III. NORTH-EASTERN SUDAN

* * * * *

(Country bounded on the north by the Sudan-Egyptian frontier, on the west by the Nile from that frontier to the mouth of the Atbara, on the south by the Atbara and Abyssinian and Eritrean frontiers, and on the east by the Red Sea.)

SECTION 1.—COUNTRY BETWEEN HALFA AND THE ATBARA MOUTH ALONG THE NILE BANKS.

[Sidenote: General.]

Along the Nile from Faras to Halfa the east bank is fairly well cultivated. From Halfa to near Kosha, with the exception of Sarras, there is little cultivation and practically no inhabitants. Most of this stretch is rocky and desert-like, and is known as “Batn El Hagar.” South of Kosha cultivation and villages become more general, and continue almost uninterruptedly to Abu Hamed (see Chap. II, Sections 1 and 2. For the left bank, Dongola town, etc., see Chap. IX.)

Between Abu Hamed and the Atbara junction there is little cultivation on the east bank, except south of Genenetti. From here to the Atbara there are about 500 sagias. The cultivated land, as a rule, extends about 500 yards back from the river, and in a few places as much as 3 miles.

The country enclosed by the river and the mainline Sudan Government Railways between Halfa and Abu Hamed is waterless, sandy, or gravelly desert, broken here and there by rocky hills and ridges. It is practically uninhabited, but is believed to contain minerals and workings of old mines near Kuror, etc. These are now being explored.

The soil on the banks of the river in the Dongola Province is rich and alluvial almost throughout, and well adapted for cotton cultivation. This province is in fact the richest and most prosperous in the Sudan.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

Health is excellent all the year round. Very little fever, only simple cases. Little rain; showers may be expected in September. The wind is almost constantly from the north. Ophthalmia, common in Egypt, is rare in Dongola Province. During months June to end of September, the weather is very hot and enervating, but air dry.

[Sidenote: Communications. Roads.]

Good roads, 5 metres in width, have been made on both banks of the Nile throughout the Province; bends can be cut off frequently, notably between Kosha and Abu Sari, a distance of 35 miles across the desert with no water (see Chap. II). There is a desert track on the right bank from Dongola (Naui) to Merowe, a distance of about 100 miles without water, and there are other desert tracks which have never been traversed by a white man; of these latter little or nothing is known.

[Sidenote: Boats.]

Heavy goods, such as merchandise, grain, dates, etc., are mostly carried by boat, and there is no lack of transport for the needs of the natives in this respect; boats are constantly being built, and every encouragement is given them to do so.

A fortnightly post boat runs between Kerma and Merowe. From February to June, however, the low state of the river renders navigation for steamers dangerous through the rapids between Kerma and Dongola; during these months, therefore, the mail is carried by camels over this reach of 40 miles, transport requirements being conveyed by Government gayasas, of which there are 9 in the Province. There are two steamers (1903).

[Sidenote: Population, riverain, and desert.]

From Halfa to Debba the inhabitants are Berabra.[41] The Mahasi dialect is spoken from Halfa to Kerma. Here the Gararish[42] and then the Danagla (Berabra), commence and continue to Debba; from there on to Berti are the Shaigia. From Berti to Khulla the Monasir are found, and then come the Robatab, who extend as far as Kerraba. From here on to the Atbara junction are the Angariab, Hagab, Merifab, and Fadlab. The few inhabitants of the desert are mostly wandering Bisharin.

The total riverain population of Dongola Province numbered (December, 1902) 105,026, and is rapidly increasing.

This is exclusive of nomad Arabs, whose numbers may be put down at 2,000 Gararish (along the river), besides Bisharin, and other Nomads (vide Appendix F.) on the left bank.

The occupation of the people is that of cultivating the ground, which they do very imperfectly except in Dar Shaigia; it could be made to produce double the amount.

The natives of Mahas and Sukkot lag behind, the fault being entirely their own; they are of an extremely indolent nature, perpetually quarrelling amongst themselves over questions as to ownership of land and date trees, and do little or nothing towards bettering themselves.

There is naturally a certain proportion of poor in the province, but agricultural labour being in demand, employment is always to be obtained by persons not too lazy to work.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

The cereals mostly cultivated on the river bank are dura, barley and wheat. Cotton has hitherto been grown to a limited extent for local use only. On the completion of the Nile-Red Sea Railway a great increase in cotton culture is expected. A large amount of land, admirably suited to the cultivation of this valuable commodity, is available, and very large issues of Egyptian cotton seed have this year (1904) been made by the Government.

In the Berber Province the wheat and barley grown are of good quality, but both are expensive to cultivate.

Average yield per average price feddan (Berber), barley 5 ardebs, per ardeb, PT.45 to PT.55.

„ „ wheat, 3 „ „ „ PT.75.

„ „ dura, 5 „ „ „ PT.35 to PT.80.

In the Dongola Province the crops are as follows:

-----------+-------------+------------+---------+------------------- | Months when |Months when | No. of |Average yield per Crop. | planted. | cut. | crops |crop per feddan of | | | yearly. | PT. 40 land. -----------+-------------+------------+---------+------------------- Dura |June and |August and | 2 } | |September |December | } |3 to 4 ardebs. | | | } | Dura Shami |June |August | 1 } | | | | | Wheat |December |March | 1 } | | | | } |2½ to 3 ardebs. Barley |December |February, | 1 } | | |end of | | | | | | Simsim |September |October, | 1 | | |end of, or | | | |November, | | | |beginning of| | -----------+-------------+------------+---------+-------------------

N.B.—The majority of the land will give three crops yearly, viz., twice dura and once wheat or barley.

The number of sagias in the Dongola Province in December, 1902, was 3,462, besides 77 shadufs and two pumps. There are now (1904), nearly 4,000.

Iron sagias, though tried, have been pronounced unsuitable as they are difficult to repair. Iron fittings for the old wooden sagias have, however, proved a decided success. European ploughs are not popular on account of their weight.

The chief requirement of all the riverain Provinces is agricultural labour, men of the fellahin type, who would teach the inhabitants how to till and tend the soil, and thus produce crops in proportion to the value of the land.

The local breed of cattle is fair, and moderately numerous, but might be improved in both respects.

[Sidenote: Dates.]

The date tax (PT.2 per tree) is one of the principal items of revenue in Dongola. There are also a considerable number of trees in the Berber Province. It is hoped that the new railway will enable dates to be much more largely exported,[43] and thus materially increase the revenue of these Provinces. At present the freights are almost prohibitive. Date harvest, October and November. Quality in Dongola excellent, and ripen before those from Egypt, Tunis or Tripoli. In Berber the dates are not so good.

[Sidenote: Dom palms.]

The dom palm furnishes a means of livelihood to many of the riverain inhabitants in the Berber Province. The leaf is made into mats, sandals, and baskets. Coir (lif) is largely exported to Omdurman, where it is made into rope.

[Sidenote: Other trees.]

Besides the above, there are sunt trees mostly used for sagia building, and selem, talh, samr, and heglig mostly on the back lands, with haraz and the dwarf tarfa on the river bank. Tamarind trees are being introduced and are doing well.

[Sidenote: Senna.]

A certain amount of senna grows wild in the Berber and Dongola Provinces. It is gathered by the Arabs, who transport it to Kordofan, and Aswan, where it fetches about £E.2½ per camel load.

[Sidenote: Fruit.]

Melons and lemons are plentiful in the spring and autumn. People are commencing to cultivate the vine.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

The import trade of the Dongola Province consists chiefly of cotton goods and such luxuries as sugar, tea, coffee, perfumery, etc., and of the export of cereals and dates. Business, however, is not brisk. The chief obstacle to the development of the import trade is the want of enterprise on the part of traders. There are excellent openings for merchants. The people are well off and willing to buy, especially such goods as cutlery, crockery, soap, agricultural implements, hardware, and such sundry merchandise, but at present (1904) there is not a single well-to-do trader in the Province.

Native cotton cloth, called “damur,” is worked throughout the Province, and forms the chief clothing of the men, who dress in shirt and drawers, with ferda (or toga) of this material.

[Sidenote: Administrative.]

Crime is small in proportion to number of population. Inhabitants most peaceably inclined, and all (men, women, and children) work at their crops.

[Sidenote: Housing.]

Villages are mostly composed of well-built houses straggling along the borders of cultivation. The houses are built of galus (mud and stones), with good court yards, whitewashed and clean. Very superior to those of fellahin in Egypt.

[Sidenote: Miscellaneous insects.]

The “Nimetta” fly, a small midge, appears in countless myriads from November to April, both months inclusive, between Dalgo and Korti. The bite causes slight fever through irritation. At times they are absolutely unbearable, and cause temporary migrations of both white men and natives. Natives wear bunches of smouldering grass twisted round the head to keep off the fly.

White ants also are both numerous and most destructive between Dalgo and Korti.

[Sidenote: Chief towns. HALFA.]

HALFA (Wadi Halfa), comprising “The Camp” and “Halfa town” is the capital of the Province of Halfa,[44] which extends along the Nile from Faras Island (N. lat. 22° 10′ approximately) to Abu Fatma. It is also the present headquarters and terminus of the main line (Sudan Government Railways) to Khartoum, as well as of the branch to Kerma. There are extensive railway workshops at the Camp. The latter includes barracks, prison, officers’ mess, native quarter, and the old fortifications. Also post and telegraph office. Population about 400, of which one-quarter are white. No garrison at present. Halfa was for years (1885-96) the headquarters of the Frontier Field Force which defended the southern frontier of Egypt against the Dervish invasion.

The civil quarter of Halfa lies 1½ miles to the north of the Camp. Here there is an excellent hotel, also railway station, post and telegraph offices, some good stores, and native bazaar. The population, which is composed chiefly of Egyptians and Sudanese, with a large sprinkling of Greeks, is about 2,900.

[Sidenote: BERBER.]

BERBER is a long straggling mud-built town containing about 5,000 inhabitants. It was captured by the Mahdists after a certain resistance on the 26th May, 1884, and was re-occupied by the Anglo-Egyptian forces under Lord Kitchener on 6th September, 1897. It is now the capital of the Berber Province, but this will be moved to El Damer in 1905 (vide Chapter IV). There are at present two railway stations, Berber Camp and Town. Post and telegraph office. There are no good stores in the town, and there is little trade here at present. The present town lies 2 miles to the north of old Berber, and is the headquarters of an Egyptian battalion.

The desert road to Suakin starts from here (242 miles). Behind the town an immense flat plain stretches to the horizon. This is fertile soil, and only awaits proper irrigation to be reproductive. Berber is 1,140 feet above the Mediterranean or 95 feet below the level of Khartoum.

SECTION 2.—COUNTRY BETWEEN HALFA, BERBER, SUAKIN AND THE INTERSECTION OF THE 22ND PARALLEL WITH THE RED SEA.

(a) BETWEEN THE RAILWAY AND THE NILE.

[Sidenote: General.]

For purposes of description this area is conveniently divided into two portions by the Halfa-Abu Hamed Railway. The portion west of the railway comprises some of the most arid country in the Sudan. The general formation is that of a plain covered with sand or gravel, dotted here and there with steep and even precipitous hills of from 100 to 800 feet elevation above the plain, which falls gently and uniformly to within a few miles of the Nile. In places these detached hills are so numerous and so close together as to resemble connected ranges. As a rule the sand is coarse and heavy enough to afford excellent going for camels; but strips of soft deep sand are occasionally met with, especially where the wind has banked it up against or between the hills.

The crest of this gently sloping spur projecting into the bend of the Nile, is some 2,000 feet above sea level, where the railway crosses it, that is some 1,550 feet above Halfa and 1,080 feet above Abu Hamed.

The country midway between the river and the railway has been little visited, and the only known place of any importance is J. Kuror, the highest hill west of the railway and some 4,070 feet above the sea. After heavy rains its “Makhzans,” or rocky reservoirs, hold water for many months, and are occasionally visited by nomad Arabs.

Immediately south of Halfa the plain terminates in a belt of low hummocky hills, some 8 to 10 miles wide. After Sarras, the belt becomes wider and the hills bolder, till they culminate in J. Ago, east of Akasha, at the southern end of the Batn El Hagar.

Between Akasha and the latitude of Kosha the country becomes less confined, but contains several high and precipitous hills. South of Kosha it becomes more and more open, and the hills lower and more scattered until they appear to die away south of Kerma.

From Kerma, as far as Old Dongola, practically no hills are visible from the river, and the sand hills are piled up on the very edge of the water. At Old Dongola the ground rises, and from there, as far as J. Barkal, near Merowe, rocky elevations approach the river here and there, or are seen in the distance, without, however, always encroaching on the fertile belt on the right bank.

From J. Barkal to Abu Hamed there is a rough and rocky belt of hills a few miles from the river, though the elevations are inconsiderable.

[Sidenote: Drainage.]

Rain falls at long intervals in very heavy and local showers. From the upper part of the country it is carried off by a number of wide shallow wadis, whose beds are hardly distinguishable when crossed, though the slight remains of grass they sometimes contain show them up clearly when looked down on from the top of a hill.

As these wadis reach the rocky belt along the river, their beds contract so much that after heavy rain regular torrents descend them, sweeping away anything they find in their path. Much damage occurred in this way to the camp at Akasha in 1896, though no rain fell in the vicinity.

South of the crest of the spur the chief drainage lines are the two Wadis Keheli, one of which rises near J. Kuror and joins the Nile, about 40 miles below Abu Hamed; the other rises near No. 5 Station and is followed by the railway under the name of Wadi Gaud, and eventually reaches the Nile a little west of Mograt Island.

[Sidenote: Vegetation.]

Some of the wadis contain a little grass and a few stunted selem bushes, but there is no grazing for flocks except within a few miles of the Nile. Firewood also is very rarely met with.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

The riverain inhabitants graze their flocks a few miles into the desert. Besides these shepherds there are no inhabitants.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

There is none.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

Except in the hilly belt along the river, camels can go anywhere.

The only track at all well-known is that from Dongola (Naui) to Merowe, cutting off the great bend of the Nile to the south.

(b) COUNTRY EAST OF HALFA-ABU HAMED RAILWAY, OR “THE ATBAI.”

[Sidenote: Limits.]

The Atbai is roughly the name applied to the country bounded on the north by the Kena-Kosseir road, on the south by the Berber-Suakin road, on the east by the Red Sea, and on the west by the Nile from Kena to Halfa, and thence by the Sudan Government Railway to Berber. It lies, therefore, approximately, between N. lat. 26° and 20°.

The northern half, which is inhabited by the Ababda, belongs to Egypt; the southern portion, inhabited by the Bisharin and the Amarar, etc., near Suakin, belongs to the Sudan. Although on many maps this country is generally labelled “Nubian Desert,” much of it is by no means desert in the true sense of the word. Comparatively little is known even now of the more southern districts[45] of the Atbai, and the following descriptive notes must be taken to apply chiefly to the country between north lat. 21° and 22° 30′.

[Sidenote: Bisharin country.]

The country of the Bisharin, which is bounded on the north by an irregular line rather north of lat. 22°, and to the south extends as far as Mitateb on the Atbara, contains wide stretches of gravelly, sandy, or stony desert, intersected by frequent bare sandstone and granite ranges, but, at the same time, on the eastern side especially, it contains many more or less fertile and quite luxuriantly wooded wadis, in which water is sometimes found within 2 or 3 feet of the surface.

[Sidenote: Drainage.]

East of the railway the hills become more frequent and larger, and the drainage lines more conspicuous.

Generally speaking, the watershed between the Nile and the Red Sea, which lies between 35° and 35° 30′ E. long., consists of a mass of hills from 30 to 40 miles in width. These hills, which consist of agglomerations of rather small features, out of which a bolder peak, such as J. Eigat, occasionally rises, are intersected by very numerous rocky khors, which feed a few large and well-wooded wadis. West of the watershed, from as far south as 20° 30′, all the drainage escapes north by the wadis Alagi and Gabgaba, which unite to the east of Korosko and join the Nile near Sayala.

Of these the Gabgaba has the longest course, as its head waters rise much further south than those of the Alagi. Much of its basin is still unexplored, in fact, the only well known portion is the plain south-east of Murrat wells, which is painfully arid and deficient in vegetation.

Many of the wadis, however, that descend to it on the east are well wooded as long as they are in the hills, and even for a few miles after they have emerged from them.

The scheme of drainage here is exactly the reverse of that west of the railway.

Instead of water-courses beginning broad and ending narrow and deep, here they commence with narrow defined rocky channels, gradually becoming broader, sandier, of more gentle slope, and in many places with fine trees and much “tabas” grass. When the hills are left, however, the trees die away, the grass disappears, and the bed becomes ill-defined or completely lost. South of the parallel of Murrat the country appears to become more open, and probably very wide plains exist with little to offer to even a desert Arab.

South of the Gabgaba Basin, the drainage from the watershed descends nearly due west by several large wadis, which have at various times given trouble to the railway. Owing to the outcrop of rocks near the river between Abu Hamed and Berber, the beds of these wadis become restricted as they approach the river, with the usual result as regards spates and floods.

[Sidenote: Drainage east of watershed.]

On the east of the watershed the wadis, after leaving the hills on which they rise, traverse a range of granite hills, and thence flow, generally in a north-east direction, to the maritime plain of the Red Sea.

The principal wadis, from north to south, are Hasium, Di-ib, and Haieit.

The Wadi Hasium, after emerging from the hills of Abu Hodeid, skirts the Kajoj and Musa ranges, which it leaves some distance to the south, and flows through open country to the sea. It contains the wells of Kajoj and Shalatein.

The Wadi Di-ib, perhaps the most important wadi of the Eastern Atbai, rises in the Amarar country, probably as far south as the 20th parallel, and flows generally northwards. About 20 miles before it turns eastwards to traverse the open maritime plain, it opens out into a wide basin, a mile in breadth and 8 to 10 miles in length, containing a bed of rich alluvial soil. This basin forms the principal cultivable land in the Um Ali Bisharin country. It is the property of the Shantirab, but portions are allotted both to the Amrab and Belgab in good years. An important tributary on the left bank of the Di-ib is the Wadi Hufra, which, rising in the Amrab country in the hills to the north-east of Onib, joins it at the north end of the J. Elba range. It receives all the drainage from the hills of the southern Belgab country by the Wadis Is and Legia. At several places in its bed, the Arabs cultivate and obtain good crops of dura.

Wadi Haieit, in the southern Atbai, is also said to be cultivated.

The ranges of Elba and Asotriba are composed of red granite, whilst at the foot of the latter are small hills of very beautiful hornblende porphyrite.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The climate of the Atbai is probably the best in the Sudan. The air is of absolute purity, and the elevation, 1,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level, very considerably mitigates the shade temperature. The heat of the sun, however, is intensely fierce in warm weather, owing to the glare from the sand and rocks. During the summer, waves of superheated air are occasionally known, such as that which destroyed a convoy on the march from Korosko to Abu Hamed in 1897.

In winter, the cold is quite severe, and anyone proposing to travel there in December or January should make sure he has plenty of bedding and warm clothes.

Though it is essentially a very dry climate, dew falls at Deraheib on the west of the watershed in December, and a misty haze, which seems to be connected with moisture in the air, frequently covers the whole country. The climate of the littoral is, as may be supposed, much warmer than that of the interior.

[Sidenote: Rainfall.]

The rain falls in violent local showers during the months of July and August, called the “Shuti” rains. In exceptional years, showers occur in May and June.

Many places go without rain for several years in succession, but during the above-mentioned months it is always risky to camp in the bed of a wadi, as a spate may come down, though no rain nor clouds have been visible to the traveller.

The dew is very heavy on the littoral, and suffices to keep the bush grazing in good condition, though it is insufficient to raise the short grass, which sprouts after rain, and which forms the principal pasture for sheep.

[Sidenote: Towns or Villages.]

There are nowadays no towns or villages in the Atbai. The Arabs live by families in groups of tents made of dom-palm matting. These, of course, move according as it suits them.

[Sidenote: Deraheib.]

There are, however, throughout this district, the remains of quite large stone-built villages, formerly inhabited by the miners of the ancients. Those at Deraheib are particularly striking. Deraheib (Der — castle, aheib — beautiful) was evidently at one time the seat of a colony of miners. On the right bank of the wadi are the broken walls of 500 or more houses, arranged in streets. The castle, a large square building, stands under the hills on the left bank. The pointed arches of the castle and portions of some of the houses are set in lime. The majority of buildings, however, are constructed of stone and mud.

[Sidenote: Vegetation.]

The vegetation, generally, is rare and scanty, though in some of the large wadis, even west of the watershed, it is surprisingly luxuriant. Perhaps the Wadi Alagi, with its fine sayal and heglig and abundant marakh, arak and other green trees, is the most striking instance. West of the Gabgaba, and immediately east of it, selem is chiefly met with, but as one ascends the wadis one comes on sayal and the rare palm, “Medemia argun.”

The latter is especially numerous in the Wadis Abaraga and Terfaui, and is found in many other khors in the neighbourhood, especially in those descending from J. Rafit to the Gabgaba.

No adult specimens were noticed east of the Wadi Abaraga, though there are many young plants trying to sprout at Abu Tabag.

This palm is largely used for mat-making, and the Arabs are fully alive to the advantage of preserving it, as well as other trees.

The grazing is not confined to the actual beds of the wadis. There are many flat or depressed places where, for some months after good rain, excellent grazing is found for camels, sheep, and goats.

The rainfall, however, is so uncertain that it is impossible to rely on finding grazing at any particular place even if it has been found there in previous years.

[Sidenote: Vegetation east of watershed.]

The vegetation along the wadis flowing towards the sea varies considerably from that found along those emptying into the Nile. Large trees, such as sayal, selem, heglig and tundub are found along the former, as well as a bush called “adlib,” which camels are extremely fond of, “arad,” an acacia, growing on the tops of the granite hills that border the littoral, is used by the Arabs to produce the red dye for the leather of sword scabbards, etc. The medicinal qualities of the small undergrowth and grasses of the eastern Atbai are considered by the Arabs far more efficacious than those of the west. A species of gum tree, similar to the “Ficus elastica,” but with a smaller leaf, exists on the hills of the eastern Atbai; it is known by the Arabs as “gemmeiza.”

