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In forwarding this return Sir Reginald Wingate says:— "It will be readily understood that these figures have no "pretence to exact accuracy, but they have been compiled "after careful consideration and inquiry, and they represent, "in the opinion of Sir Rudolf von Slatin, Father Ohrwalder, "and others who have been intimately connected with the "Sûdân for the last 24 years, a fairly correct estimate. "That the loss of life under the two headings given above "should represent upwards of 75 per cent. of the total "population seems almost incredible, but, from my own "personal experience, I can vouch for the comparative correctness of these figures. One has only to travel "through the country to realise the terrible ravages of "Dervish misrule, of which there is such painful evidence "in the wholesale destruction of towns and villages, and "the enormous tracts of once cultivated land now either a "barren wilderness, or overgrown with thorns and high "grass, necessitating immense labour to clear and bring "again under the plough. As an instance I might cite one of the many cases which have come under my personal observation. Prior to 1882 the district comprising the "banks of the rivers Rahad and Dindar contained upwards "of 800 villages. When this country was examined some "two years ago not a village remained, but through the energetic action of the Governor, Colonel Gorringe, 28 new villages have sprung up." Of the present total of 1,853,000 persons, 2,787 are Europeans, and 8,209 Abyssinians, Indians, Egyptians, etc.

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The natives of the Sûdân may be roughly divided into-1. Tribes of Hamitic descent.-These are represented by the dwellers in the Eastern Desert, e.g., the Bishârîn, the Hadandowas, the Ḥalangas, ‘Abâbdah, Ummar'ar, Beni ‘Âmar, "Anaks," etc. 2. Tribes of the Nubas, or Barâbara.—These live between the First and Fourth Cataracts, and have very dark, or black, skins, but

are not Negroes; they are akin to certain tribes in the Nuba Mountains, in the Southern Sûdân. Like the tribes

of the Eastern Desert, they have intermarried freely with Arabs, Turks, and Negroes. Their principal divisions are Danakalah, Maḥass, men of Sukkît, men of Ḥalfa, and the Kanûz. 3. Arabs, namely, the Shaikiya, Munâsîr, Rubâtâb, Miragât, Ga‘alin, Fûng, Hamag, Shukriya, Humrân, Kabâbish, the Bakkara or cattle-owning tribes, etc. 4. Pure Black Tribes, eg, the Shilluk, Dinka, Nuwwer, Bari, Mádi, Shulla, Latûka, Makârak, Ganki, Banku (Bongs), Külû, Gûr, Agâr, Niâm-Niâm, the Farâtît tribes, etc. 5. Negroid Tribes.-The Fûrs, Birkad, Dâgô, Bartî, Mêdûb, etc. The Negro and Negroid tribes have in all ages produced slaves, and the Arab and Hamitic tribes have usually supplied the merchants who trafficked in them. From time immemorial natives of the Arabian Peninsula have entered the Sûdân in the east, and settled down in fertile places as opportunity offered. After A.D. 640 large numbers of Arabs entered the Sûdân via Aswân, and Arab immigrants were many after the conquest of Egypt by Selim in 1517.

Religion. The greater number of the inhabitants of the Sûdân are Muḥammadans. The religion of Muḥammad came into the Sûdân from Egypt by way of Nubia, from Arabia by way of Sawâkin and Maṣawa, and from North Africa by way of the desert road from Tunis to Dâr Fûr and Kordôfân. The Negro tribes are heathen, and in some places worship many strange objects. Among these belief in witchcraft and fetishes is universal.

Language. The commonest language in the Sûdân is Arabic. The Barabara who live between the First and Fourth Cataracts speak a language to which the name Nubian has been given; four or five dialects of it are now distinguished. The tribes of the Eastern Desert speak a

language which Almkvist calls "Tu Bedawiya,” and it probably belongs to the old Hamitic group. The Negro tribes have a number of dialects peculiar to themselves. In ancient Egyptian times hieroglyphics were used in Nubia, and inscriptions in Egyptian were written in them. After the introduction of Christianity into Nubia as the official religion, Greek was used, and all the service books were in Greek. The language of the true Meroitic Inscriptions is thought to be Hamitic.

