“‘Gentlemen, there is an old story that when the Lord made mankind He did so with two great piles of material before Him. One of the piles was composed of the clay of which man is made and the other of the fear that often makes one less than a man. As the Lord worked, He took up a handful of clay, shaped it into a human form, and then sprinkled it over with a handful from the pile of fear. And so He went on making man after man until at last He took up the stuff of which He made me. There was plenty of clay for my body but when He looked about for fear with which to sprinkle it, He found that the pile of fear had all been used up, so the result is I do not know what fear is.’” [Illustration: In the dry Upper Nile valley piled-up grain awaits unprotected the boats which will distribute it along the river. The provinces of Darfur and Kordofan alone can produce enough dura to feed the entire Sudan.] [Illustration: No matter how far up the Nile or how deep in the desert they live, “_backsheesh_” is the cry of the children of Egypt and the Sudan. Young and old alike have learned the trick of asking a fee for posing.] [Illustration: British experiments in cotton culture in the Sudan have been most successful and the quality of the product compares favourably with Egyptian varieties. Irrigation projects under construction will shortly add 100,000 acres to the cotton-growing area.] [Illustration: The chief public building in Khartum is the Sirdar’s palace, built by Kitchener on the site of Gordon’s murder. Over it float British and Egyptian flags and two sentries guard its door, one British, one Sudanese.] General Gordon’s bravery was far beyond that of other world heroes. He fought here until the last. When the Arabs finally overcame his troops and entered his palace, he sternly demanded of them where their master was. They replied by plunging their spears into his body. As he fell, they dragged him down the steps and cut off his head to be sent to the Mahdi. His body was left to the mercy of the fanatics, who rushed forward by thousands to dip their swords and spears in his blood. They fairly cut it to pieces, and the blood, which had stained the steps and walls of the palace, remained there until the Khalifa decided to make that place a dwelling for his harem and had it washed away.