own ginning factories, but the central administration is situated 

 in Alexandria. The four principal centres of Lower Egypt are Karf-el- 

 Zayat, Zagazig, Mansourah, and Mehalla-el-Kebira, where the 

 majority of the ginning factories are situated, and these are largely 

 owned by Alexandria firms. Then follow Zifta and Tantah, large 

 places of commerce, but less important as regards industrial life, and, 

 finally, there are 33 places which are each able to show a turnover of 

 10,000 kgs. to 100,000 kgs. The Ministry of the Interior decided, in 

 1912, on the initiative of Lord Kitchener, to establish in each pro- 

 vince markets and stores for cotton. In these markets the fellah can 

 have his cotton properly weighed under Government supervision, and 

 the market prices ruling in Alexandria are published in order to protect 

 the fellah from the fraudulent practices of unscrupulous middlemen. 

 These so-called " Halakas " had to withstand the opposition of certain 

 individual interests, but they seem to be becoming gradually popular. 

 Whether they will finally cause the cotton to be sold direct from the 

 fellah to the spinner is somewhat questionable. 



GINNING AND PRESSING OF COTTON. 



Jumel cotton used to be ginned in the old-fashioned, native way, 

 i.e., the cotton passed between two hard wooden rollers, which were 

 turned by hand in opposite directions, and as the fibre passed through 

 the rollers the seed was torn off and thrown backward. This primi- 

 tive apparatus gave only about 121bs. to 151bs. of lint per 10 hours' 

 work per day, and the long time during which the seed cotton had 

 to be stored before it could be ginned had a serious effect on the 

 quality. When the seed cotton was dried artificially the result was 

 even worse. 



The primitive ginning implement became gradually improved. 

 An iron roller was turned by means of the treading of a pedal. This 

 roller acted against a wooden roller working in opposite direction. 

 This machine gave at the utmost 301bs. to 401bs. per day, but on the 

 average not more than 151bs. to 181bs. lint per day. 



A decided revolution was brought about by the introduction of 

 the American roller gin of McCarthy, whose first machine was intro- 

 duced into Egypt in 1853, and was able to gin in 10 hours 2 kantars 

 of lint. This roller gin consists in the principal part of an iron roller 

 I m. long, and covered with leather, which throws off the kernels of 

 the seed cotton between a stationary metal plate in a slanting position, 

 and a second metal plate, which moves up and down close to the 

 former. The cotton is fed into the machine by means of an endless 

 lattice table. 



As in Egypt the small fellah produces most of the cotton, who 

 is not in a position to buv ginning machinery, and as the large land 

 proprietors were not inclined to establish their own ginning factories, 



