Mr. Leigh Hunt, an expert agriculturist, declares in a letter
quoted in the Times that the Soudan will furnish the finest cotton-fields in the world. There are thousands of square miles of deep alluvial soil along the ten thousand miles of river reaches provided by the Nile ; while the means of export are among the most sufficient in the world. He recommends, therefore, the importation of negroes from the Southern States of the Union—as free men, of course—who will gradually teach the thin population of the Soudan all the methods of cotton cultivation. That seems a most reasonable proposal, as the demand for cotton increases every year, and the natives of India, who could supply it, retain their prejudice in favour of the short staple variety, which Lancashire cannot be induced to approve. The climate would exactly suit the American negro, who, moreover, is when well treated a decent citizen, anxious to make money, and accustomed to the ascendency of the white man.
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