Snedo-Egyptian ] RIVER STEAMER SERVICES 79 . . The fleet of vessels under control of the Government comprises 33 steamers , 17 tugs , 28 launches, 10 gun boats, and 329 barges, sailing craft, & c . There is extensive dockyard accommodation at Khartum North , which is the headquarters of the Sudan Steamers and Boats Department. The postal steamers have eight to ten cabins, and carry about 80 tons of freight. All the steamers are flat-bottomed, some of them drawing only 18 in . of water, and most of them are stern wheelers. The first three gunboats, which formed the nucleus of the present fleet, were originally built foi service in the Far East , but were sold to the Egyptian Government at the time of the Sudan Expedition . The barges are from 300 tons burden, mostly built of steel, and in many cases double-decked. Sailing boats are of two types : gyussas ( Egyptian boats ), solidly built. with high bows and free-board, lateen -rigged , and with a carrying capacity of about 50 tons, and nuggers, roughly but solidly built, without ribs, having a low free-board and a carrying capacity of from 10 to 25 tons. There are also a large number of privately owned sailing boats. On the White Nile goods anu passengers or troops are carried in barges lashed alongside and in front of the steamers. Sometimes as many as four barges are “ pushed ” in the American fashion by the larger steamers, which also have double decked passenger barges or sandals on either side .

Like other areas to the south , the Khartum region at certain seasons of the year, usually during the hot weather , is subject to a very violent type of sand -storm known locally as a haboob. These storms,which cause considerable damage by burying walls, railway tracks, & c ., in sand , and sometimes capsizé steamers on the broad reaches of the river south of Khartum , spring up very suddenly and are commonly followed by heavy rain .

During the early years of the occupation the ever increasing trade of the country , and especially of the river-borne traffic , seemed to justify the formation of a private company, with the result that the Sudan