Ankedo Sudan-Egyptian] MINERALS (IRON , ETC. , SALT) 135 Mvolo ; the Anuak, on the Sobat ; the Aliab , on the west bank of the Bahr el-Jebel ; and the Bongo, around the Bahr el-Arab . The Arabs smelt iron atNahud, in western Kordofan, and at several villages in the east of Darfur, employing a highly ferruginous clay and sand found in pockets in the red sand formationsof the district . The well -known iron works at Um Semeima and the Jebel Haraza, inKordofan, have been neglected since the Mahdist revolt . Along the Nile Congo watershed, which in places is composed almost entirely of ironstone , occurring in porous lava-like shelves, there are many old workings, notably near the source of the Bekki river . At thepresent day, almost every village has its smelting furnace, which , however, is only used when the local or travellingblacksmith is sent for or makes one of his periodical visits .

Lead has been found in Darfur; and it is reported that the deposit is now being worked .

Limestone and marble occur in many places . The deposit at Shereikh is the most important one now being worked .

Natron exists in the Wadi Natrun , 280 miles west of Debbre, on the Darb el-Arbain road. The purest deposit is found in a seam from half to two inches thick, just below the surface sand, and the best working is a little west of the Jebel Kashaf.

Salt .—In the arid regions,many of the desert gravels are salt-bearing, particularly in the Butana , east of the Blue Nile, between Rufaa and Khartum , where the natives have for many years made a living by extract ing salt from the surface gravels . North of Khartum , salt is extracted wherever these gravels are found ; and impure, yellow - coloured salt oflocal manufacture can be found in nearly every market town . Many of the natives seem to prefer it to the pure white imported varieties. Salt occurs in beds of considerable size in the Selima oasis and the lagoons on the Red Sea coast at Ras Roweiya, where some abandoned salt workings containing a large supply — the results of the process of evaporation during several years — have been reopened.