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Viscous Fluid Flow 4th Edition Frank M. White full chapter instant download
Viscous Fluid Flow 4th Edition Frank M. White full chapter instant download
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Page i
Page ii
Page iii
Fourth Edition
Frank M. White
University of Rhode Island
Joseph Majdalani
Auburn University
Page iv
Published by McGraw Hill LLC, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10121.
Copyright ©2022 by McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of
America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any
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McGraw Hill LLC, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or
transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to
customers outside the United States.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 26 25 24 23 22 21
ISBN 978-1-260-59780-6
MHID 1-260-59780-6
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the copyright page.
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The
inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw Hill LLC,
and McGraw Hill LLC does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these
sites.
mheducation.com/highered
Page v
At the University of Rhode Island, Frank became interested in oceanographic and coastal
flow problems and in 1966 helped found the first Department of Ocean Engineering in the
United States. His research interests have mainly been in viscous flow and convection heat
transfer. Known primarily as a teacher and writer, he received the ASEE Westinghouse
Teaching Excellence Award in addition to seven University of Rhode Island teaching awards.
His modest research accomplishments include some 80 technical papers and reports, the
ASME Lewis F. Moody Research Award in 1973, and the ASME Fluids Engineering Award
in 1991. He is a Fellow of the ASME and for 12 years served as editor-in-chief of the ASME
Journal of Fluids Engineering. He received a Distinguished Alumnus award from Georgia
Tech in 1990 and was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Georgia Tech Alumni in
1994.
In addition to the present text, he has written three undergraduate textbooks: Fluid
Mechanics, Heat Transfer, and Heat and Mass Transfer. He has served as a consulting editor
of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology from 1992 until 2006, and on
the ASME Publications Committee until 2009. He continues to be inspired by his late wife,
Jeanne, and lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island, with his dog Jack and his cat Kerry. [Photo
Credit: Ellen Emerson White]
Joseph (“Joe”) Majdalani is the Hugh and Loeda Francis Chair of Excellence and Professor
of Aerospace Engine0ering at Auburn University. A native of Beirut, Lebanon, he pursued
his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the American University of Beirut,
where he received a B.E. degree in 1989. He then attended the University of Utah,
completing additional M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1991 and 1995. He began teaching
mechanical engineering at Marquette University in 1997 and moved to the University of
Tennessee in 2003, serving consecutively as Jack D. Whitfield Professor of High Speed
Flows and Arnold Chair of Excellence in Advanced Propulsion within the Department of
Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering. In 2013, he joined Auburn University
as the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council Endowed Professor and Department Chair of
Aerospace Engineering.
Joe is mostly known for his work on oscillating and rotating flows that are driven by
either wall-normal or wall-tangential injection. These motions arise in a variety of physical
settings such as porous enclosures and simulated rocket motors. His present research devotes
itself to the study of unsteady flow phenomena in the context of solid, liquid, hybrid, and
nuclear rocket systems, especially those driven by swirl or cyclonic motion. His interests
span rocket internal flow fields, vorticity dynamics, computational mathematics, and singular
perturbation theory. His research activities since 1997 have materialized in around 300
publications. Throughout his research investigations, he has identified a total of eighteen
dimensionless parameters. These parameters have played a key role in guiding experimental
procedures and shaping several research investigations in the areas of boundary-layer
characterization, wave propagation, and swirl.
Throughout his career, Joe has received several professional recognitions. These include
the ASEE⁄AIAA J. Leland Atwood Educator Award in 2018, the Abe M. Zarem Educator
Award in 2013 and, again, in 2018, the Solid Page viRockets Best Paper Award (thrice
recipient), the AIAA Sustained Service Award in 2016, the Aerospace Engineering
Outstanding Faculty Member in 2015, the Konrad Dannenberg Educator of the Year in 2014,
the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award in 2007, the General “Hap” Arnold Award in 2007,
the NSF CAREER Award in 2002, Marquette’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 1998–2000
(twice recipient), and Marquette’s College of Engineering Research Award in 1997–1998.