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

Water is scarce throughout the whole district and, where found, is in many places more or less brackish.

The only wells that have been sunk by the present Government are at Nos. 4 and 6 stations, at both of which a plentiful supply is obtained at less than 100 feet depth.

The ordinary water supply consists of regular wells, stone lined for part or all of their depth, rough excavations in the beds of wadis, and accumulations of rain water in cracks or hollows in the rocks. These latter, which are called “makhzans,” if large, and “gammam,” if small, contain the best water. Those on J. Rafit are particularly well known, and were drawn on for the supply of the garrison of Murrat before the re-conquest of the Sudan.

The largest supply of water is perhaps found in the Wadi Murrat close under the old fort. This, in the pre-Dervish days, was the midway halting place of caravans proceeding from Korosko to Abu Hamed, and very large numbers of camels used to be supplied from the wells at this place. The water is brackish and disagreeable, but drinkable.

Like the Murrat Wells, most of the wells in the Atbai are situated in the beds of wadis and khors, and are consequently filled in every time a flood descends, entailing great labour on the inhabitants, who have to clear them out. This is especially the case with those which are not stone lined. (A list of wells is given on page 92.)

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

As may be supposed, the Atbai is not a great agricultural district. In years of good rainfall, however, there is a considerable amount of dura cultivated in the Wadis Alagi, Gabgaba, and Di-ib, etc., but the Arabs rely chiefly on Aswan, and to a lesser extent on Halaib and Suakin for their grain supply. At the former town they find a ready sale for their sheep, which command good prices. The price of a sheep at Aswan is about PT.75, at Suakin PT.25, whilst dura at Aswan only costs from PT.40 to PT.70 per ardeb, whereas at Suakin it is oftener nearer PT.150. Aswan is, therefore, the most popular market with the Arabs of the Atbai.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

The one main road through this country, that from Korosko to Abu Hamed viâ Murrat, which used to be the artery through which the commerce of the Sudan flowed to Egypt, has fallen into disuse since the construction of the railway, and there are now no other tracks except those made by the Nomad Arabs.

The nature of the country, consisting as it does of masses of very small features intersected by numerous khors, and often separated by plains of considerable extent, lends itself to great freedom of movement in almost all directions. The absence of regular trade, too, has militated against the formation of stereotyped routes, and the result is, that between any two places you can find at least one and very often several more or less different routes, none of which, unless lately passed over by a large party, would appear to the traveller more frequented than the others.

The hilly mass forming the watershed is so far an exception that camel transport from one side to the other is restricted to a few passes.

The tracks, as a rule, are bad and stony; camels, even those bred in the country, soon suffer from sore feet. The tracks usually follow the wadis.

[Sidenote: Minerals.]

That this country was once, to a certain extent at any rate, rich in gold, is evident from the numerous shafts and traces of former workings that are seen.

[Sidenote: Game.]

The following species of game are found in the Atbai:—

Ariel: scarce on Wadi Di-ib, but south of Darur, plentiful.

Gazelle (Isabella and Dorcas).

Ibex: on hills adjoining littoral.

Cony (native Halidob): hills Red Sea to Murrat.

Wild ass: Onib to Di-ib.

Wild sheep: rare, in hills from Aswan to Abu Hamed, and along the Nile from Murrat to Akasha. Well known to exist at J. Rafit and East of Gabgaba.

Klipspringer and Dig-Dig: hills adjoining littoral south of Bowarti.

Cheetah and leopard: rare in hills near littoral.

Hyena and wild dog „ „ „

Also bluerock pigeon and sand, rock, and night-grouse on all hills.

ATBAI—SOUTH OF LATITUDE 20° 0′.

[Sidenote: Drainage.]

From the northern portion of the Atbai the general line of the watershed between the Nile and the Red Sea is south-eastward as far as the hills enclosing the upper part of the Wadi Amur.

The hills lying to the north of the Wadi Amur in its upper part form a portion of the watershed.

North of these hills are a series of large khors which drain first north and north-east. Lower down these khors are practically unknown, but are said to curve eastward and reach the sea north of Cape Elba. The largest of these khors are Mahaleit, Dirab, and Haieit. In their upper portions they are broad level valleys covered with a considerable amount of coarse grass. The scrub in them is low and scattered.

South of Wadi Amur the watershed lies north and south in about E. long. 37° 20′, until the great Khor Arab basin is reached.

Of the wadis draining westward, south of lat. 20°, Khor Arab has by far the largest drainage area. It includes in its lower portion not only Khor Arab proper, but also Khors Erheib and Thamiam and Barameyu. It may be said to drain the whole triangle of country, whose angular points are Kokreb, Erkowit, and Oi.

Between Khor Arab and Wadi Amur the drainage is taken by Khors Habob and Laiameb, while Khors Misrar and Aderot drain the country between Khor Arab and the Tobrar range.

On the east side of the hills the valleys are narrower and have a steeper fall, and possess well-defined and clean-swept watercourses, which, in the narrower valleys, cover the whole bed of the valley.

The most important of the khors draining west are Khors Garar, Arbat, Okwat, and Adit.

The general course of Khors Garar and Okwat is at right angles to the watershed, and the upper parts of these khors are therefore steep and stony. Khors Arbat and Adit lie parallel to the watershed for a considerable part of their length.

Khor Arbat is the largest of these khors, and, from its watershed, opens out almost immediately into the broad Odrus plain, which the Berber-Suakin caravan road crosses.

Entering the Akareirirba hills, it narrows in, and in the lower part of its course it becomes a defile shut in by steep hills, which rise directly from the sandy and stony bed of the watercourse.

Khor Adit also has its maximum width in its upper part between Sinkat and Jebel Erba, and, narrowing as it descends, joins Khor Okwat through Khor Totali, a winding defile shut in by steep hills, and in places only 200 yards wide.

The minor khors which drain eastward from the hills bounding Khors Adit and Arbat, are steep stony valleys, ending in agabas, strewn with boulders and difficult of passage by loaded camels.

Such are Khors Adaia and Bengar, leading from Khors Arbat and Khors Teiutelri and Abent from Khor Adit.

The khors become ill-defined on leaving the hills, and what vegetation they possess gives place to the low scrub and coarse grass of the maritime plain.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The higher parts of the watershed on the eastern side have a perfect winter climate, and the extreme ranges of the temperature are less than those of the higher plains of the northern Atbai.

On clear nights in the late autumn and winter a very heavy dew falls, quite sufficient to saturate any bedding or kit left exposed to it.

On the west side of the watershed little or no dew falls.

To the west of the hills the rainy season coincides with that in the Nile Valley, while in the east rain may be expected between November and March, although local thunderstorms may occur at other times of the year.

The winter rain in the western hills is sometimes heavy thunder rain, and at other times a heavy downpour or thick mist, unaccompanied by electrical disturbances.

[Sidenote: Vegetation.]

In the lower parts of the khors, where they merge into open desert, the vegetation is very scanty. It is confined to a thin line of scattered scrub which marks the lowest part of the valley.

As the valleys become narrower and more marked the trees are larger.

Selem, samr, and tundub, form the chief part of the vegetation, with gamob in Wadi Amur and a thick belt of “eitil” in Khor Arab, near its junction with Khor Oi.

In the valleys east of the watershed the trees are larger and more numerous. Khor Adit is especially noticeable in this respect, with its large gemmeiza trees near Sinkat well, its thick covering of arak bush along the bed of the valley, and sunt and other trees of considerable size near the watercourse. The steep and stony khors, however, such as Khor Garar and the upper part of Khor Okwat, are in most places swept too bare of earth to allow of the growth of trees of any size.

The grazing on both sides of the watershed is confined to the actual valleys.

The watersheds dividing the westward-flowing khors are low rough ridges of black rock and gravel, and are practically destitute of vegetation.

After rain, there is frequently grazing in the depressions in the atmurs, such as El Gura, near Tendera.

In the khors on the east of the watersheds there is little or no grass until the lower levels are reached, except in the Odrus plain and in the upper part of Khor Adit, near Sinkat.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

Throughout the whole stretch of desert, between the hills and the railway, water is scarce.

Besides those at the well-known halting places on the Berber-Suakin caravan road—Obak and Ariab—the following wells may be noted:—

GARAFAB.—50 miles N.N.E. of Abidia, has several shallow wells among sand dunes.

SARARAT WELL.—In Wadi Amur, is 96 miles from Garafab. The well is 50 feet deep, and is lined with stone, but only gives a small supply. This well is probably the same as that marked on the older maps as the “Oasis of Amur.” South of the Suakin-Berber road the chief wells are as follows:—

TENDERA, MIB, and OI.—There are several good wells at each of these places.

The Mib wells are specially good, and lie in a hollow of the hills, reached by a narrow defile about ¾ of a mile long. The water supply at Thamiam is very good, but the wells are dug in the bed of the khor and are liable to fill up. There is sometimes water in the rocks at Rauai, but it was stated not to be sufficient to water a hamla of 80 camels in November, 1902.

Talgwarab is only a water hole 18 feet deep, and cannot be counted on as a supply at present. The natives state that attempts to dig down deeper are prevented by the light soil falling in.

Near the watershed the wells are more numerous. There are four wells in the upper part of Khor Haieit, and several others in the deep valleys through which the larger khors drain into the Haieit, Amur, and Arab basins. In the upper part of Wadi Amur, above Sararat, wells are reported to be about 11 miles apart. On the eastern side, besides the existing wells, water could probably be found at a depth of a few feet anywhere in Khor Arbat. The wells in the lower parts of the khors are frequently brackish. Hoshiri at the foot of Khor Okwat is an example of this.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

In years when the rainfall is good there is a considerable area under dura cultivation in Khor Arab near Talgwarab and between there and Thamiam wells. The natives build numbers of horse-shoe shaped dams to retain the water and keep it standing on the ground. There are also signs of the main khor channel having been dammed to divert the water over the flat earthy soil of the valley.

The upper stretches of Khors Barameyu and Erheib and Hareitri are also used for dura growing.

There is also cultivation near Abu Goloda, on the eastern side in the head of Khor Haieit, in Khor Adit above Sinkat, and especially in the Odrus Plain, dura is grown.

Near the Atbara River there is a considerable area under cultivation in Khor Abadar.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

Besides the main Berber-Suakin caravan road there are well-marked roads leading to Rauai well.

The Tendera-Mib-Oi road is also a good track and the surface is fairly smooth, except at the approaches to Mib and Oi wells.

The going on the main Suakin-Berber road is distinctly bad in several places, notably at the head of the Kokreb valley, in Wadi Hareitri and in Khor Hadasana.

Near the hills, communications parallel to the watershed are difficult, as for instance between Haieit and Kokreb. Such a line is very hard on camels, as there is a continued succession of deep-cut khors of varying size divided by hills or ridges of loose shale and black rock, steep and difficult to surmount.

The road leading from Khor Haieit to Khor Garar is a fairly easy one for camels, but Khor Garar itself is very rough.

The chief routes across the watershed are:—

From Khor Barameyu to Sinkat—here the gradients are very easy and the surface smooth.

A route westward from Sinkat towards Abu Goloda and Rauai has steep stony “agabas.”

From Abu Goloda into the Odrus plain—easy slopes but rough underfoot in the upper part of the Abu Goloda khor.

Wadi Hareitri on the Berber-Suakin road—very rough underfoot.

From Wadi Amur into Khor Yudib—many low rough watersheds have to be crossed, and there is no beaten track.

From Khor Arbat the maritime plain can be reached either:—

(1) By the Tamabaf watershed into Khor Okwat.

(2) By Khor Dimm.

(3) By Khor Adaia or Khor Bengar.

Of these the Tamabaf and Khor Dimm routes are easy for camels, but Khors Adaia and Bengar have steep and rough “agabas.”

[Sidenote: Boundaries of Bisharin.]

The Bisharin inhabit the desert bounded on the north, roughly, by the Alagi and its tributaries, on the south by the Atbara, on the east by the Red Sea from Shalatein to J. Asotriba, and thence by a line joining Mitateb or Umbeiba on the Atbara, and on the west by the Nile from the mouth of the Atbara to Abu Hamed, and thence by the old trade route from Abu Hamed to Korosko.

The Ababda and Bisharin formerly lived a good deal further south in the districts now occupied by the Hadendoas; both tribes moved northwards probably about 100 years ago.

The Ababda by their move north, came into a more civilised country. Their Sheikhs, through the transport needed on the Korosko—Abu Hamed road, came into touch with the Government and acquired at this time great wealth, and with wealth, their numbers increased, whilst the Bisharin of the hills, left far behind as regards progressiveness, soon came to be despised by them.

The Bisharin claim descent from Bishar, the son of Kahl, who was also the father of Abad and Amar, from whom the Ababda and Amarar are said to have sprung.

[Sidenote: Origin.]

Kahl is said to have been descended from Zubeir Ibn El Awam,[46] whose wife was a sister of Abbas, uncle of the Prophet. They maintain, therefore, that they are descended from the noble Koreish Tribe. In the genealogy of the tribe, the three principal ancestors are Kahl, Bishar, and Ali Jalan; on this all accounts seem to agree. The present generation of Sheikhs is generally said to be the ninth or tenth from Ali Jalan.

The descendants of Kahl most likely originally inhabited part of the district now occupied by the Hadendoas, the Bisharin, and Ababda, as stated above, having latterly moved northwards.

[Sidenote: Sub-division.]

The Bisharin are divided into two great families, the Um Ali and Um Naji. The former live in the north, the latter in the south, of their country. Both sections are named after the wives of Ali Jalan, the great grandson of Bishar, who had the following sons:—

By Um Ali. Tribe. By Um Naji. Tribe. ------- --- -------- --- Ali Aliab. Hanr Hanr.

Shanatir Shantirab. Eira Eireiab.

Amer Amrab. Nafi Nafab.

Hamedor Hamedorab. Mansur Mansurab.

ALIAB.—The Aliab, who are far more numerous and wealthy than any of the Um Ali or Um Naji tribes, are divided into the following sub-tribes: Koatil, Mallak, Hamedomerab, Kurbeilab, and Balgab.

The first three named are sometimes classed together and known as the Sararab, on account of their near common ancestry.

The Sheikh of the Koatil has for two generations been the representative Sheikh of these three families; before this the Sheikhship was with the Hamedomerab.

Sub-tribes of the Aliab.

KOATIL.—The Koatil, under Sheikh Isa Abdalla, are a small tribe, and poor. They live at Meshushenai and Terfaui.

HAMEDOMERAB.—Sheikh Mohammed Wad Kurab. This, again, is a small tribe, owning few camels, but good flocks of sheep and goats.

Wadi Meisa, at the head of which is Bir Meisa, is where most of the tribe are to be found during the summer. Their two wells are Meisa and Didaut, close together in the small hills north of the Elba red granite range.

MALLAK.—Sheikh Isa Shingeirab. The Mallak, the third Sararab tribe, is by far the richest, and own many camels, and of a breed which is famous among all the neighbouring tribes. The Mallak own many wells.[47]

BALGAB.—The next of the Aliab tribes is the Balgab (Isa Abdalla), who live in the hills about Is. They have never, since the time of Abdalla, the father of Isa, had a representative Sheikh, but have always been represented by the Sheikh of the Sararab.

They have good herds of camels, sheep, and goats. They do not frequent the Aswan market as much as the other Aliab sub-tribes, but they sell a great deal to merchants who come from there, and buy much of their corn in good years from the Di-ib. They are a wilder people than the other tribes and very rarely leave their hills. They are shy and difficult of approach. Their wells are Is and Legia.

KURBEILAB.—Sheikh Mohammed Katul. This is a large tribe. They have many wells, generally in the small tributaries of the upper Alagi.

Katul, Sheikh of the tribe, is by far the ablest man of the Aliab Sheikhs, or, in fact, of any other of the Bisharin Sheikhs.

[Sidenote: Compensation for murder or wounds.]

The traditional “diia” or compensation for loss of life among these Arabs is: for a man, 50 male and 50 female camels; for women or children, or loss of legs, arms, eyes, 25 male and 25 female camels.

Wounds are assessed according to their gravity. The cause in which murders are committed, or a wound is received, is always taken into consideration.

The above amounts are the limit of compensation.

WELLS.

The following is a list of Bisharin wells in the northern Atbai, showing the sub-tribe to which they belong:—

(d) ABABDA.

The following brief account of the Ababda Arabs, whose country adjoins the Bisharin, is given here, as, although with the exception of the Meleikab section, they are under the Egyptian Administration, they are generally said to have sprung from the common ancestor Kahl (vide origin of Bisharin). Feuds, too, between these tribes, though now less frequent, were, until recently, of constant occurrence.

[Sidenote: Limits. Three main-sub-tribes.]

The Ababda, who inhabit the Atbai from roughly north lat. 22° 30′, where they adjoin the Bisharin, to as far north as the Kena-Kosseir road, are divided into three main sections or sub-tribes, viz., Eshabab, Fogara, and Shanatir.

(1) ESHABAB.—The Eshabab, which is by far the largest and most powerful section of the Ababda, range practically the whole way from Kena to Ongwat, and share the Kosseir route with the Shanatir. The Sheikhship of this sub-tribe rests with the Gubran family, of which Beshir Bey is the representative. Beshir Bey’s residence is at Aswan; he claims to be Nazir of the Ababda, and does not admit any common ancestry with the Bisharin. This sub-tribe is divided into many minor sub-tribes.

(2) FOGARA.—The most important sub-tribe of the Fogara is the Meleikab, part of which sub-tribe belongs to Egypt and part to the Sudan. The Meleikab in the Sudan, who are practically a colony of those in Egypt, range from Korosko to Abu Hamed, but considerable movement goes on between the two sections. The head Sheikh of the Fogara is Abdul Azim Bey of the Khalifa family; his headquarters are at Derau, in Egypt, on the Nile, north of Aswan.

(3) SHANATIR.—The Shanatir share the Kosseir route with the Eshabab, and also live on the river between Aswan and Korosko. Their headquarters are at Sayala. Their hereditary Sheikh is Bashari Bey, who belongs to the Shanatir family. Their largest sub-tribe is the Abudiin.

[Sidenote: Feuds with Bisharin.]

The feuds before-mentioned are, as a rule, in connection with the wells. The Ababda having gradually moved north, base their claims to wells, now occupied by Bisharin, on the fact that they originally belonged to them, despite the fact that they themselves left them perhaps half a century ago.

SECTION 3.—SUAKIN AND DISTRICT.

[Sidenote: SUAKIN.]

The town of Suakin is built partly on an island and partly on the mainland, connected by a causeway, called after the famous General himself: “Gordon’s Gate and Causeway.” The portion of the town on the mainland is called El Kaf.

The Government offices, official, and most of the larger civilian residences are situated on the island. Many of them are imposing-looking buildings of coral, several stories high.

[Sidenote: Harbour.]

The khor or inlet of Suakin is bordered by a reef of rocks on either side, its length being 2 miles, and its breadth at the narrowest part, 180 yards. At the entrance of the khor there is a depth of 25 fathoms, which gradually decreases towards Quarantine Island to a depth of from 6 to 8 fathoms. The bottom throughout the channel is mud.

The harbour will accommodate about 20 vessels without blocking the channel, though as many as 34 vessels, men-of-war and transports, were berthed at one time during the expedition in 1884.

Owing to the numerous coral reefs Suakin is a most difficult harbour to enter and to beacon adequately, and would probably never be safe to navigate at night.[48] For further details, vide “The Red Sea Pilot.”

[Sidenote: Population.]

The population at the present time may roughly be estimated at about 10,500 inhabitants.

[Sidenote: Water Supply.]

The water supply is from two sources, firstly, from Shaata Wells, distant about ¾ mile from the walls of the town, and, secondly, from the pulsometer, which pumps water at the rate of 12½ tons per hour, from wells ½ mile beyond those of Shaata.

This latter water is brackish and is only used as a rule for cooking and washing: it is sold in the town at 1 millieme per can of about 3½ gallons.

Shaata water, on the other hand, is fairly good: it is brought into the town in skins and is sold at 1 PT. per skin in the summer months and rather cheaper during the winter.

New condensers to take the place of the old sets which have not been used since 1900 are now (1904) on their way to Suakin.

[Sidenote: Rains.]

In the neighbourhood of Suakin heavy rains occur at intervals from October to February, with occasional rare storms up to the end of March. In the desert, between Suakin and Berber, torrential rains sometimes fall about July to September. No year passes without rain unless in the extreme north of the Province, where very occasionally there is a wholly dry season. In July, 1896, and in 1903, exceptionally heavy rains took place, filling all the wells, including Obak, almost to overflowing. The total rainfall for the 12 months March (1903)—February (1904) was 114·5 m.m.,[49] of which 12·4 m.m. fell in May.

[Sidenote: Defences.]

The part of the town built on the mainland, is entirely surrounded by a high coral wall, built in the old days to resist the attacks of the Dervishes. There is also a line of outer forts about a mile beyond, but since the suppression of Mahdism these have not been garrisoned, and there is now only half a battalion stationed at Suakin.

[Sidenote: Time.]

Time at Suakin is Cairo time, not local time.

[Sidenote: Telegraph cables.]

Suakin is connected by Eastern telegraph cable with Aden, Suez, Perim and Obokh, and by Ottoman cable with Jedda. Communication by land is by land lines to Berber and Kassala.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The heat at Suakin is very great during June, July, August and September, and the climate is much damper than is usually the case in most parts of the Sudan. The difference between the wet and dry bulb thermometer is often 21°. Sand storms are experienced during summer, when sand fills the air for 40 or 50 miles seaward, rendering objects invisible at a distance of more than ½ mile.

In January the average daily temperature is about 77° and at night about 73°.

[Sidenote: Erkowit.]

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

Erkowit, the summer headquarters of the Suakin district, is an undulating plateau with low granite hills and easy khors, about 3,000 feet above sea level, and 35 miles from Suakin. The headquarters have now (1904) moved to Erkowit for the third year in succession. The station consists at present of seven houses, built of stone and mud-brick, white washed, which are used as offices and quarters for certain of the employés. A mess-house has been built on the slope of a hill not far from these offices, also quarters or rest-houses, four in number, for the Governor or inspectors or other officers. These are all built of wood with corrugated iron roofing over felt and raised about 1 foot from the ground on iron piping as a protection against the white ant. This precaution has proved to be wholly successful. There is an abundant supply of excellent water from two wells situated in a khor in close proximity to the Government offices.

