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Textbook Urban Shrinkage Industrial Renewal and Automotive Plants Andreas Luescher Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Urban Shrinkage,
Industrial Renewal
and Automotive Plants
Sujata Shetty
Urban Shrinkage, Industrial Renewal
and Automotive Plants
Fordism meets Urban Shrinkage. Illustration by Andreas Luescher
Andreas Luescher · Sujata Shetty
Urban Shrinkage,
Industrial Renewal
and Automotive Plants
Andreas Luescher Sujata Shetty
College of Technology, Architecture Jack Ford Urban Affairs Center,
and Applied Engineering, Department Department of Geography and
of Architecture and Environmental Planning
Design The University of Toledo
Bowling Green State University Toledo, OH, USA
Bowling Green, OH, USA
This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
v
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Advent of the Automobile 2
1.2 The Evolution of the Auto Industry 4
1.3 Outline of the Book 6
References 7
vii
viii Contents
Index 117
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Aerial view of the Ford Highland Park Plant that was
completed in 1914; its main building is the monumental
power plant framed by five tall smokestacks which acted,
for some time, as a landmark. 1936 (Source Walter P. Reuther
Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State
University, Detroit, Michigan) 18
Fig. 3.1 Aerial view of the Packard Plant. In the foreground is the
iconic pedestrian bridge that spans East Grand Boulevard,
and in the background is the Detroit skyline (Source Greg
Lynn FORM and Keith Muratori, 2016) 27
Fig. 3.2 Street map showing the relationship between downtown and
the Packard Plant (Source Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 28
Fig. 3.3 Interior view of Kahn’s structure, a steel-reinforced concrete
design (Source Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 29
Fig. 3.4 Exterior view of Kahn’s structure, a steel-reinforced concrete
design (Source Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 31
Fig. 3.5 Aerial view of the Ford River Rouge Plant with rows of parked
cars illustrating the enormous workforce (on the right side)
as intended by Henry Ford to make this plant as much like
a self-sufficient industrial city as possible, 1936 (Source Walter
P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs,
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan) 33
Fig. 3.6 Geddes Toledo Tomorrow Plan (Source Ward M. Canaday
Center for Special Collections, University of Toledo,
Ohio, 1945) 35
ix
x List of Figures
Fig. 3.7 Overview of the 1st prize titled “Cross the Plant,” a plan
to transform the place into an urban center with five schemes:
open up, connect, reinvest, attract, and develop existing
buildings in the main axis, Grand Boulevard, the railways,
and Bellevue Street (Source Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 37
Fig. 3.8 Isometric projection of the 1st prize titled “Cross the Plant”
(Source Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 38
Fig. 3.9 Rendering of the 1st prize titled “Cross the Plant” (Source
Nadau Lavergne Architects, 2014) 38
Fig. 3.10 Model view of the design proposal “Detroit Reassembly
Plant” (Source T+E+A+M, 2016) 40
Fig. 3.11 Perspective view of the design proposal “Detroit Reassembly
Plant” (Source T+E+A+M, 2016) 41
Fig. 3.12 Detail view of the design proposal “Detroit Reassembly Plant”
(Source T+E+A+M, 2016) 42
Fig. 3.13 Exploded axonometric of the design proposal “Center for
Fulfillment, Knowledge, and Innovation” (Source Greg Lynn
FORM, UCLA IDEAS Robotics Lab and UCLA A+UD
Ph.D. Research Assistants, 2016) 43
Fig. 3.14 Plan view of the model “Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge,
and Innovation” (Source Greg Lynn FORM, UCLA IDEAS
Robotics Lab and UCLA A+UD Ph.D. Research Assistants,
2016) 43
Fig. 3.15 Close-up view of the design proposal “Center for Fulfillment,
Knowledge, and Innovation” (Source Greg Lynn FORM,
UCLA IDEAS Robotics Lab and UCLA A+UD Ph.D.
