154 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [No. €8 trading post at Gambela (Abyssinia ) also purchases from the Sudan ; and there is an interchange of commodities between the two coasts of the Red Sea.

In addition to this movement of re -exports, there is a certain amount of transit trade between the Sudan and the bordering countries, with the exception of Egypt. Goods going to and from Abyssinia, via the trading post ofGambela, and consigned from and to countries abroad, pass through the Sudan. Asmall percentage of this transit trade is dealt with at Rejaf and Nimule, which are adjacent to the Congo and Uganda frontiers respectively . The principal articles of trade going into Abyssinia,via Gambela , in transit, are cotton piece -goods and ( before the war ) Maria Theresa dollars, manufactured in Austria and used as local currency Of the cotton piece- goods coming into Gambela in 1913, 73 per cent. were consigned from Italy and 27 per cent.from Great Britain. In 1917 57 per cent. came from Great Britain and 43 per cent . from Italy, the total quantity being 54 tons. The principal article leaving Abyssinia in transit is beeswax, which amounted in 1913 to 210 tons and in 1917 to 205 tons. In 1913 Great Britain took 71.20 per cent ., Germany 24:50, Austria 2:50, and France 1.80 . In 1917 the whole of this product went to Great Britain . The total value of the Sudan transit trade in 1913 was £E . 69,150, and in 1917 £E . 58,145 .

Trade from Wadai in the French Sudan used to pass through Khartum on its way to Europe, but the exactions for transit through the Sultanate of Darfur, then independent, were so heavy that this route was abandoned in favour of that by the west and north , which was longer, and impracticable during the hot The old state of affairs may perhaps now be restored . If so, there should be an opening for British goods in the Darfur market, both for local needs and for supplying the French in Wadai . Trade in Darfur is already reviving .

season .