Anglo-Egyptian) GENERAL REMARKS 161 The extension of the Khartum -Sennar railway to El Obeid increased enormously the proportions of the Kordofan gum trade, and there is little doubt that its further extension westward to El Fasher will bring about an even greater development of trade and traffic, in which French Wadai will participate.

Lying as it doescomparatively close to the great markets of the Old World, andpossessing an enormous area ofpastoral country, there is every probability that the Sudan will become one of the greatmeat -supplying countries . Its meat trade with Egypt and Europe is even now very large, and there seems to be no reason why it should not be increased greatly when electric power and cold storage plants are available . Cattle and sheep raisingis, indeed, one of the most promising industries of the Sudan .

Great expectations have been raised regarding the suitability of the Sudan for cotton-growing , and there is little doubt that these will in the long run be justified . The Sudan is a country of unlimited possibilities for the future supply of cotton, and may well become one of the main sources of our supply of “ fine fine ” cotton .

The development of the industry can only be assured by pushing on the irrigation works and railway projects already sanctioned by the Government . In some areas — the Tokar and Kassala districts , for instance — there is sufficient labour; in other parts , how ever , the scarcity of labour is the controlling factor in the development of the country and of cotton -growing particular. In that part of the Sudan which lies far south of the recognised irrigation -cotton areas there are further possibilities of cotton cultivation under somewhat different conditions. Extensive areas of fertile country exist in the Bahr el- Ghazal and Mongalla provinces, where the rainfall is tropical , and where rain -grown cotton of good quality and similar in character to American has been already experimentally cultivated in considerable quantities. There is , in fact, every probability that, when the fertile ironstone districts [ 3919] N 2