Joe is presently a Fellow of ASME, Associate Fellow of AIAA, past Chair of the AIAA
Solid Rockets Technical Committee (2017-2019), past Chair of the AIAA Hybrid Rockets
Technical Committee (2015-2017), and past Director of Honors and Awards within the
Greater Huntsville Section (2016-2020). He lives with his wife, Inna, and their children,
George, Laura, and Maya, in Auburn, Alabama.
At the time of this writing, a group photo of Joe’s research students is provided below.
Page vii
DEDICATION
CONTENTS
Preface xiii
List of Symbols xvii
1 Preliminary Concepts 1
1-1 Historical Outline 1
1-2 Some Examples of Viscous-Flow Phenomena 2
1-3 Properties of a Fluid 8
1-4 Boundary Conditions for Viscous-Flow Problems 27
Summary 31
Problems 31
Appendices 457
A Vector Identities 457
B1 3d Kinematic Expressions in Cartesian Coordinates 458
B2 Reduced Kinematic Expressions in Steady 2D Cartesian Coordinates 459
B3 3D Kinematic Expressions in Cylindrical Coordinates 460
B4 Reduced Kinematic Expressions in Steady 2D Cylindrical Coordinates 462
C Transport Properties of Various Newtonian Fluids 463
D Einstein’s Indicial Notation 472
E1 Advanced Energy Loss Evaluation 474
E2 Traditional/Iterative Energy Loss Evaluation 476
F Bragg–Hawthorne Equation for Axisymmetric Flow in Spherical
Coordinates 478
G Equations of Motion of Incompressible Newtonian Fluids in Cylindrical
and Spherical Polar Coordinates 480
H1 Determination of Dimensionless Parameters 483
H2 List of Dimensionless Parameters 485
I Trigonometric Identities 490
Bibliography 492
Index 517
Page xii
Page xiii
PREFACE
OVERVIEW
This book is known for its academic rigor and effectiveness at serving as a convenient “one-
stop shop” for a large constituency of seniors, graduate students, researchers, and scholars
who are genuinely interested in expanding their knowledge of the rich and evolving field of
fluid mechanics.
The fourth edition maintains the tradition of fulfilling the role of a senior or first-year
graduate textbook on viscous motion with an eclectic mix of engineering applications.
Students are expected to understand the basic foundations of fluid mechanics, vector
calculus, partial differential equations, and rudimentary numerical analysis. The material can
be selectively presented in a one-semester course or, with more extensive coverage, in two
(or even three) semesters.
The evolution of viscous-flow prediction continues its journey toward more highly
resolved, sophisticated, stable, and high-order simulations. This book, however, retains its
focus on presenting viscous-flow concepts, not software. As such, we place a strong
emphasis on the physical insight and mathematical depth that we gain while exploring,
systematically, a rich variety of flow problems. Our objective is to make the book readable,
descriptive, and introductory to the field.
New to this edition:
• We have increased the number of problems by 50 percent, thus adding a total of 128 new
problems to an original set of 255. Only 6 problems have been replaced, to avoid
pedagogical disruptions. Taking student feedback into account, most new problems are
example-like or life-like, and either have “answers” or are “self-guided,” i.e., with step-
by-step instructions to obtain a specified outcome. The chapter breakdown in the table
below identifies the actual number of problems added to each chapter. Note that 58
“levelling” problems have been added to Chaps. 1 and 2, which can be used as
“refreshers” in the areas of kinematic analysis, scaling analysis, dimensional analysis,
streamline analysis, and integral analysis. These techniques, we feel, are essential to
grasp before progressing to the more advanced concepts that unfold in Chaps. 3–7. We
have also provided complementary examples on the use of the vorticity-streamfunction
approach as well as the Bragg–Hawthorne formulation in the context of two- and quasi
three-dimensional flow configurations. An additional 30 problems are featured in Chaps.
3 and 4 to further explore the benefits of differential analysis, the momentum-integral
approach, and the celebrated Blasius solution.
