— 18 — responsible by convention for half the land-tax. The details of such an arrangement and its working in actual practice are discussed in the body of the report.

For the purpose of the present review it will suffice to state that in the case of both rain-lands and irrigated areas, " ushur " or a tithe of the crop is regarded as a fair rent for use of the land, while in the latter case four-tenths is regarded as the mean cost of the water supply. Irrigation costs include purchase and feeding of four bulls (for a 10-feddan sakia), construction and upkeep of the water-wheel and payment of the " baseer," who keeps the sakia in repair. On average crops of cotton, wheat and dura at normal prices, the tenant would annually pay per feddan £E. 2.900 for land and water, and 200 milliemes as his half share of the land-tax, from a gross average return of £E. 5.800. From the meagre balance remaining provision has to be made for seed and implements which local customs regards as absorbing four-thirtieths of the crop, leaving, say, four-tenths of the crop, valued on the above basis at £E.2.320 to cover the costs of actual cultivation and compensate the owner for his labour:* Costs of Rain Cultivation.—The cultivator of rain-lands, on the other hand, has no such heavy bill of costs, for his expenses directly reflect the primitive methods in vogue. Ploughing is rarely practised, the seed being dibbled with the " seluka " in the freshly-moistened soil ; the " hush," or cleaning, is completed with the " touriya," or hoe, and subsequent operations are limited to harvesting and threshing. Peacockf estimates the average cost of cultivating and harvesting one " gadaa " of land under dura feterita as £E. 1.250, which, with good rain should produce 15 ardebs, worth, on the previous estimate, £E.9.000, or a nett profit of £E. 1.550 per feddan after all expenses have been paid. A useful commentary on these figures is, however, found in the returns of rain-land assessed for land-tax, which in 1912 amounted to 78,656 feddans, and in 1913 to 4,366. J The speculative character of the crop is further evidenced by the violent annual fluctuations in the market prices of such typical rain crops as dura. The total or partial loss of crop, seed and labour, at more or less frequent intervals, goes far to discount the profits of good years, and to limit attempts in the direction of improved cultivation.

The Irrigation Problem.

The outstanding problem of rain-farming in the North and Central Sudan is the speculative character of cultivation dependert on a very uncertain rainfall, while the sakia cultivator is burdened by almost prohibitive costs of irrigation. The provision of an adequate water supply at a reasonable rate would consequentlyremove in both cases the principal obstacle to development, and pave * W. A. Davie : " Report on the Gezira Agricultural Experiment Station."

f Op. cit.

X Annual Report, Department of Agriculture.