THE SOUDAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2134, 7 March 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SOUDAN.

HOW THE BHITISH ARE EDUCATING THE NATIVES.

(By Frank C. Carpenter, in the New Orleans “Times-Dcmoerat.”) Aw ay nip the- Nile Valley, so far from iho Mediterranean that it takes four days by steam ship and railroad to reach it, within almost a- stones throw of where whole tribes are going naked, and near tho site oi what not long ago was one of the slave centres of Africa, the English have built up a school which is turning out native teachers and judges, Government clerks and book-keepers, mechanics of all sorts, and, within certain limits, civil engineers, ft has already erected soverld acres ot college buildings, and it has large dormitories, well-equipped class-rooms, a library, a museum, and also one of the most remarkable research laboratories of the world. IN HONOR OF GENE 11AL GORDON I refer to Gordon College, which was founded just after the battle of Omdurman and named in honor ot • tho great general who was killed in sight of where it now stands. Tho suggestion was that of laird Kitchener, and the money was voluntarily contributed by the people of England. The amount raised was sfil-IU,-000, and to this has been added the munificent gift of _Mr Henry S. \ Wellcome, an American, who has established the famous V oil coin e Laboratory as a part of this institution. It was through a note of introuction from Sir. Francis Reginald Vingate, tho Governor-general of the Soudan, to Dr. James Currie, the president 'of the college, that I was taken, through it amt given an insight into its workings and possibilities. The institution stands on tinbanks of the Blue Nile at the southend of Khartoum, between the British barracks and tho palace of tho Sirdar. . It is a handsome structure of dark red brick of Moorish architecture, running around three sides of a square, with the front facing the river. At the back are beautiful gardens, and at the rear of them a sort of experimental plantation, where Dr Currie is testing whether tea and eor,l tain other shrubs can be successfully grown. t The college building is of two storeys, -with a tower over the' centre. About'the inside run wide corridors or galleries, which are separated from the gardens by! great columns, forming cloisters up and down which the longgowneil, • tirrbaned students wain ' between their hours of recitation and study. In the, wing at the left of the entrance _ are the laboratories, museum and libraries, and in flic front and in thb wing at the right are the many class-rooms, which were filled with students during the day. A COLLEGE OF AFRICANS.

After chatting for a time with Dr Currie about the college we took a walk through it, visiting the various rooms. It has now something over 300 students, ranging in age from ten to eighteen or over. The students come from all parts of the Solid m, and they, are of all colors, from faces as white as own owii to the deepest and shiniest of stove black. Many o. them have their faces seared with N 'gashes and scars, denoting the tribe to which they belong, and could \. c read the marks we should find that their homes are located in all pir.t of the regions tapped by the Blue and White Niles. I saw some who came from the province of the Balir el Ghazal, away up on the edge of the Congo Free State. Others were from villages in Faslioda, near the 'River Sobat, and others from the regions along the Reel Sea. There were quite a number who are the sons of the richer chiefs of Ivordofan and Berber. Some of the boys were dressed in the fez caps and gowns of Egypt-, and others wore the white turand long robes.of the people of. Central ‘-Africa. Among them were Cptic and Mohammedan Egyptians, .some few Bedouins and here anil there » negro _ ' Many of the students have features like ours. Their noses are straight, their lips thin and their hair not kinky, although they are black. Such boys are not negroer. They are tho descendants of people from Arabia and their ancestors bad reached a high degree of civilisation during the Middle Ages when the Arabic schools and universities were noted over the world. for THE SONS OF SHEIKS. The college here is divided into three departments. The first is for the sons of sheiks and is devoted to the training of teachers and of judges and other officials for the Mahomme-j Ann courts. The British are governing Hje Soudan as far as possible -tliropgk the natives. They, respect ithe -native religions and .the native language, aivd therefore the instruction in this part pf the college is altogether Arabic. The students are ■taught tile Koran and the Koranic Jaw; they write all their exercises •in Arabic, take dictation in Arabic and .are well founded in the Moliam- ' medan religion, and especially as it bears upon the government of the people. They are lino looking fellows, dressed almost uniformly m turbans and gowns, and they have the hearing which shows them -io be the sons of chiefs. AFTER GOVERNMENT JOB'S, 'Trie ‘Second deoartment of the college is filled by those who hope to get minor appointments under the government* or ‘by general education io fit themselves for business and private citizenship. In this business both English and Arabic are taught. Many of the boys are young, tn one class I found a-score ot hrown a u black-faced .pupds learning to 'into - English, and none ol them wore over twelve years of age. The most ol tue bovs wore fez caps and -alack -,o« They stood up as I entered in company with: the president- o.F she college, and then rose to their hoc again as-, we left. .In this .college surveying is taught. _ I was show n some excellent -mechanical drawings and seme planr.vyorkcd up from W motes. T-hestu were, ot course, in the kighey^lns'seL:. The education 8 thorough' arid a hoy can got a ang that will fit him for almoA any profession which can be carried on an the Soudan. ' . ~ I was especially interested in the manual training school, which is well nipped with blacksmith and cai> ■>r shoos. I found a score or so •» Arabs making various things '-oil. They were turning •v a mental iron gates, ’’oris they were 1 other lur'•'tiTding