Research Assistants, 2016) 44
Fig. 4.1 Comparison diagrams of the four sites: General Motors’
Assembly Plant in Janesville, Wisconsin; the Willow Run
Plant in Ypsilanti, near Detroit, Michigan; Adam Opel’s
plants in Bochum, Germany; and Ford Motor’s Genk Body &
Assembly Plant in Belgium (Source Authors, 2018) 51
Fig. 4.2 View toward the remaining structure of the Willow Run
Plant, with the two iconic bay doors, and under construction,
the concrete swale (stormwater system), which will collect any
contaminated water for treatment (Source Authors, 2018) 52
Fig. 4.3 Interior view of the remaining structure of the Willow Run
Plant with its large and long span frames and trusses that
permit maximum flexibility of operations in automotive and
aircraft production in the hangar (Source Authors, 2018) 56
Fig. 4.4 Interior view of one of two original and operational roll-
out hangars with a very rare US Navy World War II PB4Y2
List of Figures xi
xiii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
air or open space. Those who could moved away. As modes of urban
transportation developed, the outward movement of the more affluent
continued along linear routes, following horse-drawn carriages, street-
cars, and electric trolleys. Cities spread out as the radius of a half-hour
commute to the center of the city expanded, adding to a pattern of sub-
urbanization and differentiation. The urban landscape was being shaped
by the “transportation revolution and the erosion of the walking city”
(Jackson 1985).
That is the beginning of the steady reduction in the price of the cars in the
face of ever-increasing cost of materials and ever-higher wages. Contrast
the year 1908 with the year 1911. The factory space increased from 2.65
to 32 acres. The average number of employees from 1,908 to 4,110, and
the cars built from a little over six thousand to nearly thirty-five thousand.
You will note that men were not employed in proportion to the output.
(Ford and Crowther 1922, p. 74)
Ford and his competitors did indeed make automobile ownership acces-
sible to a vast middle class. In the years between the wars, technolog-
ical advances made cars more powerful, and a growing road network
expanded the boundaries of private automobile transportation. Better
cars and roads beget even more private car ownership and made driv-
ing easier (Wells 2013), eventually allowing the increasing numbers of
automobile owners to organize their physical environments and activities
around car ownership.
It was not just car owners but also a number of other interrelated factors
that helped create the infrastructure to support automobile transportation.
Following World War II, a large number of young soldiers returned, ready
to settle down and buy homes. At the same time, modular construction
made home building quicker and easier, and federal mortgage loan guar-
antee programs promoted homeownership. Perhaps most critically, the pas-
sage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act under President Eisenhower in 1956
authorized the design and construction of 41,000 miles of interconnected
highways across the country. It was this policy, combined with industrial
decentralization, that most contributed to the unintended consequence
of large-scale suburbanization and influenced the shape of the present-day
American city (Fishman 2005; Shetty and Luescher 2016).
As automobile driving became easier, cheaper, and more widespread,
the American landscape itself transformed to become more hospitable to
this mode of travel. Suburban subdivisions in the image of Levittowns,
regional malls, roadside motels, and drive-through banks and fast-food
restaurants were all land uses and building types that arose from an
automobile-centric society. The car made it possible to greatly enlarge
the radius of everyday activities and allowed people to spread themselves
more widely across the landscape. More people than ever were now able
to easily access the countryside—green space, fresh air, outdoor recre-
ation, nature itself. Ironically, these parkways to the country, much like
Robert Moses’ Long Island Parkway, became the arteries along which
development occurred.
4 A. LUESCHER AND S. SHETTY
The auto industry was pressed into service during World War II. In
the USA, automotive firms were responsible for about 20% of the coun-
try’s military production, including trucks, tanks, guns, and bombs. The
British built shadow factories close to existing auto factories, which were
pressed into service to manufacture military equipment when needed,
drawing on the expertise of the auto industry. Ford and Volkswagen
in Germany and Renault in France were similarly pressed into war
production.
The post-war years have been a time of tremendous change in the
industry. Production has increased exponentially, but it is no longer con-
centrated in the USA. In 2017, China was the largest producer of cars,
responsible for 29% of the world’s production, followed by the EU at
20%, and Japan and the USA at about 10% each, although the USA built
about a million fewer cars in 2017 than in 2016 (ACEA 2018). While
there will still be demand in the old triad of North America, Europe,
and Japan for vehicles in the field of new mobility (e.g., car-sharing or
ride-hailing), for premium vehicles and small vehicles (such as subcom-
pacts and microcars), production in Europe and the USA appears to
be reaching capacity. However, emerging markets’ share of global sales
is expected to rise from 50% in 2012 to 60% by 2020. The location of
auto-production facilities does not currently align with these grow-
ing markets (McKinsey & Company 2013), but huge investments and
increases in production are expected in coming years, especially in the
BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China (Bentley et al. 2013;
Gao et al. 2014). New auto factories will be built in these regions of the
world even as factories in old industrial regions continue to close.