Erkowit is in telegraphic communication with Suakin during the summer months.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The climate of Erkowit in the summer is dry and healthy, a striking contrast to Suakin. In the winter, the hills are wrapped in clouds, and a drizzling mist nearly always hangs over them. In March, the plateau and the eastern hill slopes are still clothed with green, the hill sides are covered with bush, ferns, flowers of various kinds, and grass, and the plateau affords excellent grazing.

[Sidenote: Communications with Suakin.]

With regard to the road communications, there are four tracks in use from Suakin:—

(1) Viâ the Sinkat Agaba and Khor Gebet; three days for loaded camels.

(2) Tamaneb and Khor Arab route, at present easier for lightly loaded camels than the following, but longer, and crossing two agabas, 39 miles.

(3) The Masilli route, on which the very bad portion is fairly short, but the route involves an unnecessary detour and is only practicable for very lightly-loaded camels. Length, 36 miles.

(4) Kolkilai Route: A new road or track has been made this year (1904) up this hillside, which rises over 2,000 feet above the plain below, and it is now possible for hill camels carrying average loads to reach Erkowit without difficulty by this route—length 33 miles. A heavy hamla would still require to come by routes (1) or (2).

[Sidenote: TOKAR.]

[Sidenote: Population. Cultivation.]

Tokar, the next town of importance in the district, 56 miles by road south of Suakin, consists of a fort (built after the defeat of the Dervishes and capture of Tokar in 1891) in which are the Government offices, Mamur’s house, post and telegraph offices, etc. There is also a small market place, with a few merchants’ houses. It is situated at the mouth of the Khor Baraka, between Jebel Shabba and Jebel Heina, two prominent landmarks. The population is about 3,000. The soil of Tokar is rich, and there are very extensive fields for cultivation—cotton,[50] dura, dukhn, etc.—but owing to the uncertainty of the Baraka flood, and also to the fact that the country yearly runs a great risk of being devastated by locusts, it is impossible to foretell events or to form an estimate of what the produce of the district will be. One year the harvest may be an extraordinary rich one, the next may prove to be a blank. The Baraka is in flood from the middle of July to the end of September, reaching its maximum about the middle of August.

[Sidenote: Dust storms.]

During the months of June and July, i.e., prior to the Baraka flood, blinding dust storms prevail daily from 9 in the morning till 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and it is impossible to see more than a few yards in front of one. Travellers constantly lose their way and occasionally die on the road between Tokar and Suakin. Formerly convoys and troops moving at that time of year often suffered severe privations.

In the summer of 1891, a party of cavalry were caught in one of these storms and had terrible experiences, losing many men and horses.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

In the winter the climate of Tokar is dry and healthy.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

There are many wells, but the water is not of very good quality.

[Sidenote: TRINKITAT.]

Ras Magdam forms the northern entrance point of the inlet forming the harbour of Trinkitat, about 10 miles inland from which is the town of Tokar. The entrance to Trinkitat is not easily distinguishable, as the coast is low and sandy. Off the entrance lie extensive reefs and shoals. There is good anchorage outside the harbour in about 6 fathoms, under shelter of the reef named Katat Kennasha. The harbour opens to the north-east, is about ½ mile wide, extends ¾ mile to the southward, has a depth of 4 fathoms, and is capable of accommodating 20 vessels drawing from 18 to 21 feet; the holding ground is good. The shores of the harbour are sandy, with low bushes.

[Sidenote: Sheikh Barghut (Barud).]

About 14 miles south and ¾ miles west from Mersa Durur, and 36 miles north of Suakin, is the entrance to Mersa Barghut, useful as a temporary anchorage, and which is to supersede Suakin as a harbour, and the outlet for the trade of the Sudan. This Mersa is named after a chief,[51] the ruins of whose tomb on the northern point of the entrance is a good sea-mark. The khor is formed by a gap in the coast reef, by which it is also bordered; its north-western arm extends inland 2½ miles, with depths of from 14 to 18 fathoms, mud for 1½ miles, and then irregular soundings. A small vessel can go up in mid-channel, but could not turn without using warps.

The western arm extends about ½ mile, and shoals gradually; there is a donga at its head trending more than a mile in a south-westerly direction, in which, during the wet season, there is fresh water, but, in the summer, only a shallow tidal drain.

[Sidenote: Directions.]

The tomb on the northern entrance point is more in the shape of a cottage than of the ordinary Arab tombs, and its summit, being about 25 feet above the sea, can be seen from the masthead of a vessel from a considerable distance.

There is good anchorage in 14 fathoms near the entrance of the north-western arm with the tomb, bearing about south-east by east. Here there is room for three vessels of moderate size at single anchor.

[Sidenote: Supplies.]

No supplies of any kind can be procured, but there are some springs of good water on the southern side of the khor, about a mile from the beach. Fish may be obtained by the score in the western arm. Game is plentiful, but somewhat wild.

[Sidenote: Police posts, &c.]

The remaining stations of importance in the district are merely police posts, consisting of a fort, garrisoned by police, with a small Arab community living in grass tukls close by. These are: Halaib, Mohammed Gul, and Agik, all on the Red Sea, and Karora, inland. Halaib is the most northern, and is near the frontier of Egypt. Karora is the post on the Sudan-Eritrean frontier, about 28 miles from the Red Sea. There are about 1,000 feddans of cultivable land between Karora and the sea on the northern side of the Sudan boundary of which the natives take advantage, though not to any great extent.

[Sidenote: Game.]

In different parts of the Suakin district the following species may be found: Kudu, oryx (beisa), ibex, wild sheep, klipspringer, ariel, gazelle (Dorcas and Isabella), dig-dig, hare, bustard. Lion, leopard and cheetah are rare. There is good sea fishing at Suakin, which is famous for its so-called lobsters, which are really large crayfish.

NOMAD ARABS AND TRIBES.

It is quite impossible to arrive at anything like an accurate number of the population of the Arabs in this district, but 50,000 is a fair estimate. Vide Appendix F.

The majority of them live right in the interior of the hills and are constantly on the move, here, there, and anywhere, wherever rain happens to have fallen or grazing is plentiful.

A journey, no matter how far, is nothing to them; their houses, consisting simply of straw mats stretched over curved sticks, can be put up or pulled down in a very short time. Their families, wives, children, and belongings, are put on what camels and donkeys they possess; cattle, sheep, goats, etc., are driven on ahead, and so the caravan proceeds, sometimes for a whole month and more, sometimes for only a few days.

The chief tribes are the Amarar and the Hadendoa, both of which have many sub-tribes. There are also the Beni Amer, Bisharin, Ashraf, Shaiab, Habab, Komilab, Arteiga, and Rasheida, who came originally from Arabia and now live partly on the Atbara in Berber Province and partly near Agik. They were until recently much addicted to slave running.

For detailed list of Nomads, vide Appendix F.

RED SEA LITTORAL-SUAKIN DISTRICT.

The coast of the Suakin Province extends from Suakin to N. Parallel 22° on the north, and from Suakin to Ras Kasar on the south, i.e., roughly about 500 miles in all. The coast from Sheikh Barghut to Suakin is quite low, being composed entirely of raised coral reef, furrowed by khors which contain water only in the rainy season.

There are several small inlets and creeks where dhows can anchor all along the coast, but the chief harbours, in addition to those already described, are as follows:—

On the North. On the South. ---------- ---------- Halaib. Heidob.

Rowaya. Ras Magdam.

Mohammed Gul. Agik.

Darur. Adobana.

Gezira Abdalla. Ras Kasar.

At all of the above harbours, except Gezira, Abdalla, Heidob, and Ras Magdam, fresh water can be found a short way inland.

Most of the entrances to the harbours are narrow, and require careful navigation; moreover, they are in every case guarded by coral reefs, and as they are not at present (1904) lighted, they cannot be entered at night.

SECTION 4.—COUNTRY BETWEEN THE BERBER-SUAKIN ROAD, THE ATBARA, AND THE ABYSSINIAN AND ERITREAN FRONTIERS.

(a) COUNTRY BETWEEN BERBER-SUAKIN ROAD AND LATITUDE OF KASSALA.

[Sidenote: General description.]

Kassala and Adarama are, with the exception of a few small outlying hamlets near the former and the one diminutive Hamran village on the Setit, the only permanent towns or villages in Sudan territory east of the Atbara. Nearly the whole of this country, except that near Kassala and south of it, belongs to the Hadendoas, who range from the Atbara to Suakin.

[Sidenote: Country north of Kassala.]

Adarama, on the Atbara, about 78 miles above its junction with the Nile, once the headquarters of the redoubtable Osman Digna, but now almost deserted, consists of little more than a few tukls, and the walls of the mud houses of the Dervish town.

The following general description of the country between Adarama and Kassala is taken from a report by Captain A. C. Parker, who traversed this country in April and May, 1901.

“Lying to the north of Kassala, and bounded on the east by the range of hills along which the frontier is delimited, and on the west by the river Atbara, stretches a vast plain of almost unbroken continuity.

“From Goz Regeb to a point on the river west of Kassala the country inland consists of, first, a broad strip of cotton soil, sparsely sprinkled with small trees and bushes. To the east of this there occurs a stretch of more or less sandy soil, supporting a coarse grass and a few stunted isolated trees until the fertile soil adjoining the Khor El Gash is reached.

“This khor, after passing the town of Kassala and receiving numerous small khors from the east, conveys its flood water in a more or less defined channel, or in some places channels, as far as Filik. Along its banks, north of Kassala, dom palms are replaced by thick tamarisk or tarfa trees, which continue most of the way to Filik, on nearing which they in turn are replaced by talh and other thick thorn scrub.

“A short distance north of Filik, owing to the extreme flatness of the country, the eastern channel disappears, and the water dissipates itself through the soil to a distance varying according to the volume of the flood water, its direction being roughly N.N.W.

“The opinion, still held by some, that the Gash water flows towards the Langeb seems untenable.

“The Odi plain which receives numerous small khors from the eastern hills is probably about the same level as the Gash plain, but there certainly appears to be sufficiently rising ground between, though hardly noticeable, to preclude the Gash reaching Odi.

“From Filik, following the direction of the Gash, the bushes which define its course gradually decrease until they become as scattered as in the rest of the plain, and all trace of its direction is lost.

“The plain still extends northwards, until at a point, said to be not far from Jebel Safra, it receives the waters from the Angwatiri and Godamaieb khors, which join here, and probably that of other khors flowing in a south-westerly direction from the rocky hills to the north-east. From these hills also many khors start in an easterly and south-easterly direction, which finally reach the Odi or the Langeb.

“From J. Sanai northwards, for some distance the country consists of large ranges of hills, separated by wide valleys, containing very often stretches of cotton soil in the wider parts, but close to the hills the ground becomes rocky and stony.

“From these valleys, the khors, some of which are lined with dom palms, trend in a south-westerly direction, but in nearly every case are hemmed in by sand hills, and are thus prevented from reaching the Atbara. The valleys, or rather basins, where the final exit is stopped, being usually selected by the Arabs to cultivate.

“Of these valleys the principal are Hegerib, Todabanob, and Hambokeb.

“Wells, the locality of which depend largely on the rainy season or local thunderstorms, are fairly plentiful throughout the whole of the country traversed by these khors, and supply water for numerous sheep and goats, and in some places a few cattle, grazed by Hadendoas of the Gemilab, Haikolab, Amerab, Shebodinab, and other tribes.

“A small party mounted on camels may travel through this country at any time of the year without fear of inconvenience from lack of water. After the rains, pools of standing water will be met with in many places.

“The Gash itself, according to native tradition, has an exit to the Atbara near Adarama, and it is very possible that the waters of the northern Gash plain, called by the Arabs Gash Dai, may have a channel meandering through the hills formed by the rush of water in exceptional years.”

(b) KASSALA.

Kassala is situated on the right bank of the Khor Gash, 1,735 feet above the sea, and lies 15 miles west of the nearest point on the Italian frontier, which is near Sabderat. The twin Jebels, Mokram and Kassala, rise abruptly from the plain 3 miles to the east and south-east. The highest of the peculiar dome-shaped protuberances of the latter is 2,600 feet above the town, and is usually visible at a distance of 60 or 70 miles. There are several perennial springs in the mountain.

[Sidenote: Town.]

Beyond the fort built by the Italians, the barracks, and the various other Government buildings, etc., there are few brick buildings in Kassala, as the native part of the town is constructed chiefly of grass tukls. There are two or three fair stores kept by Greeks, where most tinned provisions and other small requirements are obtainable, and at least one of these is licensed to sell liquor.

[Sidenote: Garrison.]

The normal garrison consists of one regular battalion, six (late Italian) 9 cm. Krupp guns, four Nordenfeldt, and four Gardner machine guns. In addition, there is a battalion of Arab irregulars, recruited locally, chiefly from Beni Amers, Hadendoas, and Abyssinians. In consists of 200 men, all of whom are mounted on either camels or mules. This battalion rendered good service during the late campaign, and, in peace time at any rate, are by far the most suitable troops for this part of the country. They are natural scouts and exceedingly mobile. A considerable number of irregulars could be raised here at any time.

[Sidenote: Sheikh El Morghani.]

Said Ali El Morghani, the youthful head of the Morghani sect whose home is the Khatmia under the north-west end of J. Kassala, has now taken up his abode at Omdurman, where, however, he is by no means so generally revered as in the Eastern Sudan. Said Ahmed, an elder brother, who was a prisoner during the Mahdia, now acts as his representative at Kassala. Said Ali’s ancestors were Ashraf at Mecca, and settled at Kassala at the beginning of the last century.

[Sidenote: Population.]

The population of Kassala town in 1900 was 12,000; and the whole of the Nomad Arabs in the district were then estimated to number 6,000. In 1904, the total population of the town and the Nomads was computed to be 46,000. The townspeople are chiefly Halenga Arabs, who are excellent cultivators, also a mixture of Beni Amer, Shukria, Takruris, etc.

[Sidenote: Water supply. Cultivation.]

The water supply, which is from wells varying from 15 to 30 feet deep, is good and plentiful.

The principal cultivation is the dura crop, raised on the land flooded[52] by the Gash. This dura is a large white species called “Taulib,” and is harvested about January; it ranks in quality with the best “Mugad” dura of the Nile. At present the system of irrigation on the Gash is very primitive and wasteful. An improved scheme in accordance with modern ideas is under consideration.[53] A subsidiary rain crop (Naggad), harvested at the end of October, is also raised, but is not of much account. Crops are very liable to the attacks of extraordinary flights of very voracious small birds and also locusts. A very destructive species of “blight” occasionally devastates the crops. It is known as “El Asal” (Aphis Sorghi, vide “Report of Wellcome Research Laboratories—Gordon College—1904”). The rains are often barely sufficient to raise those crops dependent on them. Gardens irrigated by sagias and wells are numerous.

[Sidenote: Rains.]

The rainfall of an average year is very meagre.[54] During the Kharif, the period from June to October, rain of any kind rarely falls on more than 20 to 30 days. On perhaps half a dozen of these there may be very heavy thunderstorms. Rain, which almost invariably comes from the east, generally falls between 6 and 8 p.m., and is preceded by a wind of hurricane force, which usually brings with it a phenomenal wall of dust several thousand feet high and many miles in extent, which often takes an hour or more to blow past, during which time the obscurity and colour of the atmosphere reminds one strangely of the thickest of London fogs.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The climate for eight months of the year, though hot in March, April, and May, when the thermometer not infrequently registers over 112° Fahr., is healthy. From July to October there is a good deal of malaria, especially during a favourable rainy season. This has been reduced a good deal recently by draining, and precautions against mosquitoes.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

The trade at present is not to be compared with that before the Mahdia, but is increasing; what export trade there is, comes from Gedaref. The imports viâ Suakin and Massawa are not of much importance at present; they are sugar and Manchester goods principally. By far the largest proportion of imports now comes viâ Suakin.

[Sidenote: Transport animals.]

The camel is the best animal for this district, both for riding and transport purposes. A good camel costs from £E.7 to £E.10. They are nearly always available for sale or hire, though in the rains they are not to be found in the immediate vicinity of Kassala.

Horses or mules, which are imported in small numbers from Eritrea or Abyssinia, cannot usually be hired or purchased. Horses are liable to be attacked by a species of horse sickness, which often ends fatally. The Abyssinian and Dongolawi breeds do best. A good riding mule costs from £E.6 to £E.8.

[Sidenote: Posts and telegraphs.]

There is a weekly camel post for both letters and parcels to and from Berber, also a weekly mail to and from Keren and Massawa, also a fortnightly mail to and from Suakin, and a weekly mail to Gedaref and Gallabat. Telegraph lines connect with Suakin, Gedaref, Gallabat, Massaua, and Addis Ababa. Communication is liable to occasional interruptions during the rains.

[Sidenote: Serut fly.]

During the “Kharif” the whole country south of the line Kassala-Asubri swarms with a wasp-like “Serut” fly, which bursts into life as soon as the young grass has sprouted and dies as the vegetation dries up at the end of the rains. This fly is most vehement in its attacks on all animals, including game, but camels suffer the most, and if exposed for any length of time to their bites, they rapidly lose condition, and will probably die from the effects.

[Sidenote: Game.]

In various parts of the districts, described in Section 4, the following varieties are found:—Elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, roan-antelope, kudu, waterbuck, tora hartebeeste, ibex, wild sheep (?), bushbuck (two (?) varieties), reedbuck (scarce); Abyssinian duiker, oribi, dig-dig, and the following gazelles:—Sommering’s, Dorcas, Heuglin’s, Isabella, and possibly Rufifrons; also hippopotamus, crocodile, turtle, warthog, pig, wild ass, lion, leopard, hyena (two varieties), cheetah, serval; also various civet and wild cats, hares, wild dogs, baboons, and monkeys; ostrich, bustard, guinea fowl, francolin, sand grouse, geese, snipe, wild fowl, and quail.

Both rhinoceros and buffalo are rare.

For at least 70 miles above Kassala the Gash has a sandy bed, which averages 100 to 300 yards in width, with strips of higher ground, covered with grass, and liable to be flooded in a good year, bordering it at intervals, especially at the bends. Outside these again, on what may be called the real banks, is an almost continuous fringe of dom palms and high grass, varying from 100 to 500 yards, and occasionally nearly a mile, in width. There is no definite track parallel to the khor on either bank, but the going on both banks outside the belt of dom palms is good. If desired, the bed of the Gash may be followed, though rather heavy-going, and corners may be cut off occasionally.

Year after year, in the dry season, water is found in certain well-known localities, usually 2 or 3 miles apart. The depth of the wells, which are revetted with brushwood, varies, according to the season and the flood, from 5 to 20 feet. The cattle and sheep are watered usually every alternate day from large mud basins (duruk), two or three of which are constructed near each well. There are nowadays no places between Kassala and Todluk where water stands in pools for any considerable time after the flood has subsided, as it is said to have done formerly at Saneit,[56] where, however, water is still found very close to the surface.

The Gash flood usually reaches Kassala during the first week in July, and brings down with it numerous fish, which are eagerly caught by the natives. It ceases to flow about the end of September or beginning of October. During the period when it is in flood it is occasionally unfordable for several days together. The Gash, like the Atbara, brings down a large amount of fertilising matter from Abyssinia. The discharge of the Gash in flood is estimated at about 100 metres cube per sec.

There are no permanent inhabitants living on the Gash, but in the dry season, thousands of Beni Amer cattle and sheep, and nearer Todluk, those of the Baria, are brought to it south of Kassala for pasture and water.

Many of the Beni Amer, Baria, and Baza in Italian territory, all of whom are bitter enemies of the Abyssinians, may be met openly carrying Remington rifles.

North of Kassala the people, watering from the Gash, are principally Hadendoas. For description of Gash, north of Kassala, vide p. 97.

(d) COUNTRY SOUTH OF KASSALA TO THE SETIT.

South of Kassala a flat and, except for the Gash, waterless plain, bounded on the east and south-east by the Eritrean hills from Sabderat to Sogada, extends to the river Setit. The whole of this plain is more or less covered with kittr and other thorn bush, which becomes particularly dense towards its southern and western extremities. With the exception of the Nomads living during the dry season on the banks of the Gash and Atbara and the few Hamrans on the Setit, the entire country is uninhabited.

Though a good deal of the country south of Abu Gamal is drained by several khors, chief of which are Gersat and Gullui which, having their origin in the Sogada hills, or even further east, join the Atbara at Khashm El Girba, nevertheless, the ground, being cotton soil, becomes at intervals in the rainy season boggy, and practically impassable, and water stands in ponds at several places, notably Umsiteiba and Mellawiya, on the roads from Kassala to Asubri and Fasher. At this season, too, most of the country is covered with tall rank grass, and travelling even along the roads is a thing to be avoided.

There is a perennial spring on Jebel Abu Gamal, 18 miles south of Kassala, from where there used to be a road, now overgrown with bush, viâ this Jebel to Um Hagar on the Setit.[57] A scanty water supply is sometimes obtainable from holes in the rock of Koraitib, 47 miles south of Abu Gamal.

(e) COUNTRY SOUTH OF R. SETIT.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

Sudan territory, south of the Setit, bounded on the west by the Atbara, and on the east and south by the Abyssinian frontier, running from the mouth of the Khor Royan (a tributary of the Setit) to a point opposite the Khor Abnakheir (a tributary of the Atbara), near Gallabat, is uninhabited, save for the one village of Gadabi, about 25 miles north of Gallabat. The people living at this village are Takruris. The village of Nogara, which lies 10 miles S.S.E. from J. Lukdi, belongs to Abyssinia, and is under Dejaj Gasessa (1904). Many of its inhabitants were formerly under Mek Nimr, and are a mixture Jaalin, Takruris, and Sudanese, the majority of whom are said to be robbers and runaway slaves.

The country bordering the Setit to as far south as J. Lukdi belongs to the Hamrans, south of them the country, including the Bahr El Salam, belongs to the Debania, and further south again the country, including Gadabi, belongs to the Takruris, of Gallabat.