The British arc Schools of tins kind- o ’. Halfa w—: i.."^ a i lc +ho t night * %jsfas^r.»»-.s,s **&&&'&£& **" thev have altogemi gc ] loo l s ere pils-iJ'he mftwmosauea, and tliev von nected with t i . Ij n <, a nd ■ioach Wtle mme g . , W^' 11 ”ii educition ?1""S -ud „ 'i the higher vriinni? b% lilies, <!«< .., asthenia ties., iehcli it,“v Wn'-hes a* well. >« ,a ®y ot .j higher primary - nt . rtftfpf *>>'!> tm •> Governor " mail e lt consisted of many hnilcliiigs rum'iig ? ,0 In.’ 1 n .’ \ ”, e. The boys suKly at akfi^Koss^asssl^-^

the modern appliances. Tho students arc of -all ages, from boys of six learning to rend to young men of eighteen or twenty ready to graduate. 1 heard some of the latter recite in English, and they seemed to bo quite ns bright as our boys at home. In one room I heard the recitation of a scene from “William Toll,” where Geasier in ikes the Swiss hero shoot

the apple from his boy's head. Four black boys took part in the dialogue. They declaimed in English, and although they had an Arabic accent-, they recited with wonderful feeling and with a full appreciation of tho sentiment involved in the- story. In ■another building I mot some of the sons of the sheiks and photographed them out in tho open. The. pupils of all the schools arc polite, and their natural ability is far above that of the African natives who live farther south. FOUNDED BY AN AMERICAN. Returning to tho Gordon College, one of the most interesting institutions connected with it is the Wellcome, laboratory. This was founded and is supported by Mr Homy S. Wellcome, a wealthy Philadelphian, who is one of the well-known firm of Borroughs and Wellcome, manufacturing chemists and druggists-of London. This firm has made a special studv of tropical diseases and tropical medicines, and a part of its

business is to supply missionaries and wploring parties. It has furnished H.enrv M. Stanley and others with

medical outfits for travel throughout the world. It was probably through the study of such matters tlut Air

Wellcome became interested in tho Soudan and in its development along health and other lines, and was thereby induced to furnish, equip and sustain their groat laboratory. The ob-

jects of the institution- are to promote the study of tropical disorders, and especially diseases of man and beast peculiar to tho Soudan, and also to render assistance to the health officers and the civil and mili-

tary hospitals. The laboratories are carrying on experimental investigations as to the poisons used bv the natives, as to the chemical ami bacteriological condition of the waters, and also' as to everything regarding foodstuffs and sanitary improvements. They are testing and assaying the various minerals, and arc looking up all matters relating to the industrial development of the country.

The main offices of the laboratory are in the college, -but its explorers arc sent out in every direction, and they are making all sorts of. investigations. They are looking into the mosquitoes of the country, arc investigating the tsetse il.v and other pests, and among other things are studying the sleeping sickness, a horriole disease which is communicated by a fly, and which has killed its thousands throughout Central Africa. They have to do with the boil weevil and other insects which ruin tlie crops, ami they are aiding t-lio cancer research fund and the Carnegie Institute in its investigations. . I have met a number of the scientists connected with this institution, and 1 find them able men. They tell me that tlie Soudan Ins almost every noxious insect and pest insect known to man and beast. It lias worms and weevils which affect tho cotton crop, and it has mosquitoes which carry ,malaria and which would carry yellow fever if they were once inoculated bv feeding upon a yellow fever patient. Indeed, the stegomyia or yellow fever mosquito swarms here, and if one of them should be inoculated with yellow fever, germs it might start ail endless chain of disease v.micli could hardly be broken. MONEY IN GUM ARABIC.

