COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 139 



Upper Nile have an area of about 100,000 square km. The 

 Upper Nile is used the whole year through for a regular ser- 

 vice of steamers belonging to the Government, and it was also navi- 

 gated by the steamers of the Sudan Development and Exploration 

 Company, which, however, have been bought up in 1911 by the 

 Government. Steamers ply also during the six months, from 

 July to December, on the Blue Nile. On account of the 

 expensive price of coal, which has to be imported from abroad, 

 the cost of which is about E3 in Khartoum, FA in Taufikia, per 

 ton, mostly wood is used as fuel on these steamers, which is causing 

 a quick disappearance of the forests lining the banks of the Blue 

 and White Niles. It was a recent invention of a south-German, a 

 Dr. Horlng, which enabled the above-mentioned " sudd," of which 

 enormous quantities can be had, to be prepared into briquettes. An 

 Anglo-German Syndicate, whose style is " The Sudan Industries 

 Company," was floated at the beginning of 1911 for the purpose of 

 building a small experimental factory at Khartoum for the prepara- 

 tion of " suddite," and as the price of this new fuel, which may still 

 be improved, is only El per ton, it is quite possible that consider- 

 able advantage will result from it ; suddite cannot be used for ordi- 

 nary heating plannings. 



The railway in the Sudan has a larger natural field than in 

 Egypt, but on account of the sparse population and of financial 

 reasons, will only progress slowly after the country, which is 

 separated from the rest of the world through a glaring and almost 

 waterless desert, has been brought into closer touch with civilisation 

 through the construction of modern means of transport. All Sudan 

 railways have been constructed by the Government, and are 

 managed with military promptitude. 



From 1896 to 1898, during the advance march of the English, 

 the military railway up to Abu Hamed, through the desert, was con- 

 structed under great difficulties, in 1899 it was taken to the 

 capital, Khartoum (Wadi Haifa-Khartoum, 930 km.), and since then 

 the railway lines have been considerably improved. A branch line 

 of 251 km. in length was taken off, in 1907, at Abu Hamed, going 

 round the fourth cataract to Kareima and establishing communica- 

 tion between the sea and the Dongola province. A second branch 

 railway connects Wadi-Halfa with Kerma above the third cataract, 

 but on account of its bad condition it has not been used for years. 

 The construction of the railway from Khartoum towards the south, 

 via Sennar and Goz Abu Goma on the White Nile, was not delayed, 

 and this line, which is 689 km. long, was completed in January, 1912, 

 up to the provincial terminus, El Obeid, which is the capital of the 

 important province of Kordofan. The immediate influence of this 

 southern railway on the increased cultivation of durra, oil seeds, and 

 cotton has by far excelled all expectations. 



On the other hand, there is no railway connection in existence 

 between Shellal and Wadi-Halfa, a distance of 334 km. in the 

 Nubian desert, which is on the direct route between Cairo and Khar- 

 toum, and this journey must still be undertaken by steamers on the 

 Nile. The scheme which was formerly planned of constructing a 

 railway through the Nubian district appears to have been entirely 

 given up. 



