Anglo-Egyptian] 139 TOWNS AND MARKETS area four to five miles in length by one mile in breadth, and had in 1917 a population of about 60,000. In the last twenty years it has been converted from an unplanned network of twisted lanes to a town with open spaces and good streets, where many of the leading merchants of the country have their head offices . Omdurman has a very large market and is the centre of the ivory and cattle trades. Until the railway was extended to Kosti and El Obeid it was also the centre of the gum trade .

The chief grain markets in the Blue Nile district are at Singa , Wad Medani , Hassa Heissa , Messelemia and Managil, and, on the White Nile , at El Dueim and El Geteina. The markets for sesame in the eastern Sudan are at Singa , Mafaza, and Gedaref, and in the western Sudan at El Obeid , Kawa , and Kosti . The chief cotton markets are at Tokar , in the Red Sea province, and Wad Medani , in the Blue Nile province . The principal gum markets are at El Obeid, Um Ruaba, and El Nahud in Kordofan, and at Kassala and Gedaref in Kassala province. El Damer, in Berber province, has a thriving sheep trade. Nahud is the centre of the ostrich - feather trade . The chief centres of the date trade are in the Halfa and Dongola provinces, at Tangassi ( Dongola province ) and other local markets.

El Dueim, on the White Nile , lost much of its importance as a produce market after the railway was carried to El Obeid , in the adjoining province of Kordofan . Many prominent El Dueim merchants transferred their businesses and their residences to El Obeid . Houses in El Dueim to -day realise rather less than 30 per cent . of their former value , while more than three -fourths of the business premises seem to be untenanted . The markets of the town , like those of El Geteina , Kawa, and Kosti , are now owned and conducted by the Government, instead of being leased to native contractors .

El Geteina, on the White Nile, is a large village, divided into two parts, and forming the headquarters [3919] L