and cold."* To the present day, however, the overseas trade of the country is

based rather upon such natural products as gum, ivory, gold, wild ostrich

feathers, vine-rubber, pabn-nuts and bees-wax, than upon legitimate agricultural

effortf ; the " melut," or native hoe, remains the only agricultural implement

in the possession of the southern tribes, and the creaking " sakia," or the

" shadoof," with its leather bucket and wooden lever, constitutes the common

means of irrigation in the rainless north. Inefficiency, uncertainty and

improvidence, reflected by periodic starvation, are the characteristics of a

system founded on, and maintained by, slavery, to which are now added the

inevitable hardships attendant on a period of transition. " Coli rura ah

ergastulis pessumum est et quidquid agitur a despera.ntibus."

As offset to such limitations as have been indicated above, the younger

" samad," or sakia-owner, in the northern provinces, displays a high standard

of intelligence, an intense curiosity, marked business instincts, a capacity for

constructive criticism, and a certain sweet reason when discussing innovations.

Once convinced of the monetary value of a new idea, he is anxious to avail

himself of any opportunity of giving it effect, while the rising generation,

stimulated by the demands of a higher standard of comfort, exhibits an

encouraging degree of industry.

The Organisation of Agriculture.

The present occupation has been marked by a measure of success in the

development of inland delta areas at Tokar and Kassala as cotton fields. The

annual floods from the mountains of Abyssinia, which were previously lost in

the sands of the coastal desert, have been partially controlled and directed to

the irrigation of their delta deposits, with the result that in 1909-10 the value of

* H. St. G. Peacock : " Land Settlement of the Gezira.''

t The total exports from the Sudan in 1914 were valued at £E.1,020,260, and may be analysed as follows :

Natural Pkodtjots.