• New material has been incorporated into Chaps. 2–7. More specifically, we have
introduced the highly effective Bragg–Hawthorne approach for solving steady
axisymmetric flow problems (Chap. 2); some pulsatory flow extensions and solutions
discovered in the context of injection or suction-driven porous ducts (Chap. 3); newly
found solutions to the Blasius equation for flow over flat plates that overcome the
Pohlhausen paradox (Chap. 4); a generalization of Kármán’s momentum-integral
approach for both laminar and turbulent boundary layers (Chaps. 4 Page xivand 6); a
two-dimensional biglobal stability approach for both incompressible and compressible
flow configurations (Chap. 5); closed-form analytical expressions for the fundamental
compressible, isentropic flow equations, the weakly compressible water hammer
problem, and several two-dimensional and axisymmetric flow profiles, such as the
compressible Hart–McClure, Taylor, and Taylor–Culick profiles (Chap. 7).
• To overcome noted deficiencies reported by incoming students, and to assist in problem
solving, we have removed one appendix and added seven more to the original set of
three, for a total assortment of nine appendices, A–I. These contain review material on
(A) vector identities; (B) reduced forms of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations,
which can be readily applied to either two-dimensional or three-dimensional planar or
axisymmetric flow configurations; (D) Einstein’s indicial notation; (E) energy loss
evaluation; (F) Bragg–Hawthorne’s equations in spherical polar coordinates; (H) Edgar
Buckingham’s Pi procedure with a list of 88 non-dimensional parameters; and, lastly, (I)
various trigonometric identities. We have eliminated the appendix detailing the Runge–
Kutta code, and relabeled the “Transport Properties of Various Newtonian Fluids” and
“Equations of Motion” as Apps. C and G.
• To avoid mixing vector and indicial notations in key equations throughout the text, we
have presented their entirely vector and entirely indicial forms side by side, to help those
unfamiliar with the indicial notation, without requiring it. We have also supplied a short
appendix to introduce Einstein’s indicial notation (App. D). We have deliberately
eliminated cases where the indicial and vector notations are collocated in the same
expression.
• We have tried to unify the nomenclature seamlessly, by implementing minimal
amendments and avoiding disruptions to any particular segment of the book. So while the
Blasius similarity variable is kept as the normalized coordinate across the
boundary layer is renamed as This is done to avoid confusion between the
two transformations, especially that the Blasius similarity variable extends out to infinity
in the far field above the boundary layer, whereas the normalized y-coordinate remains
bracketed within the interval 0 ≤ ξ ≤ 1. Not only do we provide the conversion factors
between η and ξ, we also reexamine their dependent variables. In this vein, we maintain
the characteristic Blasius stream function as f(η), but relabel the normalized velocity in
the boundary layer as In previous editions, f is used to denote both the
stream function and its derivative, while η is used to represent the Blasius similarity
variable as well as the normalized boundary layer coordinate, despite their dissimilar
definitions. This distinction, we hope, will help.
• We have introduced in Chap. 4 simplified analytic expressions that follow from Kármán’s
momentum-integral equation absent a pressure gradient: these compact formulas enable
us to reproduce, rather straightforwardly, all boundary layer characteristics, such as the
disturbance, displacement, and momentum thicknesses, for any assumed velocity profile.
As a result, skin friction coefficients and other boundary layer properties, which are
typically tabulated in most fluid textbooks, can be readily reproduced and verified, for
any mean flow function f(ξ), using these simple relations.
• On its centennial anniversary, we now offer a compelling rational explanation for the
1921 Pohlhausen paradox, namely, the reason why the use of a fourth-order, quartic
polynomial approximation of the velocity profile in the viscous region leads to less
accurate predictions of the skin friction coefficient and disturbance, displacement, and
momentum thicknesses, than using, for example, quadratic or cubic Pohlhausen
polynomials (Table 4-1). Not only do we clarify the Pohlhausen paradox, we provide an
alternative quartic polynomial in Chap. 4 that does not suffer from the principal
deficiency undermining Pohlhausen’s. This new formulation,
enables us to achieve an appreciable order-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy
between our analytical predictions and the robustly computed Blasius values in both
viscous and thermal analyses, particularly, those that are traditionally carried out using
Pohlhausen’s quartic polynomial, Instead of accruing a 10–20 percent
error in each boundary layer estimate, the new formulation leads to relative errors that do
not exceed 1.7 percent.
