120 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



ensure Egypt's water supply from the 15th March to 15th October, 

 and the Sudan's supply from 15th May to 15th March. For the time 

 being, however, the Sudan must bow to the claims of Egypt. 



With the exception of the stretches of land near to and north of 

 Khartoum, the Sudan crops can be grown during the flood and winter 

 months, i.e., from 15th July to 1st February, between which dates 

 no restrictions as to the use of water are imposed by the Egyptian 

 Government ; only pumping for the purpose of watering is permitted 

 in the Sudan during this period. In almost all the southern parts of 

 the Sudan, on the contrary, the pumping of water from the Nile 

 between the 1st February and the 15th July is prohibited by the 

 authorities, in order not to take away from Egypt too much of the 

 priceless fluid, and it is precisely during the months of May, June, 

 and July that systematic waterings are essential to the life of the 

 cotton plant; at the present time only the very trifling area of 10,000 

 feddans are allowed to be brought under artificial summer irrigation, 

 which area, it is said, will be doubled after the completion of the 

 raising of the Assuan dam. 



The problem of the irrigation of the Sudan is complicated by 

 the fact that the Sudan is to receive water without causing any 

 detriment to Egypt. It would be an object worthy of all efforts to 

 arrive at an agreement between the administrations of the two coun- 

 tries, by which a certain minimum quantity of water during every 

 season of the year, based upon the requirements and upon the natural 

 low-water depth of the river, could be secured for Egypt, and that 

 the remainder of the water be allowed to run free for the requirements 

 of the Sudan. As the first great work, the building of a weir-dam on 

 the White Nile, not very far from Khartoum, will evidently be com- 

 menced soon. 



LABOUR QUESTION. 



A further important preliminary condition for the agricultural deve- 

 lopment of the Sudan, next to the construction of modern means of 

 communication, which are always readily put down by the practical 

 English nation, is the training of a sufficient supply of labourers. We 

 have to deal with the three native groups, Nubians in the north, the 

 Negroes in the south, and the Bedouins in the desert; the latter are 

 partly genuine Arabs, partly Hamitic aborigines, the successors of 

 the old Ethiopians. 



The Nubians are industrial agriculturalists, but they are not as 

 efficient as the Egyptian fellaheen, and are not very numerous. The 

 Arabs are partly nomadic tribes owning herds of cattle, they are 

 cattle breeders and huntsmen ; in some places they are excellent 

 agricultural labourers. The Negroes living in the southern districts 

 are partly engaged in primitive agriculture, attended to mostly by 

 the women, and in those parts which are favoured with sufficient 

 rainfall they rear cattle. The total native population, although it 

 may have increased relatively quicker under the "Pax britanica," 

 especially amongst the negroes, and is estimated to-day as being 

 three millions again, must still be considered as sparse, and the 

 Sudanese negro, however many advantages he may have, is, as 

 regards the male population, not much good for agriculture, and, 

 moreover, he is an unwilling worker, although the wages may be 