[Sidenote: Description of country.]

Between the Setit and the Bahr El Salam rivers the country is flat and waterless, and its surface is badly cracked, cotton soil, overgrown with high grass, and generally wooded, but with here and there wide open spaces. South of the Bahr El Salam, though the trees, grass, and soil continue much the same, the Abyssinian foot hills approach nearer to the Atbara and the ground becomes more undulating and intersected by khors, in some of which, though chiefly in the extreme south, water stands throughout the year.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

As the inhabitants are few, roads are proportionately little used, and consequently bad and overgrown. Off the track, the going is execrable, and grass, bush, and cotton soil make the following of game paths a necessity.

All roads lead to Nogara, the asylum for illegitimate hunters and renegade blacks from the Sudan. They are: (1) Gedaref to Nogara (70 miles, approximate), viâ Sofi, Geif El Hamam (on Setit), and J. Lukdi. About 25 miles without water between the two latter places. At Lukdi, a large well, filled with sand, requires cleaning out; now (1904) only contains rain water for a few months.

(2) Um Hagar (on Setit) to Nogara (38 miles). Water comparatively plentiful up to December, after that only obtainable by digging in bed of Khor Royan and Khor Bowal (17 miles interval). The Italians hope this road will be a trade route from Abyssinia into Eritrea. With this object in view a road has been cut by them from the Khor Gash to Um Hagar.

(3) Abu Gulud to Nogara, viâ Abu Siteib (50 miles). Water at Tabarakalla (17 miles), also Atbara, Abu Siteib, Bahr El Salam.

(4) Nogara to Gallabat (83 miles), viâ Abu Siteib, Khor El Dom, Gadabi, and Um Sai. Water plentiful in December, probably scarce between Abu Siteib and Gadabi (37 miles) later. Very little used and much overgrown.

[Sidenote: Natural products.]

Honey and gum are practically the only products of this country. A good deal of game still exists, but it has suffered both from the depredations of cattle plague, as well as from professional game dealers with their parties of armed natives who have hunted this district for years: these are now rigidly excluded by the Sudan Government. The inhabitants of Nogara are also mostly armed with modern breechloading rifles.

[Sidenote: Abyssinian outlaws.]

Two Abyssinian outlaws have haunted this region both during and since the Mahdia. One, whose name is Hakos,[58] reputed to have some 150 rifles, has lately (1902) been actively raiding villages along our frontier. Kidana Miriam, the other brigand chief, has remained comparatively inactive, and is now (March, 1903), reported to be on the Upper Bahr El Salam or Angareb with 50 to 200 rifles.

(f) THE ATBARA[59] AND TRIBUTARIES.

THE ATBARA.—The Atbara rises near Chelga in Abyssinia, where it is known as the R. Goang. Coal is found in the valley of the Goang near its source. Both the Atbara and Setit in their course through the Sudan flow for the most part through a flat alluvial plain, and have cut for themselves a deep channel, which is, in the upper reaches of the Atbara at any rate, over 150 feet below the level of the plain. The banks, too, have been washed away by the drainage from either side and are cut up into numerous ravines and khors for several miles on either side of the actual bed.

Thus it is that the banks of the Atbara from Gallabat, to a point 15 miles north of Goz Regeb, are so intersected with ravines and watercourses, that it is seldom possible to march within 2 or 3 miles of the river, which is only approached at intervals. At Gallabat the width of the bed, which is generally shingle, and in which during the dry season the water stands in pools as it does throughout its course from here to the Nile, varies from a minimum of twenty yards at a spot where the river passes through perpendicular cliffs of rock to an average width of 100 to 150 yards.

At Asubri the width between the banks, which are some 15 to 30 feet high, is about 350 yards.

At Gallabat (1899) the spate commenced to come down on 17th May, and the river was still just fordable at Fasher in the same year on the 15th June; after about that date it does not again become fordable until the beginning or middle of November. The flood water reaches the Nile about the end of June.

There are usually ferries at Sofi, Fasher, Suweihil (near Asubri), and Goz Regeb during the flood season.

South of Sofi a road leads up the left bank to Gallabat.

North of Sofi, which is on the left bank near the junction of the Setit, roads run parallel with the river on both banks, that most generally used being from Sofi to Asubri by the left bank, thence to the Nile by the right bank. The country from the Setit to Fasher (right bank) belonged formerly to the Hamrans; it is now practically uninhabited except by Nomads during the dry season. Fasher to Mitateb (right bank) belongs to the Hadendoas, who go there in large numbers for grazing during the dry season. Their country practically extends from the Atbara to Suakin. From Mitateb (right bank) and Goz Regeb (left bank) to the Nile the country belongs to the Bisharin. From a point about 50 miles south of Adarama northwards to the Nile the banks are fringed with dom palms. Few people live along the river during the rains, and though the alluvial soil brought down by this river is one of the chief fertilizing agents of Egypt, there is at no season any system of irrigation in use along it. Here and there where nature causes the river to overflow its banks a certain amount of cultivation may be met.

TRIBUTARIES OF THE ATBARA.—These nearly all emanate from the hilly country of Abyssinia or Eritrea. There are none of importance on the left bank in the Sudan.

(1) THE BAHR EL SALAM AND ANGAREB.—The Bahr El Salam is a flowing stream during most of the year. Its bed is very rocky, and in places the bends are extremely sharp as it cuts its way through high cliffs of rock. It has many deep pools with hippopotamus and crocodiles, and appears to often overflow its banks in flood time in places where it passes through these narrow gorges. It has generally a north-westerly direction. The River Angareb appears to be only another name for the upper Bahr El Salam. The Bahr El Salam joins the Atbara on the R.B. about 28 miles south of Sofi.

(2) THE SETIT[60] AND ROYAN.—The lower Setit, i.e., that portion of it which flows through Sudan territory, much resembles the upper Atbara in general character. Its banks are similarly intersected by ravines and small khors which carry the drainage from the plateau along which on either bank there is a track at some distance from the river, and which only descends to it occasionally. The river is generally about 300 yards wide, and during the dry season it is fordable at frequent intervals, and here and there almost ceases to flow.[61]

The only inhabitants of the Setit, west of the junction of K. Royan are the survivors of the once famous Hamran sword-hunters, who live in a small village on the right bank about 15 miles from its junction with the Atbara. Although now very poor and with their hunting to a certain extent restricted by the Game Laws, they have nearly all acquired horses and are as bold and keen Nimrods as ever. Latterly, many of the Beni Amer Arabs from Eritrea have brought their flocks for pasturage to the banks of the Setit during the dry season.

Above Umbrega there was no track on the right bank in March 1900, as the Abyssinian Baza, living east of Maietib, were said to terrorise the country. There is now (1904) a fairly good track made by the Italians who have a small post at Um Hagar.

In Abyssinia the Setit is known as the Takazze.

The junction of the Royan and Setit is about 4 miles east of Khor Umbrega. The Royan appears to be merely a khor which is dry, except for occasional pools, a few months after the cessation of the rains. Its junction marks the boundary on the Setit between the Sudan and Eritrea on the north bank, and Abyssinia on the south bank.

[Footnote 41: There are 4 Berberine dialects, viz.:—

(1) “Kensi” from Shellal to Korosko.

(2) “Feiadija” spoken near Korosko and South.

(3) “Mahasi” spoken at Halfa, Sukkot, Mahas and up to Hannek Cataract and Badin Island.

(4) “Dongolawi” from Kerma to Ambugol.

(2) and (3) are nearly the same, and (1) and (4) are somewhat similar; but a Dongolawi cannot understand a Mahasi.]

[Footnote 42: The Gararish are Nomad Arabs and their northern limit may be said to be Halfa.]

[Footnote 43: In 1904 about 30,000 kantars of dates were exported from Dongola, the average price per kantar being about 22 P.T. The cost of freight per kantar from, say, Merowe to Omdurman is about 75 P.T.]

[Footnote 44: The population of Halfa Province in 1904 was 30,800.]

[Footnote 45: Vide p. 89.]

[Footnote 46: In spite of their claim to be of Semitic origin, the Bisharin are not true Arabs and are of Hamitic descent.]

[Footnote 47: Vide list of wells, p. 92.]

[Footnote 48: Chiefly on this account it has been decided to abandon Suakin and construct a harbour and town, etc., at Sheikh Barghut, vide p. 95.]

[Footnote 49: About 4·5 inches.]

[Footnote 50: In 1903-04, 7,425 feddans were under cotton cultivation and yielded 29,039 kantars which realised £E.25,873, or an average of 89·1 P.T. per kantar.]

[Footnote 51: Barghut = fleas. The new name for Sheikh Barghut is “New Suakin.”]

[Footnote 52: In 1903, under 2,000 feddans of cultivation were irrigated by the Gash flood.]

[Footnote 53: Vide Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 54: 12·4 inches (1904).]

[Footnote 55: Vide Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 56: Vide “Wild Tribes of the Sudan”—James.]

[Footnote 57: A road is now (1904) being cut from Kassala viâ Abu Gamal to Umbrega on the R. Setit.]

[Footnote 58: Hakos is reported to have been killed on the Abyssinian side of the frontier, December, 1903, whilst Kidana Miriam appears to have settled down in Abyssinian territory.]

[Footnote 59: Vide Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 60: Vide “Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia” (Baker), and “Wild Tribes of the Sudan” (James).]

[Footnote 61: Mr. P. C. Waite (Scottish Geographical Magazine) gives the length of the Setit as 800 miles, and its flood discharge (at mouth?) as more than 4,500 metres cube per second. Sir W. Garstin estimates the maximum discharge of the Atbara at its mouth to be about 3,000-4,000 metres cube per second. The discharge of the Setit is, therefore, evidently considerably over-estimated.]

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Chapter IV

* * * * *

CENTRAL EASTERN SUDAN.

(Country between the Nile and Abyssinia, bounded by the Atbara and the Blue Nile.)

SECTION 1.—COUNTRY BETWEEN THE ATBARA AND THE NILES—FROM EL DAMER SOUTHWARDS TO ABU HARAZ-SOFI LINE.

[Sidenote: General description.]

The vast tract of country from the junction of the Atbara with the Nile southwards to about the line Abu Haraz-Sofi, bounded on the east and west by these rivers, and on the south-west by the Blue Nile, has been generally called by cartographers “the Island of Meroe”; this name in reality, however, has long ceased to be applied to it locally, and is quite unknown to the Arabs of the present day. By the latter it is divided into four districts. The northern one, forming the triangle El Damer, Adarama, Shendi, is called El Daheira (the high stony ground). The western district, including Shendi, Halfaya, Geili, and Abu Deleig, is known as El Karaba; south and south-east of this the country north of the Blue Nile from Khartoum North to Abu Haraz is called Sharg El Adeik; whilst the whole of the eastern portion from Adarama southwards, bounded on the west by Um Hatab, El Hawad, Geili, and Galaat Arang, forms the well-known El Butana grazing district.

[Sidenote: El Daheira.]

[Sidenote: El Karaba and Sharg El Adeik.]

The northern or El Daheira district is, as its name denotes, a sandstone plateau generally bare, level, and desert-like. On the west, there are considerable ranges of sandstone hills. The soil, which is more sandy than further south, is, as a rule, poor and unfertile, except in the wadis, a few of which are usually cultivated in favourable years, and are generally marked by stunted selem and kittr bush. Further south, in the El Karaba and Sharg El Adeik districts, there is much more land suitable for cultivation, though even here it is generally seen in the wadis only, notwithstanding that the rainfall is markedly heavier. Selem, kittr, samr, sayal, and tundub trees grow plentifully, though they are rarely thick enough to obstruct free passage through them, and homra and maheirib grass are everywhere to be met. In the two last-named districts wells are comparatively numerous, though often excessively deep, occasionally as much as 250 feet, and the water rather salt.

In El Karaba, saltworks are frequently seen. Hafirs or tanks for holding up rain water, many of which are said to have been made by the ancients, are here particularly numerous compared to other parts of the Sudan, and are quite a distinctive characteristic of this part of the country.

[Sidenote: El Butana.]

The region known as “El Butana” is wonderfully open and flat, indeed, so much so, that, as a rule, not a single tree or bush is visible for miles, except along an occasional wadi. These, as a rule, drain northwards, and, as elsewhere in this part of the country, are usually the localities selected for cultivation, though the soil, generally speaking, is here richer than in the other districts.

The great product of El Butana is, however, Hantut grass and Siha plant, both particularly good for camels, and thus during the rains it was, and is still to a lesser extent, customary for camel-owning Arabs from all parts of the Sudan to visit this district for grazing. Water at this time of year, being comparatively plentiful, the Arabs are not tied down to the very limited number of wells existing in the dry season, and are thus free to wander far and wide wherever it suits them. A month or two after the cessation of the rains the grass becomes dry, weather-beaten, and broken, and the greater part of this region is then bare and desolate.

Though the Shukria are probably the rightful owners of this district, yet the Debania (Gedaref), Abu Rof, Kenana, Kawahla (Blue Nile), and other tribes were always accustomed to graze here gratuitously, though without, it seems, the permission of the owners, who apparently were not strong enough to effectively resist this invasion. An arrangement has now been made by the Government assigning specified areas to the various tribes for grazing purposes.

[Sidenote: Wells.]

The principal localities, and, in fact, the only known wells where the Nomad Arabs congregate during the dry season, are given below. At all these places the Arabs live by families in small groups of dom-mat tents.

I. UM HATAB.—About 30 miles east of Kabushia, 10 wells, 36 feet deep, less in the rains. Arabs here are Fadnia, Kawahla, and Jaalin, under Sheikh Mohammed Suleiman. Belongs to Shendi District of Berber Province. Last wells on road from Gedaref to El Damer. It is just outside the north-west limits of El Butana.

II. UM SHEDIDA.—Some 30 miles east of Um Hatab. 30 wells, 36 feet deep. Arabs and Sheikh same as Um Hatab, belong to Berber province. Situate in north of El Butana.

III. BIR AMBASA.—Between Abu Deleig and Um Hatab, is said to be 300 feet deep, water plentiful. However, no Arabs live here, presumably on account of the great depth of well and consequent labour in drawing water. It is said to have been dug by the Ancients (infidels), and to have inscriptions on it, though this appears open to doubt.

Bir Geheid about 20 miles east of Ambasa and on the eastern side of El Hawad—a very large well, 30 feet in diameter and 330 feet deep. No water at present and well partially filled in. Said also to have been built by the Ancients.

IV. DEBBAGHAT.—16 wells, 60 feet deep, in Khor Jegjegi. Lies about 6 miles E.N.E. from Abu Deleig. Arabs, Jaalin, Ahamda, Batahin, under Hassan Nimr, a sub-Sheikh under Mohammed Suleiman. It belongs to Berber Province.

V. ISNABIR.—23 miles east of Abu Deleig, on road from Goz Regeb to that place. Arabs, Batahin, under Sheikh Mohammed Talha, belonging to Gezira Province. Wells contained little water in April, 1900.

VI. ABU DELEIG.—84 miles by road E.N.E. from Khartoum. 50 wells, 30 to 70 feet deep, extending for some miles in the Wadi Jegjegi. Headquarters of the Batahin and residence of Sheikh Mohammed Talha. Other tribes here are Mogharba, Hassania, Jaalin, etc.

Abu Deleig belongs to Gezira Province, and there is a Mamur, Police Officer, and Police Post here.

Up to February, 1898, Abu Deleig was always held by a Dervish force, latterly under the command of Abd El Rahim Wad Abu Dugal. This post was surprised by Irregulars from Kassala in February, 1898, who in turn, however, were themselves surprised on their way back to Kassala and suffered severely.

VII. GEILI.—About 25 miles due south of Abu Deleig. About 30 wells, 100 to 150 feet deep, situated around a flat topped granite hill about 250 feet high, on the summit of which is the tomb of Bint El Mek, a daughter of one of the Fung kings and wife of one of the early Shukria sheikhs. Arabs, Batahin and Mogharba, belonging to Gezira Province. There are ancient carvings here on the south side of the hill. (Vide also “Route Report Khartoum North to Kassala” Vol. II, Chap. IV).

VIII. UM RUEISHID.—50 miles south-east of Abu Deleig on the road from Kassala to Khartoum, three wells, 100 feet deep in the dry season. They are the westernmost wells in the Kassala Province. Arabs Shukria, Mogharba, and Awaida, under Shiekh Ali Wad El Had.

IX. EL GELEITA.—12 miles north of Um Rueishid, on Goz Regeb-Abu Deleig road. Eight wells, 70 feet deep, water plentiful, Arabs mostly Shukria. Belongs to Kassala Province.

X. SHAG (EL WALIA).—12 miles east of El Geleita, first water after leaving Goz Regeb, on Abu Deleig road. Four wells, 70 to 100 feet deep. Inhabitants chiefly Shukria, few Mogharba, etc. Belongs to Kassala Province.

XI. EL SOFEIYA.—72 miles rather north of west from Asubri. 20 wells, 100 feet deep, water plentiful. Arabs same as at Um Rueishid. Residence of Ahmed Mohammed Abu Sin, wakil of Head Sheikh of Shukria in the Kassala Province.

XII. RERA.—About 10 miles south of El Sofeiya, 10 wells, 100 feet deep. In the eastern and highest ridge, of which there are several close by, there are two or three rock tanks containing water. Arabs, Shukria, Mogharba, Awaida, etc., under Ali Wad El Had, of Kassala Province. 48 miles south of Rera is the well of El Adeid a few miles south of J. Tawal. Water is scarce in the dry season, and only a few Shukria are found here.

XIII. EL SADDA.—22 miles south-east of Rera, 20 wells, 90 feet deep, ¼ mile west of south end of J. El Sadda, a low ridge running north and south; Arabs and sheikh same as at Rera. From here a road leads to Gedaref, which lies about 90 miles S.S.E. No water on the road except during rains at Hafir El Igl.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

The Arabs cultivate considerably in favourable years, when dura can be purchased at PT.25, or even less per ardeb. As before stated, the wadis known locally as “Atmurs” are the localities selected for cultivation; the chief of these being El Hawad (12 miles east of Abu Deleig), which extends probably some distance to the south, and northwards it trends towards the Nile at Kabushia. It receives the water of Khor Jegjegi. “Hemeisi” and “Feterita” dura are the crops most generally grown.

[Sidenote: Herds, etc.]

All these Arabs own large numbers of sheep and goats, but cattle and camels are now comparatively scarce, owing to the depredations of the Dervishes. The Shukria camels are remarkable for their size and carrying capacity, but are not, as a rule, suitable for fast work.

[Sidenote: Riverain population.]

Along the left bank of the Atbara, from El Damer to Goz Regeb, the Arabs are chiefly Nomad Bisharin and Jaalin. There are few permanent villages south of Adarama.

[Sidenote: Atbara.]

Amid the ruins of Goz Regeb live the few survivors of the former inhabitants under Sheikh Gaffa Ageil. South of Goz Regeb are Shukria, under Amara Abu Sin, who has a permanent village at Gandaua, a few miles north of Asubri.

In the neighbourhood of Fasher are the Lahawin, a tribe which formerly belonged to the White Nile.

[Sidenote: Nile.]

Along the Nile (right bank), from El Damer to Khartoum North, there is a considerable and much mixed riverain population, for the most part living in mud-built villages, and cultivating with both sagias and shadufs. The chief tribes are Jaalin, Ababda, Shaigia, Hassania, Mogharba, Aonia, etc.

[Sidenote: Villages on the Nile. (R.B.)]

EL DAMER.—Population about 700; Jaalin, etc. This town was formerly famous for its University and learning. It suffered much during the Mahdia, but its population and prosperity is now rapidly increasing, and there is quite a good market; principal trade, dom-mats, baskets, etc., and salt. A few caravans come here direct from Gedaref. There is a railway station here. It will be the capital of the Berber Province in 1905.

KABUSHIA.—26 miles down the river from Shendi. Population about 250, Shaigia and Jaalin; Awaida, Aliab, and Fadnia Nomads come here for grazing and cultivation. There is a comparatively large market.

The ruins of the ancient Meroe are situated about 4 miles to the north, and there are traces of an old temple at El Bagarawia. There are 25 pyramids (Tarabil) about 5 miles north-east. Some of these pyramids were examined in 1903, but little of interest was discovered. (Vide Appendix D.)

SHENDI.—Population about 500, majority Shaigia and a few Jaalin also Nafiab, Awaida, and Ababda. Headquarters of the Egyptian Cavalry: four squadrons, also one field artillery battery. Railway workshops and good railway station. Headquarters of Shendi District and residence of a British Inspector, Mamur, etc. Post and telegraph offices. Excellent climate. Houses of mud. There is a good market, but not to be compared with that of former days, when Shendi was an important place and had 7,000 inhabitants. The town was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Meroe, and is said by some to have been the residence of the Queen of Sheba. Bruce says the women of Shendi were noted as being the most beautiful in the Sudan. It was here that Ismail Pasha, son of Mohammed Ali, Khedive of Egypt, was burnt in his hut by Mek Nimr, in 1822, in revenge for his barbarities. To avenge Ismail’s death the town and inhabitants were destroyed in 1823 by order of Mohammed Ali. The Nimr family are now in poor circumstances.

There is excellent grazing along the banks of the river at almost all seasons of the year.

Shendi was occupied by Major T. Hickman with the 15th Egyptian Battalion on 26th March, 1898, after a short fight.

Government steam engines have been erected here with a view to cultivation by the Supply Department of the Army. The natives here have learnt to appreciate such agricultural implements as iron sagias and ploughs of English pattern, and are anxious to acquire them.

WAD BAN NAGA.—There is a railway station here about 24 miles from Shendi. Sauarab and Aonia Arabs, and others, such as Deshiab Batahin, Ababda, and Hassania, come here for grazing. It belongs to the Shendi District, of the Berber Province. For the antiquities in the neighbourhood vide Appendix D.

GEILI.—Situated on right bank of Nile, 28 miles north of Khartoum North, is the residence of Zubeir Pasha and his following, who belong mostly to the Gemaab tribe, a branch of the Jaalin. There are also Batahin and Hassania here. There is a railway station at Wad Ramla, 1½ miles to the north.