While there is an extensive literature on industrial architecture includ-
ing automotive factories, the consequences of these large factories’
heavy imprints on the landscape, especially as they stop production, have
been far less discussed in design and planning scholarship. The need to
address this issue grows increasingly urgent as automotive plants con-
tinue to close. In 2017, Australia joined Saudi Arabia as the only G20
economy without a major auto plant. Since 2004, the Big Three—
General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—have closed 22 major auto plants
in the USA, and only eight of these have found buyers. The Big Three
and their largest suppliers have closed 128 manufacturing plants in
North America since 1980, most of which are still vacant (Brugeman
et al. 2011).
6 A. LUESCHER AND S. SHETTY
closure (all were shut down within the last decade). We briefly describe
the context and history in each case, addressing the decision-making
process that occurred before the closure of these plants, roles played by
different levels of government and other decision-makers, incentives and
compromises discussed into keep the plant from closing, and the effects
on the labor force and the larger community. Studying two plants in
Europe and two in the USA allows us to highlight some broad parallels
and differences.
Chapter 5 considers the inherent complexity of dealing with decom-
missioned automotive plants focusing on the site, neighborhood, and
city scales. Using Flint, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio as examples, we cat-
egorize a set of five widely used strategies that shape the physical evolu-
tion and repurposing of automotive plants and their sites, post closure.
These relate to brownfield remediation, infrastructure, catalytic projects,
enterprise zones, and developing nodes. We conclude that we have not
yet developed models that offer a truly successful approach to dealing
with decommissioned automotive plants.
Chapter 6 makes the case that the outsize imprints of abandoned
automotive plants on our landscapes demand renewed attention. We
showcase efforts to reimagine the future of auto plants, arguing that
their forms will be varied, ranging in scale from boutique-style facilities
to mega-formations, and ranging in distribution from local to regional
clustering. As changes in technology and innovation lead us to new kinds
of automobiles, automobile production, and geographies of produc-
tion, we look at the role that practical design and planning could play
in reframing our understanding of the links between preservation, reuse,
redevelopment, and the larger urban environment in old industrial cities
and regions facing economic decline.
References
ACEA. (2018). European Auto Manufacturers’ Association Economic and
Market Report, 2017. https://www.acea.be/uploads/statistic_documents/
Economic_and_Market_Report_Q4_2017.pdf. Accessed July 2018.
Bentley, G., Bailey, D., & MacNeill, S. (2013). The Changing Geography of
the European Auto Industry. In F. Giarratani, G. Hewings, & P. McCann
(Eds.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography (pp. 67–96).
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
8 A. LUESCHER AND S. SHETTY
Brugeman, V., Hill, K., & Cregger, J. (2011). Repurposing Former Automotive
Manufacturing Sites: A Report on Closed Auto Manufacturing Facilities in the
United States, and What Communities Have Done to Repurpose the Sites. Ann
Arbor: Center for Automotive Research.
Fishman, R. (2005). Urban Transformation as an Unintended Side Effect of
Planning and Its Limits in the Restructuring of the American Metropolis.
In P. Oswal (Ed.), Shrinking Cities (Vol. 2, pp. 606–614). Ostfildern-Ruit,
Germany: Hatje Cantz.
Ford, H., & Crowther, S. (1922). My Life and Work. Garden City, NY: Garden
City Publishing Company.
Gao, P., Hensely, R., & Zielke, A. (2014, October). A Road Map to the Future
for the Auto Industry. McKinsey Quarterly. https://www.mckinsey.com/
industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/a-road-map-to-the-future-
for-the-auto-industry. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Jackson, K. (1985). Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States.
New York: Oxford University Press.
McKinsey & Company. (2013). The Road to 2020 and Beyond: What’s Driving
the Global Automotive Industry? Stuttgart: McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.
com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/Automotive%20and%20
Assembly/PDFs/McK_The_road_to_2020_and_beyond.ashx. Accessed 26
July 2018.
Shetty, S., & Luescher, A. (2016). Toledo Tomorrow: Reading Norman Bel
Geddes’ Vision for the Future in a Shrinking Midwestern City. Journal of
Urban Design, 21(2), 177–194.
Wells, C. (2013). Car Country: An Environmental History. Seattle: University of
Washington Press.
