The New British Empire of the Sudan 243 



realize that only seven years ago this 

 enchanting spot was little more than a 

 barren and wind-swept waste, the miser- 

 able home of a few wretched faithful, 

 who persisted, despite the Khalifa's pur- 

 pose to obliterate the place. A completely 

 new city has been laid out by the British 

 engineers, and much of the permanent 

 improvements, street and sidewalk con- 

 struction, paving and curbing on the 

 best modern lines, has already been com- 

 pleted. Building is everywhere going 

 on ; the most important public offices 

 are finished and occupied, and the 

 town has an air of modern enterprise and 

 development, combined with substantial 

 permanence, which it would be difficult 

 to parallel elsewhere in the world. Every 

 public structure of any importance is of 

 kiln-burned brick ; most of the shops and 

 warehouses are also of the same material. 

 Some of the dwellings and smaller build- 

 ings are of native sun-dried brick made 

 from the soil, which is very satisfactory 

 for many purposes, while wood, both on 

 account of cost and the climate, is alto- 

 gether out of the question. The new 

 Mohammedan mosque, in the most com- 

 manding and central square of the city, 

 is of a light "Ohio" sandstone and of 

 much architectural merit. 



KHARTUM RESEMBLES WASHINGTON IN 

 PLAN 



The ground plan, if this is the word, of 

 Khartum is altogether new and original 

 and reminds an American at once of that 

 of the city of Washington. Long diago- 

 nals cross the streets and avenues, inter- 

 secting at right angles, and frequent 

 open spaces or "circles" carry the re- 

 semblance into still closer detail. The 

 army engineers who planned the town 

 will tell you honestly that military con- 

 siderations guided them, and that a very 

 few field pieces can command the city, 

 which is obviously true ; yet we never 

 think of these things in our merited 

 gratitude to L/Enfant for his admirable 

 design of our National Capital, more than 

 a century ago. The two principal ave- 

 nues, traversing the town from end to 



end, are Sirdar and Khedive, while many 

 of the streets and squares, though in con- 

 stant use, are as yet without names. 



In its treatment of the river front, 

 however, Khartum, the latest city, has 

 given an example to all the world, and 

 adopted a plan which assures beauty and 

 blessing for all time. On the bank of the 

 Blue Nile, here fully fifty or sixty feet 

 above the water, a broad avenue has been 

 laid out, probably ioo feet in the clear, 

 and upon this no trespass of business 

 structures or commercial appropriation 

 will be permitted. It is a modified 

 Riverside drive in the heart of Africa, 

 and will surely grow more and more 

 beautiful as the years go on. For some 

 distance in front of the Sirdar's palace a 

 river wall, a splendid piece of solid stone 

 masonry, has been completed, and ulti- 

 mately will be continued along the entire 

 water front, thus insuring protection 

 against the destruction of the bank by the 

 floods of "high" Nile. Occasional stages, 

 at convenient points, will permit the land- 

 ing of passengers and freight, and with 

 rare good judgment the "sakiehs," or 

 water wheels, raising the water for ir- 

 rigation, have been undisturbed, and the 

 patient bullocks, prodded by the lazy 

 boy, who rides the while, still pursue 

 their weary round from sun to sun, while 

 the clumsy machine, unchanged for thou- 

 sands of years, gives out its plaintive 

 creak, like the last wail of an utterly 

 weary and exhausted soul. 



Khartum's strategic position 



The future of Khartum is even now in 

 its infancy clearly foreshadowed. Reach- 

 ing the Nile and the Red Sea by rail and 

 Abyssinia and Uganda and the Belgian 

 Congo by water, there is no doubt of its 

 commercial supremacy, and that it must 

 soon become, if not the largest city of 

 Africa, as some of its admirers predict, 

 the political center and the business 

 metropolis. None of our American cities, 

 not even Chicago, at the head of the 

 lakes, has the advantages of location 

 which Khartum possesses — advantages 

 which are sure to stow more and more 



