Anglo - Egyptia Sudan Egyptian] COAST ; RIVERS : THE NILE 7 shore and then turn sharply to the south -west, -bordering the wide and fertile plain of Tokar, which extends nearly to the Eritrean frontier.

Throughout its length the coastis fringed by coral reefs and shoals, offering considerable obstacles to navigation. The most important formation of the kind is the Suakin group, an archipelago of reefs, rocks, and islets extending from about 18 °21 ' to 19° 27' north latitude, at an average distance of ten miles from the shore . There is a deep, broad channel between this group and the mainland .

River System With hardly any exception the whole Sudan is drained by the great system of the Nile and its tribu taries. The waters of the White Nile have been called with justice the “life blood of the country. From Nimule, where these waters enter the Sudan, to Halfa, where they leave it, they have a course of over 2,000 miles, nearly the whole of which is navigable at all times of the year.

T'he Nile.

( a) General Description.- The Nile system consists of two elements : (i) the swamp -rivers of the south and south -west, i.e. , the Bahr el- Jebel, Bahr el-Ghazal , and their tributaries, contributing a comparatively small but constant volume of water throughout the year; and (ii) the flood-rivers descending from the Abyssinian plateau - i.e ., the Blue Nile , Atbara, and Sobat, which bring down a great volume of water after the rains, but little or none in the dry season .

The latter are by far the most important, and their fluctuations cause enormous changes in the character both of the main stream and of the country surround ( i ) The Bahr el-Jebel, draining the equatorial lakes , and the Bahr el -Ghazal, fed by the network of ing it .