[Sidenote: Villages on the Blue Nile. (R.B.)]

KHARTOUM NORTH.—On the right bank of the Blue Nile immediately opposite Khartoum. The name applies to several small detached villages, such as Gubbat Khojali, Hellet Hamad, etc. The inhabitants consists of Jaalin, Shaigia, Mahas, Mogharba, Khojalab, etc., under Omda Mohammed Osman Ibrahim. (For description see Chap. II, p. 49.)

EILAFUN.—On right bank Blue Nile, 19½ miles by road from Khartoum. A very neatly-kept village of Mahas and Shaigia, under Omda Mohammed Abd El Kader. It belongs to Kamlin district of Gezira Province. There is a mosque here, as to the Khalifaship of which there are frequent squabbles.

About 7 miles east of Eilafun is the village of Um Dibban, the abode of the three brothers, sons of the famous religious Sheikh El Obeid, the powerful and fanatical Mahdist leader who defeated Mohammed Ali Pasha at Um Dibban in September, 1884, and who was the first Dervish Commander to besiege Khartoum. They have a private mosque here, and though primarily a religious family, they aspire to considerable temporal power.

RUFAA.—Situated on the right bank of Blue Nile, 95 miles by land, by river 104 miles, from Khartoum. The population of the town and surrounding district numbers 30,000, and is mainly composed of Shukria Arabs. Others are Batahin, Sherafa, Jaalin, Mogharba, etc. There is one Greek trader here who carried on business here throughout the Mahdia. The houses are mostly grass tukls. No post or telegraph office. Nearest is at Kamlin.

Routes.

Route reports referring to the principal caravan routes are given in Vol. II, Chap. IV. There is also a caravan route from Gedaref, viâ El Sadda, Rera, Abu Deleig, and Um Hatab to El Damer. Caravans, however, usually strike the Nile at Kabushia after leaving Um Hatab. From Kabushia a track leads due east to Adarama.

SECTION 2.—GEDAREF AND DISTRICT.

Practically the whole of the region enclosed between the Rivers Rahad and Atbara from a point some miles north of the town of Gedaref, southwards to Khor Seraf Said on the Gallabat road, an area containing more than 11,000 square miles, is comprised in the Gedaref District. This large tract of country, like other parts of the Sudan, is now greatly under populated. The inhabitants of the district are estimated at about 25,000 (1904).

The whole of the northern portion of this area is generally flat and open and devoid of bush, but here and there, particularly to north-east and south of the town of Gedaref, it is undulating and rather hilly. As these hills extend further south, the whole country becomes gradually enveloped in forest, which, though it yields a good deal of gum, is practically uninhabited, waterless, and for the most part unexplored, and bears few signs of former inhabitants.

In the rains, the surface of the ground, whether open or forest, is covered with grass 3 to 5 feet, and in places 15 feet, in height, which, until burnt, is exceedingly annoying to the traveller, should he be on foot or riding a mule or a donkey.

Generally speaking, the whole country is fertile, and only needs inhabitants and a minimum of labour to render it reproductive; water, though now scarce, would probably not prove to be an insuperable difficulty.

[Sidenote: Historical.]

In pre-Mahdist days, Gedaref and district, including the old Gedaref or Suk Abu Sin, was a fertile and populous spot. Its cornfields supplied a large portion of the Sudan, both to the north and west, and it was, in short, prosperous. It was devastated by the Dervishes in 1885, and the garrison captured. Abu Anga and later Ahmed Fedil were appointed Emir of the district. In 1898, it was seized by a small column from Kassala under Colonel Parsons, after a hazardous and successful fight, a few miles outside the town, and though subsequently twice attacked by Ahmed Fedil, held its own until relieved by a force from the Nile. (Vide p. 267.)

Gedaref Town.

The town of Gedaref is situated partly on an under-feature emanating from some low hills, rather more than 100 feet high, half-a-mile to the east, and partly on the plain which lies below the general level of the surrounding country on three sides, and on the fourth, slopes away very gradually westwards.

This plain, which extends for some miles in all directions, especially to the west and north-west, is devoid of trees of any description, and being practically all rich black cotton soil, there is really an almost unlimited extent of land available for cultivation during the rains.

The quasi-European quarter of the town consists of one street of shops, built of brick, about 200 yards long, and, with the exception of a few other brick houses and the Government buildings, the whole of the remainder of the town consists of grass tukls.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

The principal traders are Greeks, but these are few, and so far trade has not reached the expectations formed of it, owing chiefly to want of railway communication with this part of the Sudan.

There is a fair gum trade, but the quality of Hashab is hardly equal to that of Kordofan. Otherwise, besides the usual imports, consisting of cotton goods, sugar, etc., and the export of a certain amount of dura, dukhn, and simsim, and coffee from Gallabat, into other districts of the Sudan, trade at present has not reached large proportions, but is improving.

It is a notable fact that in the Eastern Sudan a well-to-do native never travels without his coffee, after imbibing which he professes to be ready for anything; in the Gezira and Kordofan, coffee does not seem to be nearly so generally drunk.

There is a little trade with Walkait, viâ the Setit, but this at present is insignificant.

[Sidenote: Population.]

The inhabitants of Gedaref, estimated in 1904 at 5,500 souls, are a heterogeneous collection of Shukria, Debania, Takruris, and every kind of black. The Baggaras sent here to colonise after their defeat at Omdurman have now mostly been disseminated in the district, and what Abyssinians were originally found here have for the most part returned to their homes.

The old name of the town, “Suk Abu Sin,” is now inapplicable, as the Shukria have so decreased in numbers and wealth during the Mahdia as to be comparatively insignificant. Abu Sin is the family name of the leading Shukria family.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

The water supply is from wells partly cut through rock; it is good but not plentiful. Efforts are being made to improve the supply.

[Sidenote: Garrison.]

The garrison usually consists of one company of the Sudanese battalion at Kassala, which also furnishes a detachment at Gallabat. There is always an Egyptian Mamur present, and usually a British Inspector for at least six months in the year. In addition, there is generally a small detachment of the Arab battalion here.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

There are many excellent gardens, growing the usual Sudan vegetables, and in addition, figs, limes, custard apples, and dates; the latter are remarkable in that the trees bear two separate crops during the year.

As above-mentioned, a rain-crop of dura, dukhn, simsim, etc., is very extensively cultivated on the surrounding fertile plain; a certain amount of cotton is also grown for local use; this, and the cereals, are capable of considerable development; but this must await the advent of a railway. It should, however, be borne in mind that rain-watered cotton does not produce so fine a staple as that grown on irrigated land. All cotton grown here finds a ready sale at Gallabat to the Abyssinians.

The characteristic dura of Gedaref is a red species called “Kurgi,” which produces a very white flour. There is very little “Naggad” or early dura sown; its place is taken by dukhn, which, with simsim, is harvested at the end of October, whereas the “Kurgi” is not ripe until February. Simsim, or Sesame, as a rule does particularly well in this district. As all crops are dependent on the rainfall, they naturally vary considerably and in direct accordance with it. In 1899 they were almost a complete failure. The crops were attacked in 1902-03 by a disease called “Asal,” a species of blight, so called as it produces a formation strongly resembling honey (Arabic “Asal”).[62]

[Sidenote: Rains.]

The rains begin in June and last on till October.[63] As the surrounding country is cotton soil, dust does not precede the storms as at Kassala, but judging from the dilapidated appearance of the town, when revisited on their cessation, the rainfall must be considerable in a favourable year.

Unless actually seen, it is difficult to picture the difference between Gedaref before and Gedaref immediately after the rains. By May, the surface of the ground surrounding the houses and environs of the town has become clean and bare, and many of the grass tukls have been rebuilt and appear almost toy-like, so spick and span are they. However, in October the whole place has the appearance of a wreck, houses are tumbling down, the neat new tukls are discoloured and distorted, and every square foot of ground, right up to the houses, not already planted with dura, at this time fully 12 feet high, is overgrown with the rankest of tall Aada grass, which is even higher, and through which the by-streets of the town are mere tunnels little more than 2 feet wide, and along which it is difficult to find one’s way about without a guide.[64]

[Sidenote: Climate.]

At this season (September and early October) there is a good deal of malarial fever in a year of good rainfall. The natives of the place seem to some extent inoculated with it, though those from the more northern districts are readily affected.

From December to May the climate is perfectly healthy.

[Sidenote: Wood.]

There is no building wood, and little fire wood within 15 to 20 miles.

[Sidenote: Posts and telegraphs.]

There is a post and telegraph office, and a weekly camel post to Kassala, Gallabat, and Wad Medani. Telegraph also connects with these places.

[Sidenote: Serut fly.]

As the serut fly is present at Gedaref during the rains, all camels are removed about the end of May, and other animals are kept in tukls as far as possible.

[Sidenote: Transport animals.]

In the dry weather camels are the best transport, both for travelling along the roads or going across country over the cotton soil, should it be necessary, but, in the latter case, they will sooner or later suffer from sore feet.

Limited numbers of camels are obtainable for hire or purchase during the winter months. Mules are only occasionally brought here. As many as 50 donkeys can usually be bought without much difficulty, price £E.2 to £E.3. The little Abyssinian donkey, price about £E.2, which is the best for that country, is also generally procurable.

[Sidenote: Game.]

Ariel, gazelle, bustard, quail, and a few snipe and teal are to be found in the neighbourhood at certain seasons. For game in other parts of this district, vide under Gallabat.

[Sidenote: Villages.]

Beyond Gedaref itself and the villages in its neighbourhood there are few others worth mentioning. Sofi, on the Atbara, is a largish Jaalin village under Sheikh Taib El Nimr. It was here that Sir Samuel and Lady Baker spent the rains of 1869 (vide “Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia”).

At Abu Gulud, between Sofi and Doka, and other villages in this neighbourhood a large quantity of grain is usually grown. Asar is the headquarters of the Debania tribe, now much reduced in numbers, and the residence of their Nazir Sheikh Wad Zaid.

On the Rahad the principal villages are Mafasa and Hawata. The former is the headquarters of the Mamur of this (Radah) district. Upstream of Hawata there are few inhabitants at present.

SECTION 3.—GALLABAT AND DISTRICT.

[Sidenote: General.]

The comparatively small area (about 1,200 square miles) bounded on the west by the River Rahad, on the north by Khor Seraf Said, the southern boundary of Gedaref Province, and on the east and south by the Abyssinian frontier, comprises the district of Gallabat. Practically the whole of this region is thickly wooded with talh, soffar, ebony, silag, ardeib, hashab, baobab, bamboo, and other trees, of which some attain considerable size; the central and south eastern portions are hilly, as is Gadabi and some of the country to the east of the Atbara.[65] In the vicinity of the town of Gallabat there are perennial streams of running water, but the greater part of the province is dependent on wells for its water supply.

[Sidenote: Town.]

Gallabat town, called by the Abyssinians Matemma, is situated at the foot of a steep slope on the left bank of the Khor Abnaheir, which here constitutes the boundary with Abyssinia, and is about 5 miles from the Atbara which flows to the north and north-east.

[Sidenote: Historical.]

The town has for a very long time been considered as forming an important trade centre on the Sudan-Abyssinian frontier, and the latter people used to lay claim to it. It was in consequence an almost constant source of feuds and fighting during the greater part of the last century between the Abyssinians and the Turks, and later with the Dervishes. It was formerly celebrated for its slave mart, and drove a prosperous trade. (Vide “Cradle of the Blue Nile,” vol. 2, p. 168.)

It was attacked by the Dervishes under Zeki Tumal in 1886, and sacked. Three years later King John of Abyssinia, burning with fury at the sack of Gondar by the Mahdists, collected his warriors and fought a tremendous battle here, with, it is asserted, 80,000 to 100,000 on either side, on 9th March, 1889. The Abyssinians, who outnumbered the Dervishes, at first were successful, but just as the Dervishes, on the following day, were giving way on all sides a stray shot wounded and subsequently killed King John. This completely reversed the situation, and the Abyssinians turned and fled (vide p. 258.)

Its occupation by the Dervishes naturally resulted in the ruin of its trade, and this is only now beginning to revive. Robbers are, however, rife inside the Abyssinian frontier, and owing to that and other reasons, the revival is slow. The Anglo-Egyptian flags were hoisted at Gallabat on 7th December, 1898, by Colonel Collinson, C.B. The Abyssinian flag was then already flying on the fort.

Gallabat is said, before the Mahdia, to have been a comparatively large and busy trade centre. Looking at it now, it is difficult to believe that it can ever regain its pristine wealth and importance. The town, such as it is, with the exception of the Zabtia, etc., is built entirely of grass tukls. On the top of the slope overlooking the town there still remains the old Dervish fort built by Zeki Tumal. From here a very fine view is obtained away to the hills beyond the Atbara, and on a clear day one can see the mountains surrounding Lake Tsana. The hill pointed out as that on which King John was wounded lies 3 miles south-east, and that near which his body was captured is visible 10 miles further off.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants. Takruri.]

The inhabitants are almost entirely Takruris,[66] originally from Darfur. The ancestors of these people, on arrival at Gallabat on their way back to Darfur after visiting Mecca in the 18th century, realised they had found a better land and settled here, where they have remained ever since. They possess curious jagged throwing-knives, which their ancestors are said to have brought from the Upper Congo.

In 1899 the population of the province, which was carefully assessed, numbered 2,200 souls, of which about 700 were living in the town itself. In 1901, it was estimated to be 2,670, and it has since increased to 3,800 in 1904.

These Takruris are as a rule poor, but industrious and fairly good cultivators. They also collect a good deal of honey. This they find with great dexterity by means of a bird, whose note they are exceedingly quick at detecting. Honey and water is always proffered to the thirsty traveller, though a liquor called “Asalia,” a kind of “Um Bilbil” or “Merissa,” is the drink they prefer themselves.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

Neither the import nor export trade with Abyssinia has as yet attained much importance. Coffee is one of the chief imports; this is about PT.70 per 100 lbs., and is of very good quality. The remainder are mostly unimportant native requirements, such as bees-wax, shatta (red pepper), tobacco, etc., which are brought in in small quantities; also a good many cattle, horses, mules and donkeys. This import of live-stock constitutes the bulk of the trade.

There is a growing export trade both in raw locally-grown cotton as well as in Manchester goods.

Half the customs receipts go to Abyssinia. In 1902 the total amounted to £E.720 and in 1903 to £E.805.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

Most of this district is fertile, but there is little land cultivated around the town of Gallabat, as the natives have discovered other spots in the forest where, owing to the particular kind of grass that grows, less labour is necessary to prepare the land for sowing.

Most of the cultivation lies about 15 miles north-west of Gallabat, where there are a good many villages, chief of which are Wallak and Basunda. Though, as a rule, the grass is almost everywhere burnt as soon as dry (November and December), yet the grass on a piece of land which it is intended to cultivate is most carefully preserved until the arrival of the ensuing rains. Then, and not till then, when the young grass has sprouted, the dry grass is fired, and the old and new are destroyed together; the ground is now clear and ready for sowing without further trouble, and thus cultivation is carried on with a minimum of labour. As the country is mostly forest, of course clearings have occasionally to be made. Two crops of dura are raised—“Naggad” and “Kurgi”—also a good deal of dukhn, which is ready for harvesting by the middle of October. Cotton is said to grow well, and in 1901 there were 800 acres of it under cultivation; this was four times as much as in the preceding year. It is expected that several thousand acres will be under cotton cultivation in 1905-6.

A few lime trees are now all that remain of the beautiful gardens which existed formerly on the banks of the Khor Abnaheir. The Dervishes are said to have ruthlessly cut down the fruit trees for building wood.

[Sidenote: Garrison.]

The garrison is usually a detachment furnished by the company of the Sudanese or Arab Battalion at Kassala. There are also the usual civil police.

[Sidenote: Rains.]

The rains begin here earlier and are much heavier[67] than at either Gedaref or Kassala. After the end of April heavy rain storms become pretty frequent and last till September or October. During this season the roads are very bad for travelling. The serut fly appears when the new vegetation has sprung up.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The same as Gedaref. Healthy, December to June; unhealthy, during the remainder of the year.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

The main water supply is from the Khor Abnaheir, which averages 5 yards wide and 2 feet deep, but varies considerably according to the time of year, and becomes stagnant and foul towards the end of the dry season. There are also some small springs near the fort, the water from which, at this season, is more wholesome.

[Sidenote: Trade routes]

Roads lead from here to Chelga and Gondar, Kwara, Dunkur, Roseires, Rahad, and Gadabi. (Vide Vol. 2).

[Sidenote: Telegraph offices.]

There is a telegraph and post office at Gallabat.

[Sidenote: Transport animals.]

Camels are the most suitable transport animals, unless the Abyssinian frontier is crossed, when mules or donkeys become desirable; for the journey to either Gondar or Kwara they are indeed indispensable.

When the Dervishes sacked Gondar, their transport consisted chiefly of camels, but very few are said to have survived or even to have reached there.

Camels are hardly ever procurable at Gallabat. No number of mules, donkeys and horses can be relied on unless plenty of notice is given, when the Abyssinians would probably readily supply a limited number.

[Sidenote: Currency.]

British, Egyptian, or Turkish money is not as a rule accepted by the Abyssinians, who require to be paid in Maria Theresa dollars, which they value at PT.10½, but the Sudan Government at not more than PT.9½.

[Sidenote: Game.]

From El Damer to the line Roseires-Gallabat all the game mentioned under “Kassala” is found, with the exception of ibex, oryx, wild sheep, and klipspringer, and in addition rhinoceros and tiang (Damaliscus Senegalensis); bohor, or reedbuck, and Gazella rufifrons are common in places.

SECTION 4.—COUNTRY BETWEEN BLUE NILE, DINDER, AND RAHAD, WITH DESCRIPTION OF THESE RIVERS.

[Sidenote: General description.]

The country between the Blue Nile and the Rahad and Dinder Rivers is at present (1904) practically uninhabited south of the village of Durraba on the Dinder, which is about the same latitude as Karkoj on the Blue Nile.

Before the Mahdia, villages extended along both the Rahad and Dinder to nearly as far south as the Abyssinian frontier. Now, however, though inhabitants are slowly returning, there are but few villages even north of the Karkoj-Durraba line.

[Sidenote: Tribes.]

The country lying south of the latitude of Sennar being infested with the serut fly during the rainy season, the inhabitants, who are principally Kenana, Kawahla, Rufaa El Sharg, and Agaliin, are semi-nomadic; that is to say shortly before the commencement of the rains many of them trek with their camels, cattle, horses, etc., northwards across the Rahad to the well-known El Butana grazing district (see p. 103), in order to escape the fly, whilst only a few remain behind to cultivate their dura, simsim, and cotton.

The whole of this country as far south as the Abyssinian frontier, in the vicinity of which the hills commence, is perfectly flat and covered with bush or forest of varying density, with here and there open spaces, often many miles in extent. The bush is thickest in the vicinity of the river banks and thickest of all along the Rahad.

The trees and bush most usually seen are talh, hashab, kittr, sayal, kurmut, heglig, laot, sunt, sidr, etc.

[Sidenote: El Agab Abu Gin.]

El Agab Abu Gin, Nazir of the Rufaa El Sharg Arabs, is in charge of all the country bordering the Dinder and Rahad (left bank) from the latitude of Sennar southwards. His residence is at Abu Hashim on the Dinder (left bank). Of the other villages occupied by his people the principal are Durraba, Bandana, Gileidat, and Lueisa.

[Sidenote: Communications.]

From the villages of Wad El Abbas and Sheikh Talha, both on the Blue Nile, roads lead to Gileidat and thence southwards along the Dinder to Durraba, beyond which point there is no regular road. From Senga and Karkoj, roads lead, viâ Abu Hashim and Deberki on the Dinder, to Hawata on the Rahad. South of this, as far as the Roseires-Abu Ramla track, the country may be said to be roadless and, owing to the cotton soil and bush, travelling across country is a trying operation for man or beast. There is a good road up the right bank of the Blue Nile from Wad Medani to Famaka.

Khor Um Degul, or Agaliin, or Mehara, which lies between the Blue Nile and Dinder, and joins the latter near Deberki, was formerly thickly populated and cultivated by the Agaliin; it was, however, until 1902, quite deserted. A few villages are now said to be springing up along it, and wells are being opened. There are many talh and hashab gum trees in its vicinity.

North of Sennar-Gileidat villages are more numerous along the Rahad, Dinder and Blue Nile, though there is no great extent of cultivation.

[Sidenote: Game.]

In this district, or rather in the southern portion of it, the following species are found:—Elephant (Abyssinian variety, with small tusks), buffalo, rhinoceros, giraffe, roan, kudu, waterbuck, tora hartebeeste, tiang, reedbuck, ariel, gazelle, oribi, bushbuck, warthog, bush pig, lion, leopard, hippopotamus, crocodile, etc.

THE BLUE NILE.[68]

[Sidenote: General description.]

The Blue Nile rises in the Abyssinian mountains about 60 miles south of Lake Tsana (altitude of Lake Tsana, 4,800 feet). Its source was discovered by Bruce in the year 1760. After flowing northwards into the lake at its south-west corner, it finds an exit[69] again to the south-east, and, after making a big bend to the east, it curls round to the south and flows in a north-westerly direction towards the Sudan, which it enters near Famaka, after a course of some 500 miles. Altitude at Famaka, 1,700 feet (approx.).

Throughout the whole of this upper portion of its course, which has never been explored, it is believed to flow in a series of rapids over a rocky bed and often between high cliffs, and for the most part through the most precipitous and rugged country. Here it is known as the Abai, whereas, as soon as it reaches the plains of the Sudan, its name at once becomes “Bahr Azrak” or Blue Nile.

Until comparatively recently the Blue Nile was considered by the Abyssinians to be the main stream of the Nile, and they, several centuries ago, fully realised the value of attempting, or threatening, to deprive Egypt of her water supply by the construction of a dam at the outlet of lake Tsana or possibly elsewhere. A mission to study the possibilities of this lake was recently sent from Egypt, and the investigation showed that it is by far the most suitable site on the Blue Nile for the construction of a storage reservoir which, though its benefit to Egypt would be slight, would be of the greatest value to the Sudan.[70]

[Sidenote: Length, width, &c.]

