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Show cA GYPT and the Low- 6r N'le baVe 'Dg beeD yjsf known to the tourist, i',yi jLJfk even among those f Ter who know their Egypt. $ few have completely uMfi realized what an Im- j&.pO' mense amount of new LKpijioSr' and interesting coun- try Das been recent-rc recent-rc ly opened up by the enterprise of the Sudan Su-dan government The traveler, reaching reach-ing Khartoum in comfort in eight or nine days from England, has now be fore him an enormous tract of Central Cen-tral Africa, within which, still traveling travel-ing in comfort, one may say even in luxury, he may take his pleasure and view at ease some of the utermost parts of the Nile regions. All this wonderful country was, until the conquest con-quest of the Khalifa in 1898, absolutely absolute-ly sealed to the white man, as it had been for something like a generation. Little had been known of it previously previous-ly save from the reports of such bold and intrepid explorers as Speke and Grant, Sir Samuel Baker, Schevein-furth, Schevein-furth, Petherlck, General Gordon and some few others. It seems wonderful wonder-ful to realize that the secrets of the very heart of Africa, secrets for which these and other explorers suffered incredible in-credible toil and privation, nay, even death itself, to reveal, are now laid bare to the casual traveler and tourist, tour-ist, and are as readily accessible from Cairo or Port Sudan as are the Victoria Vic-toria Falls on the Zambesi river from Cape Town. All this has been accomplished accom-plished by the enterprise of the Sudan Su-dan government, which now conducts the traveler with the least possible fatigue and trouble not only to Khartoum Khar-toum and Omdurman, with their historic histor-ic associations, but much further afield into dim and wonderful regions, where strange native races live the life of a thousand years since. These regions teem with wild life, and the big-game sportsman, the bird-collector and the fisherman find ample occupation occupa-tion among a varied and marvelcJusly Interesting fauna. During winter in -Jsci? v i m far r hr r-1 A x it3Ai i 41 y y , I ' fi n : this part of Africa, especially from November to the end of February, the climate of the Northern Sudan is very pleasant. The constant sunshine is tempered by fresh breezes, the air, although warm is wonderfully dry, and the heat is less felt than that of an English summer. At this season, too, mosquitoes and files are absent, the Nile is high, and the ancient and mysterious river displays itself to Its greatest advantage. By means of Its system of railways and steamers the Sudan government can now offer the traveler various tempting tours and expeditions, in which tho marvelous remains of the older civilization of Egypt may be visited, while further afield are to be viewed modern battlefields, bat-tlefields, such as Omdurman and At-bara. At-bara. This, Korosko, Karnak, Behen, Thebes, Philoe, MemphlB and Abydos can now be contrasted with the homes of Shilluks, Dlnkas, jurs and other wild races, and with such interesting regions as Kordofan, Sennar, the Blue- , J- and White Niles, the Bahr-el-Ghazal j and the wild hills fringing the Red I J J sea. J-' ' South of Khartoum the railways has - 1 now been extended through Wad Me-dani Me-dani to Sennar, where' it turns from the Blue Nile and cuts across country coun-try to the westward to Kosti on the White Nile. This extension will shortly short-ly reach El Obeid, at one time the headquarters of the Mahdi, in the center cen-ter of a region from which already vast quantities of grain, gum, cattle and foodstuffs are being exported. The towns and markets of these wild and little known regions are extraordinarily extra-ordinarily interesting; yet the latter-day latter-day tourist Is brought easily, cheaply and expeditiously to these places, and may contemplate as safely as if he was in Cairo the manners and modes of life of savage peoples to whom less than a score of years ago the white man was utterly unknown. For those who wish to push yet further into the heart of Africa, the Sudan government steamers now ply far up the White Nile until Rejaf, in the Uganda coun- jr try, is reached. On this expedition,. ' which is made on a roomy, comfort-able comfort-able boat, carrying a chef and fitted with electric light, baths, mosquito shelters and so forth, an infinite variety va-riety of wild life and savage scenery is to be met with. After reaching Eoz Abu-Guma, one hundred and seventy-five miles from Khartoum, the land of the pastoral Arabs and cultivators culti-vators is left behind, and the country of negroid races is entered upon. Forests creep right up to the Nile, and game is plentiful. Hippos, crocodiles croco-diles and antelope are often seen, and further on giraffes, elephants and other oth-er interesting beasts may frequently be noted. Waterfowl of innumerable-varieties innumerable-varieties give life and charm to the riverscape, and strange and huge fishes, for which Father Nile has always al-ways been famous, will be observed: among the native fisher-folk. The Dinkas and Shilluks live mainiy by fishing and hunting, and pursue their ' business in long, narrow "dug-outs" or small ambach rafts, equally as rickety rick-ety as the canoes. Accidents to' these wild sportsmen often happen, hap-pen, their most troublesome neighbors neigh-bors being the hippos, which are very numerous. Passing Kodok, once famous fa-mous as Fashoda In Major Marchand's-time, Marchand's-time, Tanflkla, the headquarters of the troops on the Upper Nile, is reached, reach-ed, at five hundred and thirty miles distance from Khartoum. Four miles further, the Sobat, which has found its way from the highlands of Abyssinia, joins the Nile. Presently the Bahr-el-Zeraf (five hundred and sixty-five miles) is reached. Here elephants, buffalo, tartebeest, water- J buck and reedbuckTfre plentiful, and ' the rare and beautiful Mrs. Gray's wa-terbuck wa-terbuck is to be heard of for the first time. At six hundred and fifteen miles from Khartoum, Lake No is entered, en-tered, and turning sharply to the south the steamer bears into the Bahr-el-Jebl, the main stream of the Upper White Nile system. This stream,, once choked with "sudd," Is now cleared of that obstacle; the sudd itself it-self is being specially treated and turned Into a valuable and marketable marketa-ble commodity In the shape of fuel. On tUrough the sudd regions speeds the steamer; lakes and lagoons abound, and papyrus reeds form the chief vegetation. From Klech, on the Shambe lagoon, a route lies to Wan, the tiny capital of the Bahr-el-Ghazal province. Beyond the old site of Kenissa, once an Austria mission station, sta-tion, the scenery changes, the vegetation vege-tation becomes more tropical, and the Barl negroes are to be observed. The 1 Lado Enclave is reached at one thou , sand and seventy-two miles, and pres- - ' ently Gondokoro and a garrison of Uganda rifles. The next and last stopping stop-ping place Is Rejaf, whence the steamer steam-er returns to Khartoum. The whole of this Interesting White Nile expedition. expe-dition. Including the return journey, can now be made In a round trip of twenty-four days. As a revelation of savage Africa there Is nothing to compare com-pare with It in modern travel Of shorter expeditions, one of the most Interesting Is the round trip from Cairo to Khartoum, returning by Port Sudan, on the Ited Sea. |