Revenue. The revenue of the Sûdân is derived from taxes on land, date-trees, boats, animals, houses, and roads; from royalties on gum, ivory, feathers, and indiarubber; from tribute from Nomad tribes; from sales of Government land, salt, etc.; from Customs' dues, ferries, licences, court and market fees, fines, rent, stamps and telegrams, and transport (steamers and railways); and from an annual contribution by the Egyptian Government (E.33,000 in 1905). The land tax is paid in money or in kind; when paid in kind it is called "Ushur," i.e., "tenth," one-tenth of the crop being taken by the authorities. The land tax in 1905 amounted to LE.79,424The Customs duties are: (1) an ad valorem duty of 8 per cent. on all imports; (2) an ad valorem duty of 1 per cent. on all exports.

The revenue of the Sûdân was in 1905 £E.569,000, and the expenditure was £E.688,000, i.e., there was an apparent deficit of E.119,000, which had to be made good by the Egyptian Government. From the showing of Lord Cromer, however, it is clear that a considerable sum of money was obtained by Egypt from Customs' duty on goods destined for the Sûdân, and that the real deficit was only £E.33,000 (Egypt, No. 1 (1906), p. 130). The revenue since the re-occupation of the Sûdân has been as follows:

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Imports. The value of the imports, via Wâdi Ḥalfa, in 1905 was E. 1,092,000 as compared with E.751,000 in 1904; the value of the imports, via Sawâkin, was £E.171,000 as compared with £E.137,000 in 1904. The exports, via Wâdî Ḥalfa, were £E.251,000 and via Sawâkin, £E.58,000.

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in 1904 was 529,239

acres, and in 1905 it was 704,872. The principal crops were barley, cotton, dhurra, millet, maize, onions, lubia, beans, wheat, and simsim (sesame). The areas planted with cotton and wheat were 23,898 and 22,000 acres respectively. 184,950 kantars of gum were exported, and the values of the ivory and ostrich feathers which passed through the Customs Houses were E.42,000 and £E.15,000 respectively. The Government made agricultural loans to the value of E.15,000 in 1905, interest being at the rate of 7 per cent. The total area of land taxed was 178,789 acres. The Sûdân Police Force contains 1,819 men. Posts and telegraphs: receipts, E.29,000. There are about 3,925 miles of telegraph lines open in the Sûdân, and in 1905 about 164,000 private telegrams were despatched. The value of the money which passed through the Post Office was £E.808,000. Civil public works cost £E.130,000. At least 50,000 persons were vaccinated in 1905. Education: 1,533 boys were being

instructed in the Government schools, and of these 392 were at the Gordon College. An education rate is about to be levied in the Blue Nile Province and in Sennaar. Slavery: The professional slave dealers and raiders finding that their trade becomes more dangerous every year, and that the Government are serious in their intention to destroy the business, are gradually abandoning it. To transport slaves is now a very risky and difficult matter, and only the most devious routes can be used, for the British Inspector is ubiquitous. Moreover, the natives are beginning to realize that the slave traffic is punishable by law. Domestic slavery must necessarily linger on for some years, but the natives will soon find that paid servants are cheaper than slaves, and then it will die a natural death. The slavery department needs more inspectors, especially near the Abyssinian Frontier.

Justice. The greatest care is taken by officials in the Sûdân that the law shall be administered without fear and without favour, and the method of procedure in the matter of criminal inquiry and as to arrest is borrowed from the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure; that at the hearing is that of an Egyptian (or, substantially, of a British) courtmartial. Magistrates and judges have two classes of people to deal with, the negro and the Arab. As an illustration of the caution with which the principles of European criminal justice have to be applied Mr. Bonham-Carter quotes the following case. It appears that a man called Kwat Wad Awaibung was tried on the charge of murdering Ajak Wad Deng, and having pleaded guilty he added: "The murdered “Ajak Wad Deng owed me a sheep, but would not pay me. "He said he would show me his work, and next day my "son was eaten by a crocodile, which was, of course, the "work of Ajak Wad Deng, and for that reason I killed him. "We had had a feud for years, as I was a more successful "hippopotamus hunter than he was, and for that reason he "was practising witchery over me and my family."

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