And they cultivate barley, millet, and all their legumes such as turnips, onions, radishes, cucumbers, and watermelons. The state of Alwa in its appearance, buildings, the ranks of its people, and their trades is like the state of the city of Dongola. The people of Alwa travel to the land of Egypt. Between Alwa and Ballaq is a 10-day journey by land, and by the Nile, it is less than that going downstream. The length of the land of Nubia on the coast of the Nile is a two-month journey or more. Similarly, the people of Alwa and Dongola travel on the Nile by boat and also descend to the city of Ballaq on the Nile. The city of Ballaq is one of the cities of Nubia, located between two arms of the Nile. Its people are civilized, and their livelihoods are good. Sometimes, they receive dried grapes brought to them. Barley and millet are abundant there. In the city of Ballaq, the trade of Nubia, Abyssinia, and the merchants of Egypt converges. They travel to it if they are in a state of peace and truce. The clothing of its people is loincloths and wraps. Its land is irrigated by the Nile, the river that comes from the land of Abyssinia. It is a very large valley that feeds the Nile, and its location is near the city of Ballaq and within the arm that surrounds it. On it are the farms of the Abyssinian people and many of its cities, which we will mention later, God willing. There is no rain in the city of Ballaq, nor does it receive rainfall. Similarly, all the lands of the Sudan, from Nubia, Abyssinia, Kanem, and Zaghawa, and other nations, do not receive rain, nor do they have mercy or relief from God except for the flood of the Nile. They rely on it for the cultivation of their sustenance and their livelihood from millet, milk, fish, and legumes. All of this is abundant in the city of Ballaq. From the city of Ballaq to the Jebel al-Jandal is a 7-day journey by land and a 4-day journey by Nile downstream. To Jebel al-Jandal, the boats of the Sudan are taken, and from there they return because they cannot proceed to the city of Egypt. The reason preventing this is