The length of the Blue Nile, from the point near Famaka, where it enters the Sudan, to its junction with the White Nile at Khartoum, is estimated at approximately 460 miles, which makes its total length about 1,000 miles.

The average width of channel throughout its course in the Sudan is 550 yards.

Although in the northern reaches the width increases, it is rarely more than 800 yards wide at any point.

[Sidenote: Banks.]

The average height of the banks over low-water level is from 26 to 30 feet for the first 150 miles up-stream from Khartoum. Further south they are higher, and average over 33 to 39 feet above low-water level. The difference in level between flood and low-water is 20 to 23 feet. In the first quarter of the year, the river is reduced to a succession of deep pools, connected by very shallow reaches. Even native boats can with difficulty navigate the distance between Sennar and Khartoum during this season. The Blue Nile is at its lowest in April, but during the latter half of May the first or false rise begins. The real rise begins in June, and the maximum height is attained in August. In the latter half of September it begins to fall rapidly.

[Sidenote: Navigability. Cataract.]

Navigation is simple enough at high Nile. As far up-stream as Roseires, 405 miles above Khartoum, the river is navigable by the ordinary Nile steamers from the middle of June till the end of November. Just above Roseires, however, there is a cataract about 6 miles long. This cataract has never been navigated by steamer, but it is said that previous to 1881, sailing boats passed regularly up and down it. Rafts occasionally navigate it successfully on their way down stream. During the last two years a small launch and a few sailing boats have been passed up and down, but there is a dangerous reach for sailing boats above the cataract.

During November and December the water falls rapidly, and sandbanks appear in quantities, the rush of water through the narrow channels being very great. The worst part of the river is near Abdin and Sennar, but there is little rock anywhere. The water for 5 miles below Roseires is bad, and in places dangerous from rock. Steamers with barges lashed alongside, at the end of December in most years, can get through, except at one point some 20 miles south of Sennar, near Abdin, where a reef of rocks extends almost entirely across the river. Steamers have to be steadied over this place by ropes in December, and the barges passed up and down by ropes.

[Sidenote: Discharges.[71]]

Sir W. Garstin calculates the average discharge of the river at Khartoum to be:—

At low-water (May) 200 metres cube per second.

In flood (August) 11,000 „ „ „

[Sidenote: Velocity.]

The velocity of the stream is very great: even in February it is not less than 3 miles an hour, while in full flood it must be considerably over 6 miles an hour. In winter the water is very clear, and of a beautiful limpid blue. In flood, being charged with the scourings of the Abyssinian mountains and forests, it is heavily charged with deposit, and the water is of a deep chocolate colour. The Blue Nile is considered the chief fertilizing agent of Egypt.

[Sidenote: Country along the banks.]

From Khartoum to Sennar the country is uninteresting; banks flat, vegetation and population considerable, here and there cultivation by sagias, crops mostly dura.

South of Sennar the thorn jungle along the banks becomes very dense, and at high Nile dips into the water; often the only way to get through it is by hippopotamus paths, though the roads on both banks have been cleared and there are meshras at frequent intervals.

Speaking generally, the further south one goes the steeper and higher the banks become, the channel of the river being worn away by the rush of water. The country on the right bank is mostly jungle, with little cultivation and few villages.

Between Wad Medani and Sennar the jungle on the left bank runs in a strip of one or two miles in breadth; west of this strip are the cultivation and villages, which extend right across to the White Nile. Near Wad Medani the cultivation is continuous, and one marches for miles through dura fields.

As one proceeds south, the cultivation becomes less general, until south of Senga, where it is mostly confined to strips along the river bank, and a certain amount round villages a few miles inland. South of Senga the jungle is replaced by forest, large tamarind trees, etc., with thick undergrowth, and open marshes extend along the banks, which, in the dry season, afford excellent grazing. The grass, which grows to a height of 8 to 10 feet in the rains, dies rapidly as the rain ceases, and throughout November and December the natives burn enormous tracts of the dry grass. These grass fires, intended to improve the grazing as well as to enable people to get about the country, are, as may be imagined, exceedingly detrimental to the forest trees, which become distorted and stunted. The forest on both banks of the Blue Nile south of Senga is chiefly composed of acacias of several varieties, laot, tamarisk, kittr, hashab, talh, soffar, and sidr. A few kakamut, tebeldi, dom palms, and sycamores are also to be seen in these forests.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The months of December, January, and February are cool and healthy. March, April and May are hot. The rainy season begins in May and lasts till the end of October.[72] August, September, and October are very hot and damp. The drenching rains cool the air temporarily, but the subsequent heat is moist and enervating. On the upper reaches at Sennar, Karkoj, and further south, as the vegetation and foliage increase in density, so does malarial fever abound in proportion for at least a month after the rains have ceased. September and October are probably the worst months.

[Sidenote: Serut fly.]

In October, frequent heavy thunderstorms occur with torrential rain; they are, however, very local. Heavy dew at night. The storms get less frequent as the month goes on, and are over before November, after which the climate gradually improves. The north wind blows fitfully during November and December, and the nights are cold, but the temperature by day is very high until late in December, particularly south of Karkoj. The “serut fly” practically appears and disappears with the rains, and is scarce in October, except in certain places. Its northern limit is Sennar. Mosquitoes are bad at all stations at night during August, September, and October.

[Sidenote: Cotton.]

Cotton is cultivated by the natives on the Blue Nile either on the foreshore of the river or inland on ground found by experience to be suitable in a good rainy season.

On the Dinder the only crop raised is the rain crop. This is sown in July after the heavy rains have commenced at the same time as dura, etc. The foreshore sowing takes place simultaneously with that of other foreshore crops, i.e., about December, after the river has fallen, according to the state of the Nile and the height of the submerged banks thus cultivated.

Both rain and foreshore crops begin to be ready for picking 4 months after sowing. There are usually three pickings, the last being the worst, as by that time the plants, which during winter are neglected, are invariably suffering from drought.

In a good year one feddan (acre) of rain-watered land will produce 400 to 1,000 lbs. of unginned cotton. The species of cotton generally sown on the Blue Nile and Dinder are “Abu Hareira,” “Belwa,” and “Mumtaz.” The two former, usually sown on the foreshore, are the old native kinds, whilst the latter, sown as raincrop, was introduced by Mumtaz Pasha from Egypt in the days of the Old Government. The “Abu Hareira” and “Belwa” kinds last 3 years, but the “Mumtaz” only one.

On the Blue Nile, the most favourable land for cotton cultivation is said to be from Sennar southwards to Abu Naama; on the Dinder, the land above Deberki and Abu Rakhis is considered best. Good cotton (irrigated), however, was grown at Wad Medani last year (1903-1904) on the Government experimental farm; 6¾ kantars[73] being actually grown on 1,000 square metres, or a ¼ feddan, giving an average yield of 27 kantars (2,700 lbs.) per feddan.

[Sidenote: Principal towns.]

ROSEIRES.—On the right bank; residence of a British Inspector and Egyptian Mamur. Post and telegraph office; communication by ferry with left bank. There is usually a garrison of one company, under a British officer, furnished by the battalion at Wad Medani. A gunboat is also stationed here. The population is increasing, chiefly Hameg and Sudanese tribes. The market is kept open all the year round, and most ordinary requirements can be obtained here. For rainfall, vide footnote on preceding page.

KARKOJ.—On the right bank is an unimportant village, formerly residence of a British Inspector and Mamur, and the headquarters of the District, which has, however, now been moved to Senga. Population about 1,000, mostly Jaalin. The market, which is a poor one, is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There is no post or telegraph office here. Senga is the telegraph office.

SENGA.—Left bank. (Vide Chap. V, p. 119.)

SENNAR.—Left bank. (Vide Chap. V, p. 119.)

WAD EL ABBAS.—On the right bank; was founded about 50 years ago. The population numbers about 1,200, and consists chiefly of Jaalin, with a mixed lot of Gezira Arabs, as well as about 300 Sudanese.

There is a weekly market on Wednesdays.

WAD MEDANI.—Left bank. (Vide Chap. V, p. 119.)

For principal towns between Wad Medani and Khartoum (vide Chaps. IV and V).

[Sidenote: Game.]

See under “Country between Blue Nile and Rahad,” p. 109.

[Sidenote: Tributaries of Blue Nile.]

With the exception of the Dinder and the Rahad, there are in the Sudan no other important affluents of the Blue Nile, with the exception of perhaps the Khor Tomat, which joins the main stream near Famaka. This is dry, except during and shortly after the rainy season. Water, however, is easily obtained by digging in its bed.

[Sidenote: Dinder. General.]

The River DINDER rises in the Abyssinian mountains to the south-west of Dunkur, and after flowing for about 50 miles through very mountainous country it enters the plains of the Sudan and flows for about 200 miles in a north-westerly direction until it joins the Blue Nile (right bank) about 40 miles above the town of Wad Medani.

[Sidenote: Bed.]

Its bed near Dunkur, where it leaves the mountains, is rocky and stony, and about 100 yards wide. It was here found (June, 1901) to be 3 feet deep, with a rapid current, and for several months in the rainy season it must be difficult to ford.

Throughout its course in the Sudan its bed, which is sandy and free from rocks a few miles below where it crosses the frontier, is much less winding than that of the Rahad and rarely exceeds 200 yards in width. Its tendency is to become narrower in its lower reaches, and at its mouth it is not more than 120 yards wide.

Upstream of the old site of El Haj the river is wider and shallower and banks lower than in the inhabited area. Even in the old days there were few or no permanent villages above El Haj, but only temporary grazing encampments.

[Sidenote: Banks.]

Its banks are steep and generally about 15 feet high. They are, as a rule, rather higher than the adjacent country, which, when the river is full, becomes flooded and marshy. These marshes were formerly extensively planted with cotton, which is said to have been of good quality; its cultivation is now being encouraged as far as the limited population admits.

[Sidenote: Forests.]

The forests along the banks of the Dinder are of better quality and less dense than those of the Rahad; sunt, kakamut, haraz, sidr, hashab, talh, babanus, etc., are plentiful.

[Sidenote: Navigability.]

The Dinder has been navigated by steamer as far up-stream as Deberki, about 120 miles from its mouth. Large sailing boats ascend it as far as El Safra. Of course, this is only possible whilst the river is in flood during, perhaps, three months in the year, and owing to the wooded banks and southerly wind it is very difficult for sailing boats. In the dry season water stands in pools. There is little doubt, however, that like the Rahad it is navigable in flood to the Abyssinian border.

[Sidenote: Flood.]

The flood arrives at the junction with the Blue Nile about the last week in June. This is rather earlier than the Rahad flood, owing to the later commencement of the rains in Northern Abyssinia, and possibly partly due to the Dinder not being so excessively tortuous as the Rahad. Both Dinder and Rahad bring down large quantities of fertilising matter.

[Sidenote: Tributaries.]

None of much importance.

[Sidenote: Rahad. General.]

The RAHAD rises in Abyssinia in the mountainous region between Lake Tsana on the East and Kwara to the west. It takes, at first, a northerly direction, but after entering the Sudan it flows generally north-west in an extraordinarily winding bed to its junction with the Blue Nile, almost opposite the town of Wad Medani.

[Sidenote: Width.]

Its width probably nowhere exceeds 100 yards, and is frequently not more than 60; in places it is only 30 yards wide. It loses much of its water by “spills” known as “Maya,” and is a much more imposing-looking river above than below Hawata.

[Sidenote: Banks.]

The banks, especially the right, are steep and high, sometimes as much as 40 feet above the bed at low water. They differ from those of the Dinder in that only the left bank is liable to be flooded, and that only at a few places, and consequently do not lend themselves to cultivation to the same extent.

[Sidenote: Forest.]

Belts of dense kittr bush and other jungle grow along its banks. In the lower reaches there are many fine sunt trees, and further inland talh, heglig, etc. Bordering its upper reaches are heglig, silag, khashkhash, ardeib, tebeldis, gemmeiz, etc.

[Sidenote: Villages.]

There are few villages at present above Hawata (right bank), and consequently there is no regular path, though the bush has been to a certain extent cleared. Travelling along the river above Shammam, though practicable, is a difficult operation, more especially before the grass is burnt.

[Sidenote: Flood.]

The flood reaches the Blue Nile about the first week in July, and water ceases to flow at the mouth by the end of November. High water is said to last 90 days from about mid-July.

[Sidenote: Navigability.]

The river, when in flood, is navigable for small steamers throughout, but its comparatively narrow bed, combined with very sharp and frequent bends, militate against successful navigation by sailing boats.

Mr. Armbruster navigated the river in the stern-wheeler Amara from its mouth to Meshra Abid (420 miles) in August, 1904. On the way down stream navigation was only effected with considerable difficulty and serious damage to the steamer, owing to the rate of the current—6 miles per hour at Abid and 3 miles per hour at Sherif Yagub—as well as to the extreme sharpness of the bends, at which there were often rocks and large overhanging trees.

TABLE OF DISTANCES ON THE BLUE NILE.

------------------+------------------+-------------------------- | Intermediate. | Total from Khartoum. Place. +------+-----------+------------+------------- |Miles.|Kilometres.| Miles. | Kilometres. ------------------+------+-----------+------------+------------- Khartoum (Palace) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | Soba | 14 | 22½ | 14 | 22½ | | | | Eilafun | 4 | 6½ | 18 | 29 | | | | El Masid | 20 | 32 | 38 | 61 | | | | Kamlin | 23 | 37 | 61 | 98 | | | | Rufaa | 33½ | 53 | 94½ | 151 | | | | Abu Haraz | 23 | 37 | 117½ | 188½ | | | | Mouth of Rahad | 5 | 8 | 122½ | 197 | | | | Wad Medani | ½ | 1 | 123 | 198 | | | | Mouth of Dinder | 40 | 64 | 163 | 262 | | | | Wad El Abbas | 30 | 48 | 193 | 310½ | | | | Sennar | 20 | 32 | 213 | 342½ | | | | Senga | 53 | 85 | 266 | 428 | | | | Karkoj | 21 | 34 | 287 | 462 | | | | Abu Naama | 22 | 35½ | 309 | 497½ | | | | Roseires | 73 | 117½ | 382 | 615 | | | | Famaka | 52 | 83½ | 434 | 698½ ------------------+------+-----------+------------+-------------

[Footnote 62: Vide p. 98.]

[Footnote 63: Vide p. 98. t Total rainfall, January—October, 1904, 23·1 inches.]

[Footnote 64: This description refers to the state of Gedaref up to the end of 1899. Conditions have now improved.]

[Footnote 65: For description of country east of Atbara, vide pp. 99-101.]

[Footnote 66: The Takruris speak of the Abyssinians as “Makada”—this is a name generally used for them throughout the Sudan and means “slaves.” The Abyssinians naturally resent the appellation and have complained officially about it. They retaliate by calling the Takruris, who originally came from Darfur, “Far,” i.e. Rats, the real name of people of Darfur being, of course, For.]

[Footnote 67: Total rainfall, January to October, 1904, 34·6 inches.]

[Footnote 68: Vide also p. 19, and “Itinerary of the Blue Nile,” Vol. II.; also Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile,” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904]

[Footnote 69: Its course through the lake is said to be plainly discernible.]

[Footnote 70: Vide Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 71: The following table of discharges (Sir W. Garstin’s) shows to a certain degree the relative importance of other rivers in the Sudan:—

Discharge per second. ---------------------- Maximum. Minimum.

Bahr El Jebel (Mouth) 300 m.c. 300 m.c.

Bahr El Zeraf (Mouth) 140 m.c. 50 m.c.

Bahr El Ghazal (Mouth) 30 m.c. 15 m.c.

Sobat (Mouth) 900 m.c. 50 m.c.

White Nile (Khartoum) 1,600 m.c. 300 m.c.

Atbara (Mouth) 3,000 m.c. nil.

Gash (Kassala) 100 m.c. (?) nil.

Nile (Berber) 14,000 m.c. (?)

]

[Footnote 72: Total rainfall at Roseires, April to October, 1904, 27·8 inches.]

[Footnote 73: 1 Kantar = 100 lbs.]

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Chapter V

* * * * *

CENTRAL SUDAN.

(Country between the White Nile and Abyssinia, bounded by the Blue Nile and Sobat.)

SECTION 1.—GEZIRA; KHARTOUM TO SENNAR—GOZ ABU GUMA LINE.

[Sidenote: General description (topographical).]

The area of about 7,500 square miles enclosed by the Blue and White Niles, from their junction at Khartoum to as far south as the line Sennar-Goz Abu Guma, forms the northern portion of that generally known as the “Gezira” or “El Hoi,” and contains some of the most fertile and most thickly populated districts in the Sudan. Though rather sandy in the neighbourhood of Khartoum, the soil of this flat alluvial plain gradually becomes richer and richer as one proceeds southwards, until between Mesellemia and Managil or Abud the acme of fertility is attained. The eastern half of this district is much more fertile and cultivated than the western half, a fact perhaps attributable to the fertilizing properties of the Blue compared to the White Nile. The whole of this region is so flat and free from khors, or other indications as to the direction of the drainage, that, except perhaps just south of Managil, it is impossible, without careful levelling, to define the watershed between the two rivers.

Bush of any extent and the granite hills, so common in most parts of the Sudan, are only found along its more southern, eastern, and western limits, whilst where not cultivated, the surface of the ground is usually covered with maheirib, homra, hantut, or naal grass. The entire area is definitely owned by tribes, families, or individuals, and strangers desiring to cultivate any portion can only do so on payment of rent, which is usually taken in kind.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

Many of the tribes, and their name is legion[74], inhabiting the interior of this district are of a semi-nomadic nature, that is to say, they cultivate and graze in the interior during the rains, and in the dry weather repair to the rivers, where not only is the watering of their flocks an easier matter and the grazing better than inland, but much ground is left by the receding Niles available for cultivation.

On both the Blue and White Niles, however, there is, in addition, a large and heterogeneous sedentary population.

[Sidenote: Cultivation (dura).]

The principal cereal cultivated is, of course, dura, and a species known as “feterita” is sown as soon as sufficient rain has fallen, after which it merely requires to be kept weeded, and in two months’ time is ready for harvesting. The only drawback is that this crop is entirely dependent on the rainfall, which is often insufficient, and small banks, 1 to 2 feet high, called “taras,” are generally necessary to hold up the water in order to thoroughly flood any particular piece of land which it is desired to cultivate.

Three ardebs[75] per feddan (acre approximately) is an exceptionally good crop, but one ardeb per feddan is the ordinary yield of rain-watered land. The natives reckon a yield of 15 ardebs per ruba[75] of seed sown a very good crop for very good land in a favourable year, but 4 ardebs per ruba is about the average.

[Sidenote: Dura shami.]

Shaduf or sagia-watered land on the Blue Nile yields 5 ardebs of dura shami (Indian corn) per feddan, whilst on the White Nile 3½ to 4 is an average crop. Irrigation on the former is usually by sagia, and on the latter by shaduf.

[Sidenote: Wheat.]

Wheat is cultivated to a limited extent on shaduf or sagia lands, but it is too expensive to be popular with the natives. An average crop is 5 ardebs per feddan. It is sown late in November, and harvested three months later.

[Sidenote: Cotton.]

Much has yet to be learnt as to the suitability of the Gezira for growing cotton. Cotton sown on the foreshore of the White Nile near Khartoum in July is irrigated by the flood, and three pickings can be made before the river becomes too low in February. Experiments so far show “Mit Afifi” to be the species best adapted to the country, but the paucity of the rainfall has so far precluded the possibility of obtaining reliable results from the experiments made. Sufficient cotton, of a quality suitable for local requirements, has, however, been grown for many years.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

The water supply during the dry season of other than the riverain population is from wells. In the rains these are supplemented by hafirs or tanks. The depth of the wells varies from 60 feet on the east of the watershed near the Blue Nile to 100 feet in the centre, where they gradually become deeper the further south one travels, until a few miles south of Managil they are as much as 200 feet deep, whilst in the pans or hollows of the west of the watershed they are often not more than 15 feet. These latter wells are peculiar, in that if used for long they become salt and thus new wells have to be constantly dug.

Many of the wells also in the north of the Gezira are salt. Nearly all villages have their own well, though occasionally water is carried for a distance of several miles.

[Sidenote: Grazing.]

There is often very little grazing a few months after the rains have terminated; during the dry season, therefore, the flocks are pastured along the banks of the Niles, and in bad seasons they even cross the river into Kordofan.

During the Kharif, as the serut fly is not present north of Sennar-Shawal, many camels and flocks are brought from the south to graze north of this line.

[Sidenote: Chief towns.]

EL GETEINA.—54½ miles by road south of Khartoum on right bank White Nile. Headquarters of Geteina District and residence of Mamur, police officer, etc. The inhabitants are chiefly Danagla and Jaalin. The Omda’s name is Sheikh Mohammed Osman Abd El Rahman, a Dongolaui. Most of the houses are built of mud. Post and Telegraph office. (Vide p. 53.)

KAWA.—132 miles by road south of Khartoum on White Nile (right bank). It is the same as El Eis of the old travellers. It has rather a large population of Danagla, Jaalin, Shaigia, and various blacks. The Omda’s name is Ismail Musa. The houses are both mud and flat-roofed, and grass “tukls.” It is the headquarters of Kawa District and residence of Mamur. Post and Telegraph office. (Vide p. 57.)

GOZ ABU GUMA (or ZEINOBA).—Quite a newly built town of grass tukls on the White Nile, about 180 miles by road south of Khartoum. A steamer from Khartoum runs up as far as this with mails weekly. There is a post office and telegraph office. Residence of a Mamur and police officer. Inhabitants, Danagla, Jaalin, Gowama, and blacks. Omda Ahmed Mohammed El Zein, a Jaali. Practically no transport animals obtainable here. A good deal of gum is collected here from the interior of Kordofan. (Vide p. 59.)

MAATUK.—A collection of tukl villages, 22 miles north-east of Dueim and 29 miles west of Managil. The population, a large one, consists chiefly of Arakin, also Hassania and Tawal. The Omda’s name is Ibrahim Wad El Netef, an Araki.

