It will be a long time before the schools turn out sufficient pupils to fill the Government Civil Service, and there does not seem to be any danger of producing mere ‘babus,’ hanging about and relying on a certain knowledge of English to procure them a job. The teaching of English is entirely confined to those boys who are going to make use of it in the Government Service or in commercial pursuits, where its knowledge is required. For the ordinary mass of the population nothing is to be gained by an imperfect knowledge of English. The authorities are unquestionably right in discouraging such teaching; the supposed political advantages of it are small, if not entirely imaginary. The Soudan can never be a real white man’s country; its rulers must always be speakers of Arabic, and its people will do far better to employ their time in more useful ways than struggling with a foreign language.
The Gordon College is the centre of education, but even now its activities are not confined to mere teaching. It is proposed to form a collection of books dealing with the Soudan, its peoples, its natural history, and its various productions, accompanied by specimens to illustrate them, and some progress has been made. Mr. Wellcome’s valuable bacteriological research laboratory is in full working order, and a skilled expert from Scotland has been in charge of it for some months. He is doing a work of great importance, not only to the Soudan, but also to the scientific world in general. The Soudan is a land where strange diseases both of men and animals abound. There is a wide field for research. The scientific and systematic examination of these obscure subjects is already bearing fruit, and cannot fail to ameliorate the conditions of life in these tropical regions for the European as well as for the native.
Lord Cromer has promised that more shall be done for education in the future. There is no need for hurry; indeed, it is essential that the educational system shall be built up slowly with caution and patience. But in time each province will have its own primary and technical schools, whose pupils will be selected from the elementary kuttabs. Afterwards, when all this has been carefully organized, the provincial schools will in their turn pass on their more promising students to Khartoum to receive the higher education which will then be demanded. Then the Gordon College will at last become a real college. In it the germ of a most hopeful future is contained. If the work proceeds on the same sound lines as hitherto—which there is no reason to doubt—great days are coming. The Arab is capable of a very high degree of civilization, and has a great intelligence, which has as yet had no chance of development. And in those days, I doubt not, those who founded the Gordon College, and first kindled the fire of learning, will be praised by its students as sincerely and as deservedly as the benefactors of any of our own Western foundations.
CHAPTER XX
TRADE AND COMMERCE
Sir Rudolf von Slatin, Inspector-General of the Soudan, who possesses an unrivalled experience of the country, reports that ‘the whole situation in the country is very satisfactory. Everywhere I went, from north to south and from east to west, I found that villages and cultivation had increased. The population is larger and wealthier; flocks and herds are more numerous; security prevails, and general satisfaction is expressed with the present rule.’ Once more, or, rather, nearly for the first time, life and property are safe. Relieved from the scourge of war and tyranny, people are everywhere resuming their old occupations. They have even recovered from the shock of finding themselves under just and settled government, and are no longer content merely to exist. New wants are being felt, and with the advance of material prosperity trade and commerce are springing up.
There are, however, considerable obstacles to the development of trade. First of all there is a lack of labour. Partly this is due to lack of population, but partly also to other causes. Slavery has left its mark, and many of the Arabs are too proud and too lazy to take part in manual labour; in laziness, though not in pride, many of the negro tribes are fully their equals. Secondly, there is the difficulty of communications in so vast a country, and the lack of transport. Thirdly, the Soudan is very poor, and capital is wanting. Still, every year shows an improvement in these respects.
The population is steadily growing, partly by natural increase, and partly by immigration from neighbouring countries of people who had fled during the rebellion. Attempts have also been made to assist the increase by colonization. A number of old soldiers from the Soudanese battalions, who are enlisted for life, were permitted to retire, and with their wives and children were established in villages on the Nile and at Kassala. The villages were organized on a more or less military basis, with a well-known non-commissioned officer as chief. Each colonist was allotted two or three acres of good rain or pasture land, or an acre of Nile foreshore. He was given grain for sowing, besides a quantity of dhurra sufficient to support him until his crops grew. Markets were also started. Unfortunately, the experiments were generally unsuccessful. The colonies at Dongola and Berber failed altogether. It was found that the black when released from the strict discipline of the regiment was more anxious to enjoy doing nothing, after the manner of his ancestors, than to work, and if he saw a chance of living by begging or stealing he was apt to leave his cultivation alone, and go off to some town.
At Hellet Abbas, on the White Nile, it was found that if the rains were good the colonists would prepare the ground and sow the crop, but if it came to artificial irrigation and shadoof work they soon tired of this heavier labour and left the crops to wither. Happily, a much better account comes from Kassala. The Mudir of that province reported:
‘The colony of blacks established at Kassala continues to thrive, and in every way justifies its existence. They have a well-laid-out village, and are eager to cultivate along the Gash, and have also a fair amount of rain crops. Labourers can nearly always be obtained from amongst them for public works, and there are some very fair masons who are permanently employed. I wish we had the means of teaching some of them carpentry and blacksmith’s work as well. They have acquired a good deal of small stock.