• Since no coverage of viscous flow theory is complete without a detailed discussion of the
Blasius similarity equation, we expand the corresponding material by providing in Sec. 4-
3.1 a summary of advances made in the past 100 years while trying to solve it. These
advancements include elegant numerical schemes as well as persistent analytical efforts
that give rise to series solutions, intuitive approximations, and other uniformly valid
expansions that are based on a variety of theoretical techniques. After reviewing the
pertinent literature and describing a set of continuous functions that approximate the
Blasius profile over its semi-infinite range of 0 ≤ η < ∞, we present the reader with a real
treat: a compact, quasi-exact exponential function that entails a maximum L2 = 6 × 10−4
error (Table 4-4), thus placing it within the same margin of error associated with the
Blasius equation itself! The reader may enjoy verifying that this one-term closed-form
expression, with s = 1.6304, matches the Blasius solution
virtually identically, not only from the wall to the edge of the boundary layer, but all the
way to infinity (Fig. 4-13).
Page xv
• Two foundational sections have been added to Chap. 5, thus extending the essentially
one-dimensional hydrodynamic stability coverage to the fast-growing biglobal approach
in the context of both incompressible and compressible motions.
• An extension of Kármán’s momentum-integral formulation to a turbulent, power law
profile with an arbitrary exponent is presented in Chap. 6.
• Analytically inverted forms of the isentropic equations for compressible gases are
provided in Chap. 7 along with new coverage of the weakly compressible water hammer
problem, which has remained unresolved for nearly 120 years. Compressible forms of
several classical profiles are also introduced.
• Over 200 new references have been cited or updated.
• An Instructor Manual and Student Resource Web Site have been developed. We have
added PowerPoint slides to accompany the Instructor Manual, which should prove useful
to those adopting this text.
ORGANIZATION
We have retained the effective seven-chapter format of the Viscous Fluid Flow textbook.
Page xvi
Chapter 7 has been supplemented by several essential sections. For example, having
added in the 3rd edition the isentropic flow equations, the 4th edition provides analytically
inverted expressions of these compressible-flow relations that eliminate the need to use
iteration or gas dynamics tables. At the outset, predicting properties such as the subsonic or
supersonic flow Mach numbers for a given area expansion ratio can be carried out
straightforwardly, with no need for root finding, iteration, or interpolation. A systematic
methodology for deriving a compressible correction to a two-dimensional or axisymmetric
flow profile using a Rayleigh–Janzen expansion is presented. Examples provided include the
quasi-viscous Taylor and Taylor–Culick flows in porous channels and tubes as well as the
academic Hart–McClure motion in a porous tube. Lastly, a solution to the weakly
compressible water hammer problem, which has eluded researchers for over 120 years, is
outlined.
Of the three original appendices, we have dropped the third, on Runge–Kutta integration,
and added seven more, for a total set of nine. These begin with fundamental vector identities
and end with trigonometric identities; they also journey through abbreviated equations of
motion, Einstein’s notation, energy loss evaluation tools, and a comprehensive list of non-
dimensional parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many individuals that we wish to thank. We are especially grateful for the support
and encouragement received from Dr. Li-Jun Xuan, postdoctoral scholar at Auburn
University, as well as several amazing doctoral candidates, for assisting in this major effort.
These include, in no particular order, Gaurav Sharma, Timothy A. Marquardt, Orie M. Cecil,
Tharikaa Ramesh–Kumar, Langston L. Williams, Paul Kovacic, Cody M. Shelton, Hemanth
Kumar Mandya Nagaiah, Yokeswaran Subramanian, Cory M. Thomas, Jack N. Finnegan,
and Rudy Al-Ahmar. We also thank the National Science Foundation and the Hugh and
Loeda Francis Chair of Excellence for supporting Professor Majdalani during the execution
of this project.
Page xvii
Last, but certainly not least, we often thank all of those around us and forget those closest to
us. The editors and staff at McGraw Hill Higher Education, Heather Ervolino, Jeni Mcatee,
and Beth Bettcher were constantly helpful, professional, and responsive to our needs. We
owe them a tremendous deal of gratitude. The book was typeset by Aptara using Adobe
InDesign and InMath. Special thanks are owed to Sadika Rehman and Vibhor Singh.
