The repetition of the five prayers, and the reading of the Kuran, on which no commentaries are permitted to be made, make up the sum total of religion, interspersed now and then with the reading of the Mahdi's instructions and the repetition, twice a day, of the Rateb. If any person says prayers at home, instead of at the mosque, without just cause or reason, he is adjudged by the Khalifa as "disobedient;" and such prayers are, he says, not acceptable to God. From his point of view, true religion consists of servile obedience to his commands; and by this means alone can the soul enter into everlasting joys.
He has forbidden pilgrimage to Mecca, having substituted for it pilgrimage to the tomb of the Mahdi, who is the Prophet's representative. Although the Sudanese intensely dislike this innovation, they are perforce obliged to accept it; and as it is now impossible for them to return to the orthodox faith, which they so unwittingly cast aside, they now accept the situation, and carry out their mock religious duties in the most businesslike manner, but without the smallest belief in their efficacy.
Education and religious instruction are practically non-existent. Some boys, and occasionally a few girls, are taught to recite the Kuran and the Rateb in the mesjids (religious schools attached to the mosques), of which a few are allowed to be privately kept up. A small percentage of these children, when they have completed their course in the mesjids, are sent to the Beit el Mal, where they become apprentices to the old Government clerks, and learn a certain amount of business correspondence. The system of theological instruction which obtains in most Moslem countries, but which was never much in vogue in the Sudan, has now ceased to exist altogether.
Cultivation of the land south of Berber is carried on during the rainy season, which in the northern districts begins in July, and in the southern at the end of May, or early in June, and lasts till the end of October; but there are now immense tracts of once fertile soil which, through want of cultivation and depopulation, have become tracts of desert or a tangled wilderness. The staple grain of the Sudan is dhurra, and if there is a plentiful rainfall, the supply is generally good; but if there is a scarcity of rain, a famine almost invariably ensues, and the poorer classes of the population undergo terrible privations. On these occasions, they generally have to proceed to Karkoj on the Blue Nile, or some distance up the White Nile, and bring dhurra to Omdurman in boats.
From Wadi Haifa to Fashoda on the White Nile, or to Famaka on the Blue Nile, narrow strips of river bank are cultivated by sakias (water-wheels) or shadufs (hand-buckets); and, in addition to dhurra, Turkish maize, beans, lentils, peas, and pumpkins are cultivated. Owners of water-wheels in the vicinity of the larger towns cultivate small quantities of sugar-cane, water-melons, radishes, sweet cucumbers, and various kinds of vegetables, which find a ready market; and when the rainy season is over cotton is planted. The most productive land is, of course, on the islands, which, during high Nile, are often completely submerged; and as the river sinks they are sown almost without labour, and produce excellent crops. Oranges and lemons are grown in the neighbourhood of Khartum; but they are very small, and contain little juice. A few pomegranates, grapes, and figs are also to be had; but they are all of a very inferior quality. There are, of course, quantities of date-palms, of which the fruit forms one of the principal items of food; but the supply is barely sufficient for the consumption. In the Dar Mahass and Sukkot districts of the Dongola Province the supply of dates is very considerable; and they are brought from thence to various parts of the Sudan, the drying process being carried on principally in the Berber and Robatab districts.
Gum-arabic is collected in the forests of Southern Kordofan, and at one time constituted the principal wealth of this province. It was gathered principally by the Gimeh and Gowama Arabs; but the former have been forced to emigrate, and the latter, through constant tyranny and oppression, have been so reduced that scarcely a sixth remains of their original numbers. In the days of the Egyptian Government, from eight hundred thousand to one million kantars of gum-arabic were gathered annually; but at present at most thirty thousand kantars are produced, and were it not that one of the former chiefs of the Beit el Mal had represented to the Khalifa the increase which would accrue to his private treasury by allowing the collection of gum, it is probable the custom of gum picking would have fallen into entire disuse.
The cultivation of tobacco was formerly one of the principal pursuits of the native population; but as smoking is strictly prohibited by the Mahdist code, this product has entirely died out, though occasionally small quantities are smuggled in from the Tagalla and Nuba mountains, and fetch large prices; but any persons guilty of infringing the regulations in this respect suffer very heavy penalties.
The once extensive commerce of the Sudan has now sunk down to comparatively nothing; and the roads which were formerly traversed by numberless caravans are now deserted, obliterated by sand, or overgrown with rank vegetation. The principal routes were,—
1. The Arbaïn or forty days' road, from Darfur to Assiut, or from Kordofan through the Bayuda desert to Dongola and Wadi Halfa.
2. From Khartum, via Berber, to Assuan, or via Abu Hamed, to Korosko.