CHAPTER 2
themselves. Below these OEMs firms lie a vast network of suppliers who
fall into three broad categories. Tier 1 companies build parts or systems
that meet high OEM standards, which they then supply directly to the
OEM. Tier 2 suppliers do not sell directly to OEMs and supply to both
automotive and non-automotive clients. Tier 3 companies supply raw or
minimally processed materials such as metal or plastic.
productivity to compete better with Japanese cars. They also located new
facilities within the northwest-southeast Auto Alley, thereby minimizing
the distance to their markets (Klier and Rubenstein 2015).
Over the last few decades, the US automotive industry has shifted
from traditional concentration at the northern end of Auto Alley, around
Detroit and the surrounding region, to the southeast, where a number
of foreign manufacturers have made large investments. These invest-
ments have drawn suppliers from Japan, Korea, and Germany, as well as
domestic suppliers interested in working not only with the Big Three,
but also with Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes, and others in their new
southern facilities (Goldsberry 2013; Cuneo 2014). In 1972, Alabama,
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Tennessee together had 7% of transportation sector employment in
1972. In 30 years, that share had grown to 16% (Klier and Rubenstein
2008). The draw to the southern end of Auto Alley has been attributed
to a number of factors, including lowered freight costs because of access
to rail and highway infrastructure; large ports such as Mobile, Savannah,
and Charleston; low utility costs; low cost of living; the presence of
existing automotive plants and other key industries such as aerospace;
lower wages; and non-unionized labor (Segers 2015; Rubenstein 1992).
Within the European Auto Alley, post-1990 investment in new auto
assembly plants has also moved east, to countries previously behind the
Iron Curtain (Bentley et al. 2013, p. 81). This section was home to 12
of the 17 large assembly plants that were opened in the corridor between
1990 and 2013.
Another distinct geographic shift has been the suburbanization
of plants, particularly in the USA. As early as 1917, Henry Ford plant
built a large plant outside Detroit, in River Rouge. This trend acceler-
ated in the 1940s and 1950s. The Big Three built 25 new plants in the
metro Detroit region between 1945 and 1957, and all of them were
in suburban locations. These new plants, all built on previously unde-
veloped land, were called greenfield plants. Unlike earlier plants such as
the Highland Park, River Rouge, or Packard plants, which had multiple
stories and a relatively small footprint, the new plants were single-story
buildings, often spread out across a large, elaborately landscaped campus,
surrounded by parking lots (Sugrue, n.d.).
The geography of the auto manufacturing industry is related not just
to assembly plants but also to parts supplier plants. Suppliers are becom-
ing much more important to OEMs in terms of how much value they
2 AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP … 13
Design principles for Typical guidelines for the Typical guidelines for the Typical Typical forms of
automotive facilities early plant—based on architect-designed plant— guidelines for government
Henry Ford based on Albert Kahn megasites (contemporary) support for the automotive
(e.g., Piquette plant, (e.g., Highland Park industry (contemporary)
1904) plant, 1909)
Manufacturing guidance
Know the manufacturing •
process
Keep the building size •
proportionate to the
A. LUESCHER AND S. SHETTY
production process
Maintain appropri- •
ate distances to avoid
interference between
technical systems within
the building
Choose construction •
materials on the basis
of specific qualities and
convenience
Provide adequate levels •
of illumination and
ventilation
Include a fire prevention •
system
Functional design
Straight-line production •
Flexibility •
(continued)
Table 2.1 (continued)
Design principles for Typical guidelines for the Typical guidelines for the Typical Typical forms of
automotive facilities early plant—based on architect-designed plant— guidelines for government
Henry Ford based on Albert Kahn megasites (contemporary) support for the automotive
(e.g., Piquette plant, (e.g., Highland Park industry (contemporary)
1904) plant, 1909)
2
Generous column •
spacing
Suitable floors and •
ceilings
Good lighting •
Adequate ventilation •
Low initial and upkeep •
costs
Construction execution
Accurate preliminary •
estimates
Speed •
Complete and accurate •
drawings
A good contractor •
Adequate supervision •
Site conditions
Minimum of 1000 acres •
with 700–800 contigu-
ous, developable acres
Location within 25–30 • •
AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP …
(continued)
Table 2.1 (continued)
16
Design principles for Typical guidelines for the Typical guidelines for the Typical Typical forms of
automotive facilities early plant—based on architect-designed plant— guidelines for government
Henry Ford based on Albert Kahn megasites (contemporary) support for the automotive
(e.g., Piquette plant, (e.g., Highland Park industry (contemporary)
1904) plant, 1909)
Transportation • •
infrastructure
• Easy access to rail-
roads, airport and
major port
A. LUESCHER AND S. SHETTY
A S soon as the camels had been got into good condition I sent
Qway, Abd er Rahman and Ibrahim off with the caravan loaded
with grain, which the two Sudanese were to deposit at Jebel el
Bayed, the hill we had reached at the end of our last journey the
season before.
