MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



The distinction between the two periods lies in the fact 

 that it is only recently that the Sudan has acquired the 

 capital and some of the other means necessary to accord 

 some of the more important of these economic questions 

 the treatment they deserve. 



Hitherto the Sudan has had to make its living mainly 

 by the sale of wild or semi-wild products, such as gum. 

 ivory, livestock, dates, mother-of-pearl shell, ostrich 

 feathers and the like, eked out by the small yield of an 

 extremely primitive agricultural industry, and for some 

 time to come, while the Gezira Canal project and other 

 development schemes are maturing, reliance must still be 

 placed upon this class of product. 



In the near future, however, economic production 

 should acquire a different aspect. 



The expenditure of three millions on 'constructive 

 economic work and the steady growth of a cotton-grow- 

 ing industry, which year by year will become of increasing- 

 importance to the world at large, must profoundly affect 

 for the better every department of national life. 



It will be apparent from subsequent remarks in this 

 paper that the Sudan is far from being a " one-crop " 

 country, but its hope, at any rate its larger hope, lies in 

 the success of cotton growing. Now that the Gezira 

 Irrigation scheme has been begun the Sudan has come to 

 grips with the central problem of its career. 



Predictions as to the possibilities of cotton growing 

 in the Sudan, some of which are now beginning to come 

 true, have been made for many years past. They rest 

 on a good historical basis. 



As long as 200 years ago the Sudan had a reputation 

 both for its raw cotton, which was exported in some 

 quantity to Abyssinia, and also for its cotton homespun, 

 which was well known throughout North Africa. 



Cotton growing is not, therefore, an alien industry. 

 In certain districts the people have always shown both 

 willingness and ability to grow cotton when suitable 

 opportunities have been within their reach. 



Until quite recently the best chance afforded them of 

 carrying on this industry with success has been in the 

 Tokar district of Red Sea Province. Here a torrential 



