Much Might Be Done To Improve These Peculiar People.
Were the
frontiers of Abyssinia positively determined, and security
insured to the new settlers, the whole of that magnificent
country through which we had travelled between the Settite and
Gallabat might be peopled and cultivated.
In many countries, both
soil and climate may be favourable for the cultivation of cotton;
but such natural advantages may be neutralized either by the
absence of population, or by the indolence of the natives. The
Tokroori is a most industrious labourer; and, were he assured of
protection and moderate taxation, he would quickly change the
character of these fertile lands, that are now uninhabited,
except by wild animals. If the emigration of Tokrooris from
Darfur were encouraged, and advantages offered to settlers, by
grants of land for a short term exempt from taxation, at a future
time to bear a certain rate per acre, a multitude of emigrants
would quit their own inhospitable country, and would people the
beautiful waste lands of the Settite and the Salaam. These
countries would produce an important supply of cotton, that might
be delivered at Souakim at an exceedingly low rate, and find a
market in England. Not only would the Tokrooris benefit by the
change, but, should it be decided that the Abyssinian frontier,
instead of extending to the Atbara river, should be confined to
the ridge of the great mountain chain, the revenues of Upper
Egypt might be enormously increased by the establishment of a
Tokroori colony, as proposed.
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