We want to close by stressing that we are particularly indebted to Ellen Emerson White,
who went beyond her ways to help us, and who often traveled back and forth during the
execution of this project. Ellen has been absolutely amazing. Without her involvement and
daily interactions, this effort would not have been possible. Thank you Ellen!
A Final Word
No book is perfect, and this one is no exception. We invite you, our most valued reader, to
send us your comments and suggested contributions, to joe.majdalani@gmail.com, so they
may be incorporated into our supplemental material, real-time addons, companion slides, and
future revisions. Given the rapid pace at which science is expanding, it is essential that new
generations of users join us and become part of our “knowledge-generation” team. In this
revision, you may be pleased to see that we have incorporated much of the feedback received
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In 1901 the imports of cotton goods had already reached their
former level, amounting to about 28,000 kantars. But the trade is
growing rapidly: in 1902 the imports had risen to 38,000 kantars.
Considering that the population is no more than a third of what it was
in 1881, this is striking testimony of the good effects produced by just
government and a railway. The imports from India have, of course,
fallen away. Scents are far below their former figure, but the imports
of flour and rice have risen; 343 tons of flour and 43 tons of rice were
carried in 1901, and 733 tons of flour and 108 tons of rice in 1902.
Tobacco, oil, and petroleum are also increasing. There is also a very
important article of import which reflects both the improved
purchasing power of the Soudan and the increased production in
Egypt; this is sugar. The railway carried 1,700 tons in 1901, and
nearly 3,000 tons in 1902. Soap, likewise of Egyptian manufacture,
also appears in the returns to the extent of some 140 tons a year.
As for imports so for exports Suakin was the chief channel of
trade before the rebellion. But a good deal also went by Korosko and
the Nile, principally gum, senna, coffee, and ostrich feathers. An
inappreciable amount, probably, also filtered through to Egypt by
Assouan or Assiout. Far the biggest item of the recorded trade was
gum. The export for three years was—
Kantars.
1879 144,706
1880 135,646
1881 150,861
The trade has now far outstripped its former limits. To a young
country, a profit of some £200,000 a year divided between the
merchants and producers on the one side and the Government on
the other by means of royalties and railway receipts is no mean
advantage.
As for the other former exports, the trade in ostrich feathers from
Kordofan and Darfur has begun again, and there seems no reason
why it should not be developed. Ostriches are farmed successfully in
Egypt near Cairo, and the conditions are even more favourable for
their establishment in the Soudan. Nor is it unlikely that the Soudan
will be able to supply a part of her own tobacco and sugar, which
now bulks so largely in the imports. In former days the sugar-cane
was cultivated largely in Dongola and along the Nile in Berber
Province. The fertile plains around Kassala bore crops both of sugar-
cane and tobacco. The district of Fazokhl, beyond Rosaires on the
Blue Nile, used to produce 1,000 kantars of tobacco per year. It is
also found in Fashoda; and in the south-western part of Kordofan,
where the soil is the richest in the province, both tobacco and sugar-
cane grow easily wherever there is water, to say nothing of the Bahr
el Ghazal. The coffee came principally from that part of the country
which has since been taken over by Italy or Abyssinia, and, though it
is grown in Kassala, the trade in it is not likely to come to very much.
This coffee, however, which is of the Abyssinian kind, and not a first-
class coffee, is still quoted in the London market at about 50s. per
cwt.
But the most promising feature in the old returns is the 20,000
kantars of cotton, even though as yet the trade has not revived.
Though the figure is in itself insignificant, it is a proof that the thing
can be done. Cotton is indigenous in the Soudan. It grows wild in
Fashoda, although the native Shilluks seem never to have taken
advantage of this circumstance, preferring to go completely naked.
