COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 127 



Later on, Messrs. Carver & Co. limited their direct purchases to 

 Tokar, because the quantity grown in the interior of the Sudan was 

 not important enough. 



For cultivation on a large scale the provinces of Berber, Khar- 

 toum, and the Gezira enter into consideration. Small experiments 

 have also been made on the tributaries of the Blue Nile, and of the 

 Atbara, also at Kassala on the Ghash, near the Abyssinian frontier, 

 and in the valley of the Baraka, in the district of Tokar, near the 

 Red Sea. The Red Sea province, up to now, is the largest producer 

 of cotton in the Sudan. 



In 1910, 40 per cent, of the cotton crops of the Sudan were 

 raised under rain cultivation, 51 per cent, by flood cultivation, there- 

 fore 91 per cent, on small holdings of the natives without any Euro- 

 pean assistance whatever, and only 9 per cent, were grown by 

 artificial irrigation. 



Cotton cultivation on a large scale in the Sudan is only possible 

 on the enticing example of Egypt, with artificial irrigation ; the diffi- 

 culties existing in this respect have already been indicated. Govern- 

 ment does not give concessions for land at the expense of the reduc- 

 tion of native small holdings, and if there is the slightest taint of 

 speculation in a proposed undertaking the concession is withheld. 



The largest modern cotton plantation of the Sudan is to be 

 found in Zeidab, on the western bank of the Nile, in close proximity 

 to the confluence of the Atbara in the province of Berber. 



This concession, which originally is for 10,000 feddans, giving 

 also the right of purchase of a further 30,000 feddans, was granted 

 by the Governor-General, Sir Reginald Wingate, to an enterprising 

 American, called Leigh Hunt, who came in the autumn of 1903 to 

 the Sudan, and, assisted with British capital, floated, in 1904, with 

 a capital of ^80,000, the Sudan Experimental Plantation Syndicate, 

 at El Darner. Mr. Leigh Hunt secured the services of a young 

 Englishman, a former Government Inspector of Agriculture, Mr. J. 

 Neville, and a few negroes from Carolina and Louisiana, who proved 

 a great success, but could not stand the climate. The Company com- 

 menced at once the economic development of the district, and after 

 severe struggles, without taking notice of unfavourable criticism, 

 they proved the rentability of cotton growing in Zeidab. In 1907, 

 Hunt and Neville retired from the Syndicate, and with the help of 

 strong capitalists from London, especially assisted by the firm of 

 Werner, Beit, & Co., a new Company, called " The Sudan Plantation 

 Syndicate, Ltd.," was organised, w r ith a capital of /^250,000. The 

 manager of this company is Mr. D. P. Macgillivray. 



In 1910, the Zeidab area was divided up into lots of different 

 sizes amongst the 234 tenants, of whom 109 were Berberines, 60 came 

 from Upper Egypt, 18 from Dongola, 24 were Greeks, 2 

 Assyrians, and 1 Englishman. They undertook to grow only one- 

 third of the leased land with cotton, one-third with wheat, and one- 

 third with leguminous crops, the latter to be ploughed in or to lie 

 fallow. 



The most practicable size of the small holdings on the farm has 

 been proved to be 30 feddans, which can be farmed by one family. 



The tenant who takes up new land has to clear it first from 

 bushes and roots, for which he gets a fixed price. He then receives 



