Itineraries.

42 Kordofan.

in order not to sink in the sand, and it would probably be best to have wheels entirely of iron. A train of such wagons, under military organisation, with intelligent officers, would render important services for the transportation of troops, supplies, ammunition, telegraph, materials, &c."

As the region of Kordofan is uniformly of the same character throughout, i.e., a vast hard plain, dotted with low hills, and its surface either cultivated, steppe-like, or covered with patches of scrub and mimosa, it has not been considered necessary to give itineraries of any but the main routes ; the descriptions would be all monotonously alike, and, in any case, there is little detail available.* As regards water, during the Jcherif there is plenty everywhere, but in the dry season the wells are few and far between.

[For a description of the Debbeh El Obeid road, v. " Report on the Nile and Country between Dongola, &c." 1898. Part II, Route V.]

Route I.—Khartum (or Omdurman)—Abu Kurat— El Obeid. Abu Kurat is the usual poiut from which caravans start inland from the Nile to Kordofan. It is 10 miles west of a point on the Nile about 92 miles south of Omdurman.

Alternative lioutes—Khartum (or Omdurman) to Abu ~Kurat.

(i) Left bank via Tura el Khadra.

(ii) Right bank via Woad Shelai (crossing at this point), (iii) By water, leaving the Nile opposite Gretaineh.

The usual time occupied by a caravan from Omdurman to El Obeid via (i) is 15 days ; Mr. Marno, via (ii), took 12 days.

(i) Major Prout (May, 1875, 6 days). From Omdurman to Tura el Khadra,t about 96 miles, on the west bank of the White Nile, there is a strip of * Marno's " Reisen im Aegyptischen Kordofan " is the best authority on Kordofan routes, but even this book generally omits all reference to water supply.

f The " Greek Canal."