Most of the former cotton export came from Kassala. The Khor
Gash, a tributary of the Atbara, comes down in flood during July and
August, and partly inundates the plain, leaving behind a rich alluvial
deposit—splendid cotton soil. There was formerly a cotton factory in
Kassala town. In the districts of Gallabat and Gedaref cotton is now
actually being grown, and it is proving the foundation of increasing
trade with Abyssinia. Abyssinian merchants eagerly buy up all that
can be grown. Further south, in Sennar Province, the valleys of the
Dinder and the Rahad were once very famous for cotton, which was
also largely imported into Abyssinia. Here, too, the cultivation is
increasing as the people settle down. The district of Tokar, near
Suakin, along the Khor Baraka, produces, perhaps, the best quality
of all the cotton in the Soudan. It, too, in former days produced very
much more than now. While along the Nile itself, in the
neighbourhood of Khartoum and in Berber and Dongola Provinces,
enough cotton is grown to supply small local industries, in which a
rough white cloth is woven, one of the few local manufactures in the
Soudan. Beyond a doubt, not only is there a great deal of land
admirably suited to grow cotton in the Soudan, but also the climatic
conditions, given only water, are peculiarly favourable.
Cotton and its culture are thus no novelties to the inhabitants of
the Soudan. The point is the water; it all comes back to water and
irrigation. If the Soudan is to be of any real interest to the cotton-
spinners of Lancashire, its export must be counted not by a few
paltry tens of thousands of kantars, but by hundreds of thousands,
perhaps by millions. And for that there must be irrigation works on a
large scale. The soil is there in the Ghezireh and elsewhere, the
climate is there, the water is there, and the irrigation works will come.
But once again, there is no need for hurry. The interests of the whole
Valley of the Nile have to be considered. The undertaking is too large
to be gone into without the utmost care and patient deliberation.
It is eminently satisfactory that the Government is fully alive to all
the possibilities. They have started an experimental farm at Shendi,
where trials are being made of different sorts of cotton, of different
methods of culture, and of different periods of sowing, as well as
calculations of the cost of production and of carriage to the ginning
factories in Egypt. Already some most interesting and important
results have been obtained. It has been definitely shown that the
cotton which is sown in June and July promises better, both in quality
and quantity, than that sown in the autumn or in March and April. At
that time the heat is not so great, and the river is rising, so that the
cultivator gets his water during the most necessary time at the least
cost, because with the least effort. If this is confirmed, it is extremely
important, for the water will be taken at a time when the Nile is high,
and when, therefore, Egypt can afford to allow it to be used without
suffering in the least degree, apart altogether from new Reservoir
works.
As regards quality, it appears that the cotton grown, if not so good
as the very best kinds of Delta cotton, is at least as good as, or
better than, the best American, both in colour and staple. It is
calculated that at the present time 1 acre producing 4 kantars will
produce gross receipts of 1,060 piastres, against an expenditure of
1,000 piastres, showing a profit of 60 piastres, or 12s. 6d. per acre.
But when the new railway has reduced the cost of fuel for the
pumps, and also the cost of carriage, the expenses will be no more
than 700 piastres, showing a profit of 360 piastres per acre, or 75s. It
is estimated that the new railway will reduce the cost of freight by 50
piastres per kantar, and, wherever the Soudan has its own ginning
factories, the profits will, of course, be all the greater, because only
the prepared product will be carried. There is at present sufficient
local demand for cotton to make it generally more profitable to sell it
on the spot than to carry it to Egypt, but as the production increases
it will soon outstrip the local demand. Any private capitalist investing
money in cotton in the Soudan would be able to buy and clear land
on the river in Berber or Dongola at from £5 to £6 per acre, so that
he would get a very reasonable return on his investment. He would
have the further advantage that in the Soudan two of the worst
cotton diseases, ‘worm’ and ‘hog,’ are unknown.