The water supply is plentiful and good from many wells 15 to 30 feet deep. In the rains the inhabitants, to a great extent, leave the wells and live on their cultivation, drinking from hafirs or rain-water tanks. There is much rain cultivation about here in good years. Where not cultivated, the land is usually covered with scattered laot and kittr bush. Maatuk belongs to Kawa District of the Gezira Province.

MANAGIL.—A collection of some half-dozen or more tukl villages in the centre of the most fertile part of the Gezira. It is 38 miles from Wad Medani, 50 from Dueim and 107 from Khartoum. Residence of Mamur and police officer of Managil District belonging to Gezira Province. Fair “Suk”: market days, Sundays and Wednesdays. The wells, three in number, are about 150 feet deep. There is a large mixed population here and throughout the District, which contains 43,000 inhabitants. The land just south of Managil is the most suitable in the Gezira for the cultivation of cotton. This district was handed over to his fellow Taaisha by the Khalifa Abdalla, and some of the Tagale blacks imported by them to cultivate have settled in the neighbourhood.

SEGADI.—A large tukl village situated at the foot of the southern slopes of two low granite hills 50 miles south of Managil. It belongs to the Sennar Province. The Omda’s name is Torin Ahmed, of the Rufaa tribe. The population, numbering about 1,500 (?), is composed of many different tribes. Water supply is fairly good. It is about 40 miles from Goz Abu Guma and 36 from Shawal, on the White Nile.

MOYA.—Another large village belonging to and 21 miles west from Sennar and about 14 miles south-east of Segadi. There are several hills in the neighbourhood, chief of which is J. Moya, about 500 feet high, from the summit of which Jebel Dali, on the road to Gule, is visible bearing 177° mag. There is a road from here to Gule and another to Wad Medani. Water supply is very bad, and, in fact, almost nil towards the end of the dry season, when the inhabitants disperse in different directions. The Omda’s name is El Imam Hadibai, and the population, which, however, varies, numbers about 1,200, chiefly Amarna, also Hameg and Gowama.

KAMLIN.—58½ miles by road and 64½ miles by river from Khartoum, on left bank of Blue Nile. Present (1904) Headquarters[76] of Gezira Province and residence of Mudir. There is a large population, consisting of Danagla (several sections, but chiefly El Jeberked), Mawalads (Mogharba and Egyptian), Jaalin, and Shaigia. Houses mostly built of mud. Post and Telegraph office. The Omda’s name is Abbas Musa.

HELLET AMARA (or ARBAGI).—On left bank, Blue Nile, 84½ miles by road and 95 by river from Khartoum. Opposite Rufaa. There are several villages in the angle of the river which, however, are so close to one another that they may be considered as one. Houses mostly built of mud. Population chiefly Jaalin, Danagla and Batahin, under Omda El Sheikh Ali El Haj Taha, a Jaali. Amara is the headquarters of the Mesellemia District of Gezira Province and residence of a British inspector, Mamur, police officer, etc. Population of District 32,300, chiefly Halawin, who are the best cultivators in the Sudan.

ARBAGI.—Arbagi, which is close to Amara, is one of the oldest sites in the Sudan, and is mentioned by the learned Ludolphus in his history of Abyssinia. It was destroyed by the Shukria early in the 19th or at the end of 18th century.

MESELLEMIA.—Mesellemia, from which an administrative district takes its name, is about 11 miles nearly due south of Arbagi, and about 6 miles inland from the Blue Nile (L.B.). Prior to the Mahdia it was a very large town and a great centre of trade. People are now returning and are rebuilding it. Surrounding it is some of the most fertile land in the Sudan. Residence of a Mamur and headquarters of the district.

WAD MEDANI.—Population about 14,000; on left bank Blue Nile, just above its junction with Rahad; about 1 mile long by ½ mile broad; large market daily, also bi-weekly, Monday and Thursday, the largest in the Sudan next to Omdurman. Founded by El Fiki Medani about 1800 A.D. Post and telegraph office. Inhabitants: Gezira sedentary tribes, principally Khawalda, Arakin, Kawahla, Jaalin, Bussalia, and Medaniim. Headquarters of Gezira Province (1905). Garrison, one battalion. Rainfall here for 12 months—March 1903 to February 1904—was 313·5 m.m. or about 12½ inches.

SENGA.—Headquarters of Senga District: will probably be headquarters of Sennar Province in 1905. A large and increasing village, and next in importance to Wad Medani; left bank Blue Nile about half mile long and some distance inland; all built of straw huts except the Government buildings, which are of brick. Soil fertile, and district much wooded. Population about 1,600. Yearly increasing trade and daily market. Founded by Abdalla Wad El Hassan about 19 years ago. Inhabitants mostly Jaalin and Kenana. Post and telegraph offices.

SENNAR.—Almost in ruins owing to Dervish occupation. Has lost all its former importance. Extends about ¾ mile along the river, surrounded by an old trench and embankments. There is a large mosque of red burnt bricks, in a very bad state of repair. At the time of its re-occupation in 1898, Sennar town was in ruins and uninhabited; it was made headquarters of the province till, in April, 1900, it was superseded by Wad Medani, Sennar remaining headquarters of a District. In March, 1903, the headquarters of the District were removed about 3 miles south of Sennar to Kabush on the river bank, where new buildings have been erected; people are now moving and settling between old Sennar and Kabush. Bi-weekly market Monday and Thursday. In surrounding district soil very fertile, all land cultivated by rains, except in Sennar town, which is irrigated by five sagias. Near Kabush there is thick forest along the river, known as the forest of Kabush, extending nearly up to Ereidiba. Population 350. Inhabitants: Kenana, Gawazma, Rufaa, Jaalin, Kawahla, etc.

WAD EL ABBAS.—Population about 1,200; right bank Blue Nile; founded about 50 years ago. Inhabitants, Jaalin and Gezira tribes, with some 300 blacks. Weekly market on Wednesdays.

SECTION 2.—COUNTRY SOUTH OF SENNAR-GOZ ABU GUMA LINE TO THE SOBAT.

(a) General Description.

[Sidenote: Topography.]

The country between the Niles south of north lat. 13° 30′ (approximately) forms the southern portion of that known as “the Gezira” or “El Hoi,” and is, save for the riverain population of the Blue Nile and the few villages on the White Nile between Goz Abu Guma and Jebelein, practically uninhabited as far south as north parallel 12°, which is the northern limit of Dar Fung.

[Sidenote: Dar Fung.]

With the exception of the water in natural tanks at Jebels Mazmum[77] and Gerebin (which are however apt to run dry) this level plain is waterless in the driest season, though the soil is of the richest description, and beyond here and there a few isolated granite hills, the highest of which is Abu Gurud, its surface is devoid of all inequalities and undulations. Not a single khor or wadi is discernible, and except for fairly wide belts of kittr bush, especially near the two rivers and round the bases of the hills, the country is on the whole fairly open until nearing Dar Fung, when dense forest commences and stretches, apparently continuously, east and west from Nile to Nile.

Owing to the scanty water supply during the dry season and the spongy nature of the soil, it is almost impossible for caravans to travel otherwise than on the few existing tracks.

South of Gule this forest of talh, hashab, soffar, etc., extends uninterruptedly to the hills of Tabi on the south-east, and to Surkum and Keili to the south. About 30 miles south of Gule khors draining the Tabi hills become frequent, and the surface of the ground becomes stony, making the going along the already narrow and much overgrown paths exceedingly bad.

[Sidenote: Fazogli and Keili.]

The districts of Fazogli, Keili, and the greater part of Dul and Kirin are undulating and much cut up by watercourses, and boast far more hills than the country further west towards the White Nile. The hills in these districts are scattered promiscuously, and rise steeply from the surrounding country. They are generally covered with detached boulders and stunted trees. The plain itself is for the most part gravelly or stony, and is intersected with dry rocky khors. It is covered near the foot of the hills with a thick low growing forest, but away from the hills the bush is generally thinner. Before it has dried up, the grass among the bush would make it very difficult to leave the paths, but in the dry season there is generally no difficulty in getting through the bush, excepting at the khors. The whole of this country suffers greatly from want of water, and even where there is water in the streams near their sources, it soon disappears into the ground. Water can, however, often be found in many of the stream beds by digging.

[Sidenote: South and south-west of Gule.]

South and south-west of Gule stretches an almost uninterrupted plain to the Baro and Sobat, bounded on the west by the White Nile and on the east by the hills on the Abyssinian frontier. In the central and eastern portions of this district there are a few scattered hills, such as Abuldugu, Melkan, Ulu, etc., belonging to the Burun, at each of which there is water, but in the Dinka country from Jebelein southwards along the Nile, these are conspicuous by their absence. Between north parallels 12° 30′ and 10° 30′ forest is almost continuous, however, south of 10° 30′ the country becomes gradually more open and grassy and continues so, as far as is known, up to the fringe of forest bordering the Baro and Sobat. Water, south of 10° 30′, seems comparatively plentiful, both in hafirs made by the Burun or standing in pools in khors.

The width of marsh bordering the Baro and Sobat is often much exaggerated; it seems generally not to exceed 4 to 5 miles in width along the former, and is more often much less along the latter. Fringing the marsh is a narrow belt of forest, and behind that steppe-like country, which becomes practically treeless in the region of the lower Sobat (vide Chap. VI).

[Sidenote: Drainage.]

Khor Tomat, draining Beni Shangul and Fazogli is the principal khor emptying into the Blue Nile.

The more important ones emptying into the White Nile are:—

Khor Deleib, source in Jebel Tabi and mouth at Renk; Khors Rau and Balantega, mouths at Jebel Ahmed Agha, but source conjectural, and Khor Adar or Yal, which empties into the White Nile about 30 miles north of Fashoda, and possibly forms the mouth of both the Yabus and Sonka. Another theory is that the Sonka and Yabus drain into a marsh, from which a certain amount of water is believed to find its way into the Sobat near Nasser. Khor Garre drains into the Baro.

[Sidenote: Rainfall.]

The rainfall over the whole of this area is heavy, especially in the more southern districts, where the rainy season may be said to extend from the end of April till the beginning of November.

[Sidenote: Transport animals.]

Camels, mules, or donkeys do well throughout the whole of this district, except during the rains, when mules are probably the best. At this season the serut fly is present everywhere, and in the dry season along the Nile there is a small black fly, similar in general appearance to the common house-fly, which is excessively annoying and somewhat injurious to camels. Abyssinian horses are useful, and the ordinary Arab does well, though more delicate.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

The only roads[78] known to exist, with the exception of those from Senga to Moya, and Senga to Jebelein, viâ Teigo and Jebel Dali, are described in the route reports in Vol. 2, Chap. V.

[Sidenote: Currency.]

In the more northern parts of this region the ordinary Sudan currency is de rigueur, but in dealings with natives along the Abyssinian frontier Maria Theresa dollars or gold rings, obtainable at Abu Shaneina (36 Maria Theresa dollars = 1 oz. gold, approximately), are generally required, though in Fazogli, Keili, or in fact in any Arabic-speaking district, Egyptian money is as a rule readily accepted.[79] Menelek’s dollar is only very rarely seen, and his smaller coins never. The Maria Theresa dollar is not, as a rule, accepted unless the brooch on the shoulder is pretty clearly distinguishable. Amongst the Gallas salt bars form the small change (3½ bars = 1 Maria Theresa dollar).

In the Dinka country on the White Nile, giraffe or buffalo hides are the best trade goods; “gianotta”[80] and other large beads, as well as Egyptian money are also acceptable. Along the Sobat, beads (large amber, opaque white, small white, “gianotta,”[80] etc.), spear heads, axes, and fasses are all much in request. Money is becoming daily more readily taken.

[Sidenote: Mosquitos.]

Mosquitos, or “Ba-uda” as they are called by the Dinkas and by many Sudanese Arabs, are very numerous in places even in the dry season along the White Nile, though here and there there are none even quite close to the water. The natives themselves, though not professing belief in the Anopheles theory, say that if one is bitten much by them they cause fever. The fact of there being a village at any spot may be accepted as sufficient guarantee that there are no, or at any rate, very few, mosquitos there. Most of the villages even in the dry season are a mile or more from the river.

[Sidenote: Game.]

The following species are represented:—Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, hartebeeste (Jacksonii and tora), tiang, roan-antelope, kudu, waterbuck, reedbuck, bushbuck, cobus leucotis, gazelle, oribi, lion, leopard, cheetah, etc. Specimens of Neumann’s hartebeeste are also believed to have been shot near Ahmed Agha.

(b) Dar Fung (South of North Lat. 12°).

[Sidenote: Boundaries.]

Dar Fung is now, compared to its palmy days, an unimportant district. Its boundaries are: on the north, Jebels Gereiwa and Rera; on the east, Jebel Agadi and the Fazogli district. Southwards, it extends to the Abyssinian frontier, and, including the district of Keili and the northern Burun country, extends westwards towards the Dinkas of the White Nile.

In the days when the Fung were at their best, it included Dul and Assosa etc., which now belong to Abyssinia.

[Sidenote: J. Tabi and Ingassana.]

Jebel Tabi and district is included in Dar Fung. The Ingassana, now under Mek Agoda, who inhabit it, remained independent and refused to pay tribute to Idris Wad Regab or the Government until February, 1903, when the Mudir visited this district and established the headquarters of the Dar Fung District at Soda instead of Gule, without opposition. The Ingassana are seldom met without their peculiar sickle-shaped swords. They also possess curious boomerang-like throwing-sticks. They keep apparently a good deal to themselves, as complaints against them are rare. They expressed delight at coming under the ægis of the Government, and at the assurance of their future immunity from slave raids. The district of Tabi is hilly and well watered, and appears to be much more healthy than the surrounding plains. It is said to much resemble Erkowit in the Suakin district. Pigs are not uncommon in this district, and the menu of the chiefs is a varied one, dogs, horses, camels, leopards, etc., are all eaten, especially the former, with great relish. The skulls of all animals consumed are arranged in order round the enclosures of the houses.

[Sidenote: Idris Wad Regab.]

Idris Wad Regab, a direct descendant of the old Fung dynasty, is now Mek or head Sheikh of Dar Fung. He is a loyal man, and is now very badly off, having suffered greatly at the hands of the Dervishes, by whom he was not recognised. Sheikh Abd El Kader is his Wakil. Adlan Wad Surur was Mek during the Mahdia; he now lives near Karkoj.

Gule used to be the chief town of Dar Fung, it is now only second in importance to Keili. It consists of three small villages situated at the foot of Jebel Idris or Gule, a granite mass about 1,000 feet high, and contains but a few hundred inhabitants, mostly Hameg, or a mixture of Hameg and the aboriginal Fung. There are generally some encampments of Dar Ageil or Selim Arabs in the vicinity.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

There is a little trade with Abyssinia, but practically nothing in the shape of supplies, animals etc., are procurable here. Most of the merchants trading with Abyssinia pass through Keili.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

There is the usual dura and simsim cultivation, but little more is grown than is required for the wants of the inhabitants.

[Sidenote: Raids.]

As, prior to the demarcation of the Abyssinian frontier, the Burun were so decimated by raiding parties from Abyssinian territory, Idris Wad Regab was, in March, 1902, given rifles by the Government to protect his people. In addition to these he had a good many of his own, with which he inflicted some loss on Ahmed Fedil’s force when it marched from Dakhila to the White Nile after the battle of Roseires, December, 1898. These raids have ceased for the present owing to the capture of the principal raider, Ibrahim Wad Mahmud, in February, 1904. Vide Chap. VII, Part II, page 278.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

Water, which is obtained from several holes at the foot of the Jebel, is fairly plentiful but bad. It is said to be impregnated with lime.

Burun.

[Sidenote: Boundaries, etc.]

The Burun inhabit the country between the Dinkas of the White Nile and the Abyssinian frontier from about 11° 30′ north latitude southwards to the Dinkas and Nuers of the Sobat and Baro. Those among the hills north of K. Yabus are under Mek Idris Wad Regab, of Gule, and appear to have acknowledged the suzerainty of his predecessors for probably a century before the advent of the Turks. On the K. Yabus and south of it nothing can be definitely stated as to their organisation, but they appear to be divided into a number of independent communities.

The Burun are said to be related to the Berta, but they are lighter in colour than the Berta generally are and speak a different language.

[Sidenote: Burun near K. Yabus.]

Major Gwynn gives the following description of the Burun near Khor Yabus: The men, who are physically very finely built, are stark naked, and smear their heads with wet and clammy red mud.[81] They all carry long bows, wooden pointed featherless arrows, and in addition, generally a spear. Arrows are poisoned by being stuck into a certain species of tree,[82] and are pointed with notched charred wood or ebony. They have a range of 150 yards. The women are also naked, save for a small loin cloth of skin. They are good looking and attractive. The Burun dialect spoken by Idris Wad Regab’s men, but no Arabic, is understood by the Burun of the Yabus. Their word of greeting is “Moka.”

The Burun north of K. Yabus live as a rule on the scattered hills during the rains, and drink from the rainwater which collects in natural rock tanks. During the dry season, when this water is exhausted, they either descend to the plain and live on the khors, in many of which water stands in pools, or else have to carry their water for a considerable distance. Some of the hills inhabited by them are Abuldugu, Surkum, Melkan, Gum Gum, and Wadaga. K. Gemmeiza, flowing from near J. Abuldugu towards Melut, furnishes their principal water supply. They also obtain water from “Hafirs,” or ponds, which are roofed with thatch to lessen evaporation. Wells seem to be very rarely sunk. These northern Burun are now very poor, and women and children are very scarce.

The Burun, in the Garre Valley, seem more prosperous, having plenty of water and grain in their country, but both sections, especially the northern, have been most deplorably reduced by slave raids from the east. The principal raider, however, Ibrahim Wad Mahmud, as before stated, was captured by Lieutenant-Colonel Gorringe in February, 1904. The southern Burun country is still almost entirely unexplored.

[Sidenote: Communications.]

The Burun seem to have little intercourse with the tribes living on the White Nile, and no regular roads to it, except perhaps from J. Gerawid to J. Ahmed Agha, seem to exist. It is intended, however, to open up roads between the western frontier of Abyssinia and the Nile, and to improve the present primitive system of water supply in this district. For report on routes, vide Chapter V. and Appendix, Vol. II.

Keili.

[Sidenote: Boundaries.]

Keili, which is part of Dar Fung, is bounded on the east and south-east by the Abyssinian frontier, which divides it from Beni Shangul, Gomasha, and Dul, and on the north-east by Fazogli. Keili claims to share with Fazogli the mountains of Agaru, Kashangaru, and Ragreig, though practically the whole of Agaru belongs to the latter, and the whole of Ragreig to the former, as also does Jebel Gainshur. Jebels Kurmuk and Maiak are within the southern limits of this district, and Jebels Surkum and Abuldugu to the west also belong to it. On the north the boundary is Jebel Tabi.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

The Jebelawin inhabit the eastern portions of the district, and the Burun the western. For administrative purposes, this district is in the Dar Fung District.

The acting Mek of Keili is a youth of about 15 years of age. His father, Beshir Hamdan, who was much addicted to slave dealing, was arrested and deposed by Government, February, 1903.

The valley between Ragreig and Jebel Keili forms as it were an oasis, and must have a population of several thousand. It is a very pleasant spot in the dry season, but in the rains becomes more or less swampy.

Sheikh Bilburka, of the Fung inhabitants of Dul, now lives at Keili in order to avoid the exactions of the Watawit, under Abyssinian rule, similarly Sheikh Jela Abdalla, a Jaali refugee, fled from Beshir and Shanji villages in 1897, and now lives in the Arab settlement at Keili.

[Sidenote: Language.]

The Jebelawin language is used at Jebel Keili. The Burun use a dialect of the Burun language similar to that of Jebel Maiak.

[Sidenote: Cultivation, etc.]

In the valley between Jebels Kurmuk and Keili a great deal of dura is grown, both for local consumption and for the supply of the mountaineers in the hills near Dul. There are plenty of cattle, sheep and pigs.

[Sidenote: Gold.]

Some alluvial gold is found in the khor east of Jebel Ragreig.

[Sidenote: Water supply.]

Water is obtained from wells and from pools in khors, whilst on the face of Jebel Keili itself there are several springs. At Jebel Surkum there is a perennial supply of muddy water from four holes on the south side of the Jebel.

At Jebel Abuldugu there is water in the pass through which the road from Gule leads. This, however, does not last all the year round. Natives then water in the Khor Ganna, about 2 miles to the east.

Keili is the chief town of Dar Fung and is rapidly growing. It is situated at the foot and to the south of J. Keili, and is the residence of the Mek. There is also a small garrison of Sudanese regulars here from Wad Medani, as well as some mounted irregulars.

[Sidenote: Boundaries.]

Fazogli is not included in Dar Fung, but belongs to the Roseires District; it is bounded for administrative purposes as follows:—On the north-west and west by the Hameg (Abu Gemai to Jebel El Geri), on the north by the Jebel Geri-Abu Ramla line, and from Abu Ramla its boundary runs southwards along the Abyssinian frontier to Jebel Kashangaru, thence northwards towards Jebel Agadi, Dar Fung being to the west of this line.

[Sidenote: Mek.]

The Mek’s name is Regab Hassan, who is surnamed Abadaro, and is a middle-aged man who appears to have a good deal of influence, but is said to be addicted to drink. He claims descent from Jaber, the first Fung conqueror of Fazogli.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants. Jebelawin.]

The principal inhabitants are Jebelawin, an aboriginal race merged into the ruling Fung living at Fazogli, Kuturu, Kiri, Abu Shaneina on both banks, and Adarsi. Their villages on the Tumat and at Abu Shaneina are under Mek Khamis, a Jebelawi, but the Arabs at the latter place are under an Arab named Ali Wad Rowaa.

Elias Khamis, the former Fung ruler of the Jebelawin of Beni Shangul lives on the Tomat with a following of Sudanese refugees from Beni Shangul. Sheikh Fakir is similarly in charge of Arab refugees from the south.

[Sidenote: Language.]

Arabic is understood by the Sheikhs of the district, but the rotana in use on the left bank of the Nile is that used by the Hameg of the Blue Nile, and by the Jebelawin and Berta. On the right bank, in the Fazogli district, the Gumz language is totally different.

