60 Kordofan.

to that of the gray bark. Other gum-producing acacias are scattered over the province in large numbers.

It appears that the gum forests of Kordofan are not worked to anything like their capacity; the labour of gathering it is tedious and unremunerative.

Baobabs. Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata), native name hamre, or hankale. These trees play an important part in the life of the inhabitants. Their northern limit is a few ' miles north of El Obeid. The tree is 70 or 80 feet high, and the trunk from 30 to 40 feet in circumference ; the leaves resembles the sycamore leaf. In addition to its fruit, it is very valuable as a storage for water, many trees being capable of holding 20,000 gallons ; these are not filled by nature, as is often imagined, but by the people during the rains.

Ostrich feathers mostly come from Darfur and Dar Hamar, El Obeid being merely the collecting station. Ostriches are seldom seen in Kordofan, but are numerous west of the mountains of Kagga. With care, however, ostrich farming in Kordofan ought to be most successful.

Animals.

€attie. Cattle.—The raw hides come from the Baggara, and the slaughter-houses at El Obeid.

The herds of the Baggara are large, and the cattle of excellent quality, though they do not seem to be very prolific, and yield but little milk. They are of the humped variety seen throughout the Sudan, are docile, and the bulls are trained to the saddle and to carry burdens. These cattle seem to have a capacity for living with little water. They are said to require drink only every second or third day. Hence large areas round the wells become available for grazing. Prout estimated in 1875 the extent of grazing ground of the Baggara at about 4,000 square miles, and the stock on it at about 100,000 head of cattle.

It must be remembered, however, that the vegetation is not renewed by constant rains, and the cattle have to subsist on the herbage which grows during the hherif.

In northern Kordofan the cattle are few in number, and cannot be counted on as one of the resources of the country.