Ibrahim had not been with me at all the previous season and, as
Abd er Rahman had never even been within sight of the hill, as I had
sent him back to Mut to bring out more water on the journey on
which I reached it, I arranged that Qway should ride with them as far
as the edge of the plateau, where he was to give Abd er Rahman
directions to take him to Jebel el Bayed. Here, however, he was to
leave the caravan and to ride west along the tableland and come
back and report what he had seen.
Abd er Rahman, following the directions given him by Qway,
easily found Jebel el Bayed, and left the grain to form the depot in
the neighbourhood. Qway himself rejoined the caravan on their way
back just before reaching Mut, so they all returned together.
Qway, of course, had done practically nothing. It was difficult to
see the best way of dealing with him. I could, of course, have
discharged him, but drastic remedies are seldom the best, and to
have done so would only have had the effect of playing straight into
the hands of the Senussi, as he was a magnificent guide and they
would have at once gained him as a wholehearted recruit. As he
unfortunately knew the whole of my plans, the better scheme
seemed to be to keep him with me and to tie him up in such a way
that he could do no harm. In the circumstances I thought it best to
send Sheykh Suleyman a letter, asking him to let me have Abdulla
and the best hagin he could find. This, at any rate, would ensure my
having a guide if Qway went wrong; and I hoped by stirring up a little
friction between him and Abdulla to make the latter keep an eye
upon his actions.
Soon after the return of the caravan the mamur left and I went
round to see him off. On the way I looked into the enclosure where
the camels were housed, and again caught Sheykh Ahmed’s pock-
marked camel-man hobnobbing with my men, and saw that he was
stabling his two camels in the neighbouring yard.
On reaching the mamur’s house I found him in a great state of
excitement. The post hagan, with whom he was going to travel, had
omitted, or forgotten, to bring any camels for his baggage. The
mamur was in a terrible state about this, saying that he might have to
send in to the Nile Valley for beasts before he could leave, and that
he was due there himself in six days.
This was an opportunity too good to be lost. I told him there were
two unusually fine camels in the yard next to my caravan, and
suggested that as a Government official going back to the Nile on
duty, he had the power to commandeer them and their drivers, and
suggested that he should do so. No petty native official can resist the
temptation to commandeer anything he has a right to in his district—
it is a relic of the old corrupt Turkish rule. The mamur jumped at the
idea and departed shortly after with a very sulky camel driver and
two of the finest camels owned by the Senussi. It was with great
relief that I saw the last of that pock-marked brute and his beasts, for
their departure left the Senussi with only one camel until in about a
month’s time, when old Mawhub was due to return from Kufara. I
went back to my rooms feeling I had done a good morning’s work,
and effectually prevented the Senussi from getting at the depot I was
making near Jebel el Bayed.
Abdulla, whom I had asked Sheykh Suleyman to send, did not
turn up on the day I had expected; but a day or two afterwards Nimr,
Sheykh Suleyman’s brother, arrived in Mut on some business and
came round to see me. Gorgeously arrayed with a revolver and
silver-mounted sword, he looked a typical bedawi—he certainly
behaved as one. He drank about a gallon of tea, ate half a pound of
Turkish Delight and the best part of a cake that Dahab had made,
and topped up, when I handed him a cigarette box for him to take
one, by taking a handful. He then left, declaring that he was very
mabsut (pleased) with me and promising to send Abdulla along as
soon as he could, and to see that he had a good hagin. As he went
downstairs he turned round, looking much amused, and asked how I
was getting on with Qway!
While dressing one morning I heard Qway below greeting some
old friend of his in the most cordial and affectionate manner; then I
heard him bring him upstairs and, looking through the window, saw
that Abdulla had arrived at last. Qway tapped at the door and, hardly
waiting for me to answer, entered, beaming with satisfaction and
apparently highly delighted at the new arrival—he was an admirable
actor.
Abdulla looked taller and more “feathery” than ever. With a native-
made straw hat on the back of his head and his slender waist tightly
girthed up with a leather strap, he looked almost girlish in his
slimness. But there was nothing very feminine about Abdulla—he
was wiry to the last degree.