[Sidenote: Religion.]

The Sheikhs alone profess Mohammedanism; the majority of the Jebelawin are heathen.

[Sidenote: Berta.]

In the hills the inhabitants are nearly all Berta; very few can talk Arabic. They are as a rule finely developed and healthy looking, but are dull and lazy to a degree. Their villages are built in the most inaccessible places; the tukls being wedged amongst great boulders. They only grow small patches of dura, and depend entirely on the rains to irrigate it. During the dry season, even for drinking, water has to be carried immense distances. A great many fowls are kept in the villages. The men in some places wash for gold in the khors.

The Berta of Jebel Falabut are under Mek Abadalla, those of Jebel Faronge are under Mek Amaka. On the latter mountain are separate villages for the Faronge sub-tribe, part of the Fadoko sub-tribe, and the Goamili, who were driven from Jebel Abdanab of late years by the rulers of Beni Shangul. The head-quarters of the Fadoko sub-tribe remain at Sarankchau, near Abdanab on the Yabus river, subject to the Sultan of Beni Shangul. Falabut and Faronge are in charge of Mek Abu Ras of Kiri.

The Berta extend westwards from the Blue Nile through Gezan to Mudeli village (Sheikh El Nur) to Jebel Sude sub-district (Sheikh Hambalha), and Khor Gasa (Mek Jibara), south and west of which the Berta have lost their independence.

[Sidenote: Religion.]

The Berta, though heathen, are not averse to Mohammedanism.

[Sidenote: Gezan.]

Bakurig Bugul, the successor of Gormaz, the last aboriginal Mek of Gezan sub-district, lives at Fazogli. Hassan Wad El Gharbi is the Sheikh of the Watawit at Gezan and Amora, Mek Abulang being resident chief of the Berta.

[Sidenote: Gumz.]

The word “Gumz” signifies “people” in the aboriginal language, of which the various sub-tribes use distinct dialects. The Gumz, of which the Bazaroda and Kadalo are sub-tribes, are heathen, God and sun being synonymous.

[Sidenote: Bazaroda.]

The Bazaroda sub-tribe is under Mek Ya Karda, grandson of Ab Zaroda. The boundaries are the Blue Nile on the south and Khor Bombode on the east. Headquarters, Hoburra. Other villages are Kambal, Yagor, Agabar, and Yarada. Though subject to Abadaro, the Mek of Gubba demanded as tribute, in 1900 and 1901, 50 ardebs of dura and 30_l._ worth of gold dust. Products include cotton, dura, simsim, “zaf” or dom fibre, and Adansonia bark rope, honey, gungeleis or Adansonia fruit, and gold dust from the Nile, near the mouth of the Khor Zuar.

[Sidenote: Kadalo.]

El Kadalo sub-tribe, formerly peopled Jebel Dimr and Jebel Mulki, but Mek Adam, owing to a blood feud with the Fung ruler of Gubba, is now living on the Nile with his following from those hills. The rest of the Kadalo are under him, and subject to Abadaro of Fazogli. In the Samina Hills there are Kadalo at Beletamaru and Masambaga, under Mek Ahmed Wad Mohammed, surnamed El Wishari, also at Jabranza under his son Beshir Ahmed.

At Jebel Metongwe the local Mek is Mansur, and at Jebel Menze, Mek Idris.

[Sidenote: Principal villages. Fazogli.]

FAZOGLI the residence of the Mek, is a straggling village of tukls, extending about 2 miles along a ridge of high ground running parallel to the river. This ridge is about 800 yards from the river, and the low intervening ground is given over entirely to cultivation. The ground behind Fazogli rises to the height of 1,750 feet at a distance of 2 miles, and is covered with trees.

The water supply is from the river.

[Sidenote: Famaka.]

The old mudiria of FAMAKA is an enclosure about 120 yards square, surrounded by a stone wall, which is still in good condition. It is situated on the river bank on a solid rock, which stands in a bend of the river facing E.S.E., and about 60 feet above it, and holds a commanding view of the country to the south for miles.

It is itself, however, commanded at a distance of 800 yards by the very high ground rising behind Fazogli.

[Sidenote: Abu Shaneina.]

ABU SHANEINA is the most important village or town in Fazogli. It is here that the trade route from Beni Shangul strikes the Blue Nile, and it is chiefly from that quarter that any considerable increase of trade with Abyssinia can be expected. It is the headquarters of a small frontier force furnishing outlying detachments north and south of the Blue Nile. Mek Khamis is Sheikh of the Jebelawin here and Ali Wad Rowaa of the Arabs.

[Sidenote: Kiri.]

KIRI is the most prosperous (1900) looking village in Fazogli, and is built on what should be a very healthy site near the river. The Sheikh’s name is Abu Ras Wad Sogheir.

[Sidenote: Masurkum.]

MASURKUM is on the Beni Shangul Abu Shaneina road. The Sheikh, named Bikori, is an old and infirm man, but has evidently been a strong man in his time. He suffered considerably from Dervish raids, and has lost all his cattle.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

Dura, simsim, lubia, and tobacco are the principal crops cultivated, the former is of good quality, both Naggad and Kurgi being sown. In Gezan there is a considerable area under cultivation, but with this exception there is practically none south of a line drawn from Kiri through Jebel Kukura to Masurkum and thence up Khor Masurkum.

In the Tomat villages, west of Jebel Fazogli, the dura crop is very fine, but simsim is chiefly grown between Kiri and Fazogli.

Ground close to Tomat would undoubtedly repay cultivation, but at present the more easily cleared areas near the Nile are amply sufficient for the population.

[Sidenote: Cattle, etc.]

There are comparatively few cattle and sheep in the district, the people having suffered so much from raids.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

A good deal of trade is carried on with Beni Shangul and this is bound to develop.

Fazogli produces a little gold, which is found in all the khors coming from Jebel Faronge: Khor El Dahab, near Gezan, being the richest.

A good deal of coffee is imported from Abyssinia, as well as horses, mules, cattle, donkeys, and sheep.

The idea of ever tapping the trade of the Abyssinian province of Gojjam is said to be out of the question owing to the apparent impossibility of finding a trade route free from physical difficulties of an insuperable kind.

[Sidenote: Transport.]

Donkeys or mules are the best transport animals all round, though camels do very well as long as their feet do not get sore. All the transport animals available for purchase, or otherwise, are those that come in from Abyssinia, and the supply is a very fluctuating one.

(d) Dinkas on the White Nile.

The Dinka country on the White Nile, extends from Jebelein southwards to about 10 miles south of Kodok, along the right bank; it is uninhabited, however, except by Nomad Selim, north of Karshawal.

The Dinkas, or Jange, as they are called by the Arabs, have no Mek like the Shilluks, but each section is separate and independent under its own sheikh, consequently, they were never able to unite to defend themselves against the depredations of slave traders and the Dervishes, who found them an easy prey. Many of their sheikhs at the present time are men who have been slaves in Cairo, and who have been repatriated either by Gordon or the present Sudan Government. Thus it is that, whilst the majority of the men are stark naked, one here and there meets a respectably dressed old man carrying a sunshade.

The women ordinarily wear a goatskin apron in front and another behind, but the unmarried girls are usually content with a string of beads.

The men mould their hair, mixed with red mud, into fantastic shapes, and sleep on a bed of cow-dung ash, with which their bodies are covered. The women do not usually thus disfigure themselves, and sleep on hide mats.

The Dinkas are remarkable for their height and slender limbs and figures. They are not, however, of such fine physique as their neighbours the Shilluks.

They are unenterprising and ignorant to a degree, and so unprogressive and rigidly conservative that any such up-to-date innovation as the introduction of donkeys[83] for transport purposes, an innovation admitted by themselves to be most desirable, is not adopted simply on the pretext that it was not the custom of their fathers and forefathers.

They consequently always walk, the men carrying long narrow bladed spears and a knob-kerry, and the women a large basket on their heads containing their food, etc.

During the dry season the Dinkas desert the hinterland of the river, and descend with their flocks and herds to live near its banks, where the now dry marshes afford excellent grazing.

The localities which they frequent mostly are Renk, El Wat, Jebel Ahmed Agha, Meshra Zeraf, Kaka (right bank), Khor Adar. There are police posts at Renk and Melut; Renk being the headquarters of the District and residence of a British Inspector.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

On the arrival of the rains they, for the most part, retire inland, sometimes 20 or 30 miles, to their cultivation, which however, is little more than sufficient for their own requirements. The grain is stored in these cultivation villages, and is only brought to the river in the dry season in small quantities from time to time on the women’s heads.

Donkeys, and indeed any means of transport but their women’s heads are unknown. If, therefore, it is desired to purchase any dura from the Dinkas in the dry season, the would-be purchaser must be prepared to provide transport and to send it a day or so inland.

[Sidenote: Herds, etc.]

The Dinkas of the White Nile, who number about 8,000, own a good many cattle and sheep, and pay tribute on them to the Government partly in kind and partly in money (1904). According to a census made in 1903, the following were the estimated numbers of their herds and flocks: cattle, 8,000; sheep, 16,000; goats, 13,000.

Though living in a grand game country they have no sporting instincts whatever, and rely on the Baggara Arabs to provide them with skins in exchange for dura. They fish to a certain extent, but are not nearly so expert as their neighbours the Shilluks, unlike whom they have no aquatic proclivities.

[Sidenote: Religion.]

A certain number, owing to their having travelled to Khartoum and even Cairo as slaves, profess the Mohammedan faith, but their number is few. The remainder believe in the existence of a being who rules their destiny, and whom they call Deng. He has many forms and shapes, from the spirit of a great departed Sheikh to the more familiar personality of a favourite cow. They also believe in the possibility of transferring their spirits to a particular animal for a particular purpose and for a stated time; for instance, if an unwelcome individual is present, they annoy him in the guise of hyænas at night until he departs. (Vide also Chap. VI, Section 2 (d), and Chap. VII.)

[Sidenote: Marriage customs.]

(a) Arranging Marriage.—The intending bridegroom must obtain the consent of the girl’s father or guardian, as the case may be, and settle the “maal” (purchase price). He does not necessarily pay the whole at the time, but later, if he finds the girl suits him, and does not have any dealings with other men, he pays the difference; also sometimes after paying the full “maal” he may be ordered by a village council to pay an additional “maal” if he is a rich man.

As a rule the “maal” is paid to the girl’s father or guardians a year or so before the man marries her; she remaining meanwhile in her father’s house. If during this period of “engagement” the man comes to the conclusion that the girl is not suited to him, he can terminate the engagement, and receives back his cattle. No inter-marriage of blood relations is allowed under any circumstances, on the other hand, a man may marry all or any of his late father’s widows (except of course his own mother). In this connection it is interesting to note that, if a girl is tampered with and subsequently becomes ill, it is held to be conclusive proof that she was tampered with by a blood relation, and the blood relations who could possibly have been responsible for the offence are ordered to pay a heavy fine to the girl’s father.

(b) Misconduct of a Fiancée.—If a fiancée misconducts herself, the bridegroom elect receives back all the cattle that he may have paid to the girl’s relations, but, if, on the other hand, he still chooses to marry her, he will not receive his cattle back, but will exact a “fine maal” from the man with whom the girl misconducted herself. If he does not choose to marry the girl he receives back his cattle, and the father of the girl receives the “fine maal” from the delinquent. If the man still marries the girl under these circumstances, he slaughters one of the cattle paid as “fine maal” and invites the whole village to dinner; but if he does not marry her, the girl’s father does not follow this custom of slaying the bull.

The father or guardian who receives the marriage portion of the girl does not retain the whole to himself, but it is divided according to certain rules among the relations. A man having received a marriage portion on behalf of his daughter or ward, and the girl being still only “engaged,” may not dispose of any of it, until the girl is actually married, and has entered her husband’s house.

(c) Misconduct after Marriage.—If a man has dealings with a married woman, her husband shall take a “fine maal” from the adulterer, two or three head of cattle according to the adulterer’s wealth. If the wife go wrong, the husband may cast her off, and send her back to her people, and receive back from them the “maal” he originally paid, plus the issue of the said cattle since they left his hands. If the husband go wrong, the father or guardian of the girl he has wronged will take a fine “maal” from him; his wife cannot divorce him.

(d) Divorce.—If a man maltreats his wife she may complain to her father, who may free her by paying the husband back the original “maal,” plus its issue. If the father has no cattle, he will receive his daughter into his house, and when she marries, recompense the late husband.

If a man wishes to divorce his wife, and has good grounds for wishing to do so, he will return her to her father or guardian and receive back his original “maal,” plus the issue or not, according to the circumstances of the case.

If a man divorce his wife for misconduct, and there are children of the marriage, they will remain with him.

[Sidenote: Misconduct.]

(a) If a man misconduct himself with a girl he will pay to her father or relations a “maal” such as he would have paid had he wished to marry the girl in the usual way, and he must marry her. If, however, the father of the girl is not willing to marry his daughter to the man, he will not exact a full “maal” from him, but only a “fine maal” according to the man’s wealth. If a girl misconduct herself, and dies from the effects, the man responsible will pay her father eight head of cattle.

If a man misconduct himself with an engaged girl, and marries her in the place of the original fiancée he shall pay to her father the same “maal” as was paid in the first instance by the other man, and if the girl die in his house, he shall have no claim to receive back all or any of his “maal” from her father or whoever received his “maal,” but in most cases the father will pay him a proportion as a favour.

(b) Misconduct with a Blood Relation.—The man who is convicted of misconducting himself with a blood relation will pay to the girl’s father one bull and one cow-calf. The bull will be cut into two halves, and afterwards devoured at a village feast; the couple will not, of course, be allowed to marry.

[Sidenote: Blood maal.]

If a man has an adopted daughter, who has been paid to him as “blood maal,” she is not allowed to marry out of her adopted father’s family, except in rare cases in which she happens to be a blood relation of her adopted family. A man thus possessing an adopted daughter, paid originally as a “blood maal,” can terminate the blood feud by paying to her father or relations a small “maal” of cattle.

Violating a “blood maal girl.”—If a man has dealings with a girl who has been paid as a “blood maal,” he shall be ordered to pay one head of cattle, which, however, can never be returned. If a man has connection with a girl who does not come under this category, he pays, as stated before, a certain “maal,” which, however, is returned to him when the girl eventually marries, together with the issue of the “maal.”

[Sidenote: Death of a wife.]

If a wife die before she has been received into her husband’s house, he receives back the “maal” he has paid in advance for her. If she die after being received into her husband’s house, he does not, as a matter of course, receive his “maal” back, but the father will almost invariably pay him back half as a favour. If there are children of the marriage, the widower will not receive any cattle back.

[Sidenote: Death of a husband.]

If a husband die his widow will remain with her late husband’s relations unless her own relations choose to pay back the “maal” originally received for her, in which latter case the custody of the children is generally given to her late husband’s people.

[Sidenote: Disposal of property.]

If a man die and leave property, it goes to his sons, failing a son, if he leave a married daughter who has a son it goes to him. Failing any issue, his property goes to his male relations. The widow of a man will never receive his property.

HISTORY OF THE DINKAS OF THE WHITE NILE.

This section of the Dinkas migrated from the Bahr-el-Ghazal about 130 or 150 years ago, as nearly as can be judged from various sources of information, and most of their customs, their character, and habits of daily life, are identical with the corresponding traits of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas as recorded by Schweinfurth. Some of the older Dinkas of the “Ibrahim” section, especially those whose wits have been sharpened by a visit to Cairo or Khartoum, appear to take a considerable interest in tracing back their history.

At the time of the migration, the head of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas was one Akwai Chakab. He descended into the country on the right bank of the White Nile north of the Sobat, and drove out the Arab inhabitants; these were chiefly Fung, Abu Rof, and Jaalin, the latter being also partly on the left (west) bank. No mention is made of the presence of any Baggara Arabs on the west bank. Akwai Chakab was accompanied by one Kur Deng Achuk wad Agweir, and by his own son, Deng Karuma wad Akwai. Having seized the country and installed his own people, Akwai Chakab returned to his own country in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and left the Government of his new country in the hands of his son, Deng Karuma and Kur Deng Achuk wad Agweir. Another son of Akwai Chakab accompanied his father in the seizure of the new territories; this was Kolong wad Akwai, and to him was entrusted the command of the advance guard of the army. His orders were to push on ahead, spy out the country, and eventually attack Sennar and the El Ahamda, etc., and reinforcements would be supplied from the rear if necessary.

On the conquest of the Sudan by Mohammed Ali Pasha, the invading “Turks” did not penetrate the east bank beyond Jebel Ahmed Agha; how far south they went on the west bank is not stated. On the east bank, however, they had to fight the powerful Dinka forces from Muli (now called Renk) and did not always come off victors (Muli was at that time called by the Arabs “Hasoia”). The Dinkas, however, being forced to fall back, retreated up Khor Rau, east of Ahmed Agha, followed by the “Turks,” who came up with them, and fell on them at the Debba Mabiu. The “Turks” completely routed them, and seized and carried off their cattle, but none of their women or children. Mention is made of the “Turks” fighting with the Shilluks near Kaka. The invading army then appears to have retired from the country, leaving the Dinkas to their own devices; and they do not seem to have been troubled again for a considerable time. They were, however making mischief, and they admit that the evil days that befel them at a later date was the inevitable consequence of their own misdeeds. Strong enough to hold their own against other neighbouring tribes, they appear to have turned their attention to annoying the Government, and amongst other exploits, penetrated to Karkoj, killed Sheikh Abdallahi and some of his people, and robbed the remainder. The Governor-General of the Sudan at, or about the time of these occurrences, 1863, was Musa Pasha Hamdi, and he detailed an army under the command of Mohammed Kheir, to go into the Dinka country and wipe out the Dinkas. This was the commencement of their troubles which did not end till 1898. The first descent upon the Dinkas was in the Abialang district, otherwise known as the Dinka Ibrahim. The inhabitants fled to Jebel Gule and threw themselves under the protection of Sheikh Regab wad Idris, and paid him heavy tribute on the understanding that he would arrange matters between themselves and the Government. Regab wad Idris appears to have accepted the tribute, and then to have sent word to Sennar that the fugitive Dinkas were in his power. Thereupon a force of Egyptian soldiery was despatched from Sennar, and captured the fugitive Dinkas, whom they led off as slaves. The men were enrolled in the Nubian regiments, and the women and children sold. Orders subsequently came to release them, but a considerable number of the men were, nevertheless, kidnapped, and many remained in the regiments; of the latter, there are now several still serving in the army as more or less senior officers. On those occasions when the Dinka forces defeated the Government troops, the locality of the battle has generally been called by the Dinkas by the name of the commander of the Government troops, such as the Island of Wad Ab Kona, of which the original Dinka name, also still used, was Gasa-el-Abiad. Other instances are Wad Ab Sheiba and (Jebel) Ahmed Agha.

The result of these depredations was that the Dinkas were practically driven to exist as outlaws, living in the woods or in the inaccessible Nuer country. They never, however, lost their hold over their own country, and whenever the Government forces withdrew, they would return to the vicinity of their villages, ready to fly at a moment’s notice.

In later days, in the time of the Dervish regime, those Dinka districts which, on demand, paid up the whole of their cattle, were not further molested; on the other hand, the people south of Jebel Ahmed Agha declined to fall in with this proposal, and were consequently perpetually harried and raided, and had many of their women and children carried off, the Dinka’s first care being always to drive his cattle off to a place of safety. Since the establishment of a settled Government, the Dinkas have been returning in increasing numbers to their country, but the general complaint now is, that at the present time, hundreds, and even thousands of Dinkas are still in the service of those who seized them, or bought them in the old days, and who would, if they had an opportunity, return to their country.

(e) Selim Baggara.

The Selim Baggara, though really belonging to the left bank from opposite to Jebelein southwards nearly to Kaka, cross over to the right bank in considerable numbers during the dry season. They prefer to live amongst the Dinkas, as they rely on them principally for their grain supply, not being cultivators to any extent themselves. A good many of them are mounted on Abyssinian ponies (price 30 to 40 sheep, i.e., 3_l._ to 4_l._) on which they hunt elephant, buffalo, and giraffe in the most fearless manner, armed only with their long broad-headed Baggara spears. The skins of these animals are readily accepted by the Dinkas in exchange for dura. The Selim are divided into two sections, Um Tarif and Walad Mahbub; the Sheikh of the former is Amin Musa,[84] and of the latter El Hag Suleiman, both live on the left bank opposite Jebelein. The tribe owns a considerable number of sheep, but little or no cattle. They cultivate to a small extent on the borders of the Gimma country, about 20 miles north-west from Jebelein.

The Arab names for places are, as a rule, quite unknown to the Dinkas, and vice versâ.

(f) Shilluks.

From Kodok south, on the right bank, to the Sobat the inhabitants are mostly Shilluks (for description of whom vide Chap. VIII.)

[Footnote 74: Vide list, Appendix F.]

[Footnote 75: 1 ardeb = 300 lbs. = 24 ruba.]

[Footnote 76: Wad Medani is to become the headquarters of Gezira (Blue Nile) Province in 1905.]

[Footnote 77: There is now a well at J. Soga, a few hundred yards west of the village at the northern end of J. Mazmum; there is also a well at J. Dali, which cannot, however, be relied on.]

[Footnote 78: A new road is being cut (1904) from Senga to Goz Abu Guma, and from Roseires direct to Gule and Renk.]

[Footnote 79: Egyptian money is accepted in Beni Shangul except by the Abyssinians.]

[Footnote 80: Black bead with white spots.]

[Footnote 81: Their appearance is said to be rendered still more grotesque by the wearing of a cow-hide belt about 3 inches wide to which is affixed, at the back, the tail of some animal; this gives the wearer the strange appearance of possessing a tail.]

[Footnote 82: Euphorbia candelabrum.]

[Footnote 83: Since writing this, Bakhit Niok, a more progressive sheikh than his fellows, has provided himself with both a horse and donkey, other sheikhs are following his lead, and donkeys are becoming comparatively common in Northern Dinkaland.]

[Footnote 84: El Hag Suleiman is now (1904) Head-Sheikh of all Selim.]

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III. NORTH-EASTERN SUDAN…

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