Cotton and corn are the two great foundations on which the hopes
of commercial prosperity in the Soudan are founded. The Negro
Soudan is still comparatively unexplored, and its resources cannot
be estimated. There is, however, a chance that the Bahr el Ghazal
will do great things in rubber. Rubber-trees are known to be plentiful;
rubber has already been produced in small quantities, and
specimens of absolutely first-class quality have been obtained. But it
has yet to be shown that the best kind of creepers are numerous,
and also that they can be successfully tapped without killing the
plants. So far, it does not seem likely that the Soudan has any great
sources of wealth underground. Iron is found and worked in small
quantities in the Bahr el Ghazal, and at least two ore beds are known
in Kordofan, but there is no fuel to work them, and no means of
transporting the ore. As for gold and the precious metals, several
prospecting licenses have been issued and search is being eagerly
made, but, except the copper mines of Hofrat-en-Nahas, nothing has
been discovered at present. The only known gold-bearing district,
the Beni-Shangul, is now included within the territories of Abyssinia.
Gold was formerly worked in this district by the Egyptians, not at a
profit, and perhaps, in any case, it is no great loss to the Soudan
(even if it had not already been occupied by the Abyssinians), for
that gold may not be discovered in the Soudan is the earnest prayer
of every official in the country. The true wealth of the Soudan, such
as it is, lies in its water and its soil. A find of coal would be a very
different matter, and much more valuable than gold, but, though
discoveries are constantly being rumoured, coal is not yet.
No account of the commerce of the Soudan would be complete
without a mention of those wonderful people the Greek traders.
It is well known how, on the day after the Battle of Omdurman, a
Greek arrived in the town and opened a store with all kinds of goods
brought somehow from Suakin. This man is now a prosperous and
wealthy merchant, with large shops in Khartoum and Halfa, and a
finger in every sort of commercial undertaking. He is no longer alone
in the field. Whether it be true or not that trade follows the flag,
undoubtedly the Greek trader follows the British flag. They are said
to be principally Ionian Islanders, so perhaps they have a hereditary
liking for it. Just as from Alexandria to Halfa every town in Egypt has
its Greek traders, carrying on business as storekeepers, dealers,
and innkeepers, so, from Halfa to Gondokoro, from Suakin to El
Obeid, every town in the Soudan has its Greeks. They are
ubiquitous; in Khartoum and Omdurman alone they number about
800. One wonders what they were all doing before the Soudan was
open. Some of them, no doubt, stayed on right through the Khalifa’s
time.
As a vulture scents carrion from afar, so the Greek scents any
possible opening for trade with the natives. The gum trade, the
feather trade, the corn trade, all are in his hands. There is nothing
that a native wants, however humble, from beads and kerosene-tins
to silver, that he will not sell, exactly in the form required. Naturally a
gambler, there is no speculation that he will not undertake, no risk he
will not run. He can stand any climate, he can live in native huts, and
eat native food. He may be unscrupulous in his dealings, and he has
to be sharply watched by those in authority, but as a trade pioneer in
a new country he is invaluable, and his enterprise contributes largely
to make life possible for more exacting Europeans in desolate
places. Some day, perhaps, when the Arab has mastered his
methods of trade, he will find his match, but at present he holds the
field.
CHAPTER XXI
TAXATION, REVENUE, AND EXPENDITURE
But these receipts are far from being any criterion of the actual
amount of work done. They exclude all that was done on
Government account. Up till 1903 all passengers, goods, and
messages on behalf of Government were carried free of charge. But
it was found that this system tended to extravagance. A department,
for example, wishing to buy dhurra for Khartoum, was apt to buy it at
Dongola, possibly at a cheaper rate, and have it brought by rail for
nothing, rather than buy it locally and disburse something for the cost
of local camel or mule transport. This was good business for the
department, which had only a certain credit allotted to it, but waste
from the point of view of the railway, by which the cost of transport
was borne. Now each department is charged in the books of the
railway or post-office for all services actually rendered. The change
is, of course, only one of book-keeping, but it is a good instance of
the way in which good book-keeping works towards economy. With
this alteration the working of the profit-earning departments makes a
much better appearance. The estimates for 1903 are:
Receipts. Expenditure.
£E. £E.
Railways 143,970 143,777
Post and telegraphs 24,428 34,800
Steamers and boats 69,028 86,223
Expenditure.
Military (including
Civil. Total.
Gunboats, etc.)
£E. £E. £E.
1899 230,000 281,000 511,000
1900 271,000 282,000 553,000
1901 330,000 222,000 552,000
1902 350,000 193,000 543,000
1903 380,000 193,000 573,000