64 Darfur.

(b) Darfur.

General Description.

Darfur proper, or the country of the Fors, is, accordingto the assertions of the inhabitants, the territory comprised in the central group of mountains of Jebel Marra and its offshoots.

* Although the boundaries of Darfur have never been ascertained with precision, the country may be considered as lying within and nearly filling the area bounded by the parallels 9° and 16° N. lat., and the degrees 22° and 28° E. long. In shape it is a more or less regular parallelogram, measuring about 500 miles from north to south, and 400 miles from east to west. In the centre stands Jebel Marra, a range of mountains a 100 miles (4 days' march) from north to south, and 60 miles (2J days' march) from east to west, and varying in height from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the general level of the surrounding country.

The main characteristics of the country are the large and numerous khors which traverse it on the west, southwest, and south. These are, it is true, only channels for rain-water, and hold it only during the rainy season ; but at the same time they are of great value, for in all of them water is to be found, held up by the clayey strata, at a few feet below the surface.

Broadly it may be said that the Darfur country to the north and east of the Marra range resembles that of Kordofan in its character and usual dearth of water, whilst to the west, south-west, and south it is very much more fertile.

The greater proportion and the largest of these khors such as the Sonot, the Bargo, Baray, the Gheldama, and, above all, the Adsom, with its many affluents, flow towards the west and south-wesfc. The smallest of these are from 200 to 300 yards across; in the rainy season they are perfect torrents, and, although their beds are dry soon after the cessation of the rains, water is always to be found in abundance at a depth of 5 or 6 feet. Two considerable streams, the Ghendi and the Bulbul, flow towards the south, and, uniting about a hundred miles from the mountains, are said, in seasons of excessive