COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 121 



excessively high. In consequence of his few requirements, he does 

 not need much work. He spends about 10 P.T. to 15 P.T. per 

 month, and as he can earn these in two to five days he prefers to be 

 lazy during the remainder of the month and to live on his earnings of 

 the few days' work, consequently the negro is of very little value at 

 present for the economic development of the Sudan. Contrary to the 

 negro, the Egyptian fellaheen are extremely industrious, but on 

 account of the former bad reputation of the Sudan they have so far 

 a strong disinclination against emigration to the Sudan, although 

 the favourable economic development of the Sudan will no doubt 

 cause an increasing number of neighbouring fellaheen to settle there. 

 Lord Kitchener hopes, but I think he is somewhat optimistic, that in 

 further five years the population will be six millions ; in fact, in view 

 of the increased prosperity during the last 14 years of peace, there 

 .are no poor to be found in the country. The Sudanese is not, as is 

 mostly the case with the Egyptian fellaheen, in the hands of the 

 usurers, but he is generally free from debt. 



A Central Labour Bureau, instituted in 190ST by request of 

 Slatin Pasha, was to be an intermediary between the labour supply 

 and demand, and it was intended that this Bureau should aim at 

 the regulation of wages. Originally this bureau was to comprise all 

 kinds of labourers, but gradually it has been used solely for the 

 requirements of the Government, which fixed, in 1911, the daily wage 

 of unskilled labourers in all Government departments at 3 P.T. 



This fixed wage, however, did not answer, and even Govern- 

 ment will pay 4 P.T. to 5 P.T. in order to get labourers at all. There 

 is not a sufficient supply at the price of 3 P.T. Generally speaking, 

 private individuals can obtain workmen cheaper than the Govern- 

 ment. The daily wage labourers in the country, the Arabs and 

 Sudanese, receive generally 3 P.T. to 4 P.T., the women get 2 P.T. 

 to 2J P.T., and children 1J P.T. The picking of bbttbn Is mostly 

 undertaken by women and children. 



AGRICULTURE. 



At the time when England intended to get a firm footing in the 

 Sudan, probably political reasons were the leading factors, more so 

 than economic ones, and it is only due to the introduction of general 

 civilisation that the economic possibilities could gradually be dis- 

 covered and developed organically. At the present everything in the 

 Sudan points to the raising of agriculture, this is naturally the 

 central attraction of the whole colonial activity, and science, legis- 

 lation, and administration tend in this direction. The conditions 

 for agriculture are in the northern and southern parts entirely differ- 

 ent. In the districts north of Khartoum, with their dry climate, 

 we have the problem of artificial irrigation, its expenditure, and the 

 question of finding sufficient labour supply ; in the southern part of 

 the Sudan, on the other hand, where the zone of tropical rain begins, 

 we have, besides the question of labour, the difficulties of transporta- 

 tion. Enormous stretches of desert land in the north will hardly ever 

 be brought into cultivation, on the other hand, towards the Equator 

 the soil becomes improved and in parts is quite exceptionally good. 



The natives plant in the main " Durra," then also " Duchn," 

 wheat, maize, leguminous crops, sesame, castor, ground nuts, lupins, 