One of the . most interesting men I -have met in Khartoum is a young American chemist who has charge of the industrial investigations of the Wellcome laboratory. This is Dr William -Bean, formerly of Pennsylvania. He is now making a study of the various grains of the Soudan, as well as of its minerals and precious stones, from the standpoint of the development of its resources. He tells me that the Soudan will some day export grain to Arabia and the other. countries about, and that it will in the future be known as a land of corn,

wheat and cotton. Ho tells me that one of the principal money crops of this part of the world is gum arabic. AVe know this gum chiefly in connection with mucilage, but it is also widely used in the arts. It is employed for making water colors and, certain kinds of Inks, and also in dyeing and finishing silks and other fabrics, borne ot the. better grades are used in confectionary, and the pearly teeth of many an American belle lias risen and fallen in the chewing of this exudation of the trees of the (Soudan. The gum comes from the acacia tree, and is said to be due to a microbe which feeds upon the sap and causes the gum to exude the bark in tile Form of tears. AVhen the bark is cut or partially stripped the gum oozes out. It. is collected by the native women and packed up and shipped to Omdurman for sale and export. During my visit to the markets of that city I saw great piles of gum which had been brought in there to be sent 'down the Hue or over the railroad to the Red boa.. There are hundreds pf tons of it Jv- ! ijig out in tlic open, and I was told I that within a few weeks it would all I be on its way to Europe or the United [‘States. ' • THE STORY OE CHINESE GORDON. [ Just hack of the palace in Khartoum, and not far from the college named after him, is a bronze statue of General Charles George Gordon. In it the great hero is represented sitting upon a camel, which stands on a high pedestal of stone. The general has merely a stick in' his rbdit- hand, 'and lie is looking boldly and fearlessly out in the direction of the desert. 1 have been told tnnt ! fie seldom carried more than a stic.c, I Land that, although his whole life was | full of danger, he.never showed tear, r In talking about- this the other night with the Sirdar, or Coniir.ander-jtin-Chief of the Egyptian Army, lie i told me au incident illustrative or | Gordon’s bravery. AVe were- stands' iug on the portico which extends out from the second storey of the palace, | forming the nor to eochery, when his Excellency said: “It was mst about here that GeneI ml Gordon had-his residence. It was 1 a von<di building, with windows lookI ing over the Nile and with the front f windows in plain view of the little I island of Tiiti,- which we are now 1 looking at over there. During too |war with the Maluli, the enemy had ■ a camn on that island, and the-} i.<oiquontly shot across the river at tlie ! palace. General Gordon kept a j diary, and it was lus custom of an ] evening to sit in his room back of a where we now stand and write. Hie 1 Dervishes saw his light, and shot at lit again and again. AVhen the nu- j lives at Khartoum heard of this they I became much alarmed. They J that Gordon would be killed, and, a--1 he was their only hope, they sent in P \ a remonstrance begging him to e»thu fdo his writing at the back ot the house or to hide lus light by a screen. “In rewlv General Gordon unvited the delegation to come to the front ol bis nalace for lus answer. 'AA lien they i appeared they found every front window blazing, and . General Goidon go from window Vo window and stand at each for a moittciil, tnakin o himself, as the delegation thought, a fair mark for the A *ter that lie came out. and,, stand lll !-? 1,1 the full of the light, said : \ “•‘Gentlemen, there is on old eifory told of bow the Lord made nmukiXu. I AVhen Me did His AYork He had bfy fore Him two great piles of material. One of these was composed of the clay of which man is made, and the other of the fear which often makes him less than a man. As the Lord worked, He took up a handful of day and shaped it into "a liumon form and then sprinkled it over with a handful from the pile of fear; and so He went on making mail after man, until at last He took no the stuff of which He made me. There was plenty of clay, and of it He produced the body which you see before you. He then looked about for feaiy.with which to .■sprinkle the mass; but at . that mo-

used up, ami there was none to put into me. The result- is Ido not know what- fear is.” “General Gordon-’s bravery,” continued tho Sirdar, “was far beyond those of others of tho world's heroes. He fought hero.until the last, and when the Arabs iinallv overcame his troops and entered his palace, lie sternly demanded of-thorn whore their master was. They replied by plunging their spears into his body; and as he fell, they dragged him down the stops and there cut off his head to be sent lo the Maluli. His body was left- to the mercy of the fanatics, and they.rushed forward by the thousands to dip their swords and spoil's in his blood. They fairly cut the body to pieces, and iho blood, which had stained the steps and walls of the palace, remained there until the Khalifa decided to make that place a dwelling for his harem, and had it washed away.”