He carried an excellent double-barrelled hammer, ejector gun,
broken in the small of the stock it is true, but with the fracture bound
round and round with tin plates and strongly lashed with wire. His
saddlery was irreproachable and hung round with the usual
earthenware jars and leather bags for his food supply.
His hagin was a powerful old male and looked up to any amount
of hard work. I told him to get up on his camel and show me his
paces. Abdulla swung one of his legs, which looked about four feet
long, over the cantle of his saddle and seated himself at once
straight in the seat. He kicked his camel in the ribs and at once got
him into a trot. The pace at which he made that beast move was
something of a revelation and augured well for his capacity as a
scout. He was certainly a very fine rider.
But when I made him take off the saddle I found, as is so often the
case with bedawin camels, the beast had a sore back. There was a
raw, festering place under the saddle on either side of the spine.
As Abdulla had a hard job before him, I had to see his camel put
right before he started, so we went off to a new doctor, who had
come to take Wissa’s place, to buy some iodoform and cotton-wool,
and proceeded to doctor the hagin. But it was clear that it would take
some days to heal.
It made, however, no difference as it turned out. For the caravan
was unable to start as four ardebs[3] of barley that I had ordered
from Belat, never turned up. The barley question was becoming a
serious one; but by dint of sending the men round Mut from house to
house I managed to buy in small quantities, of a few pounds at a
time, an amount that when put together came to about three ardebs,
with which I had for the moment to be content.
The sores on Abdulla’s hagin having sufficiently healed, I packed
the whole caravan off again into the desert. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim as before were to carry stores out to the depot at Jebel el
Bayed. Abdulla’s work was to go on ahead of the caravan, following
directions to be given him by Abd er Rahman, as I was afraid Qway
might mislead him, till he reached Jebel el Bayed. There he was to
climb to the top of the hill, whence he could see the one I had
sighted in the distance the season before. This lay in practically the
same line from Mut as Jebel el Bayed itself. Having in this way got
its bearing, he was to go on to the farther hill, which he was also to
climb and make a note of anything that was to be seen from the
summit. He was then—provided the country ahead of him was not
inhabited—to go on again as far as he could along the same bearing
before returning to Dakhla.
I asked Abdulla how far out he thought he would be able to get. In
a matter-of-fact tone he said he thought he could go four, or perhaps
four and a half, days’ journey beyond Jebel el Bayed before he
turned back. As he would be alone in a strange desert, I doubted
somewhat if he would even reach Jebel el Bayed. But I did not know
Abdulla then.
There really was nothing much for Qway to do, but, as I thought it
better to send him off into the desert to keep him out of mischief, I
told him to ride west again along the plateau.
Qway was rather subdued. Abdulla’s arrival had considerably
upset him, in spite of his efforts to disguise the fact. He objected
strongly to his going on ahead of the caravan to scout, but I declined
to alter the arrangement. So to keep Abdulla in his place, Qway, with
the usual high-handed manner of the Arabs, when dealing with
Sudanese, collared a water tin of his for his own use. On hearing of
this I went round to the camel-yard and gave Abdulla back his tin,
and pitched into Qway before all the men. Having thus sown a little
discord in the caravan, I told them they had to start in the morning.
I went round again later in the day and found all the Sudanese
having their heads shaved by the village barber and being cupped
on the back of their necks, preparatory for their journey. The cupping
they declared kept the blood from their heads and made them
strong!
This operation was performed by the barber, who made three or
four cuts at the base of the skull on either side of the spine, to which
he applied the wide end of a hollow cow’s horn, pressed this into the
flesh and then sucked hard at a small hole in the point of the horn,
afterwards spitting out the blood he had thus extracted. It seemed an
insanitary method.
The Sudanese were all extremely dark. Abd er Rahman and
Ibrahim even having black, or rather dark brown, patches on their
gums. Their tongues and the palms of their hands, however, showed
pink. Abdulla was even darker. He came up to my room the evening
after his cupping and declared that he was ill. There was nothing
whatever the matter with him, except that he wanted pills and eye-
drops because they were to be had for nothing. But I made a
pretence of examining him, took his temperature, felt his pulse, and
then told him to show me his tongue.
The result of my modest request was rather staggering. He shot
out about six inches of black leather, and I saw that not only his
tongue was almost black, but also his gums and the palms of his
hands as well. He was the most pronounced case of human
melanism I ever saw.
Sofut.
Sand erosion producing sharp blades of rock very damaging to the soft feet of a
camel. (p. 87).