THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN of which nothing grows. Even by the Nile itself, the strip of mud which is cultivable on each side of the river is always narrow, and is far from being continuous, and can in no way compare with the mud of Egypt for depth and productiveness. The islands in the river are also very important as dwelling-places for the natives, who can sow and reap their crops there without disturbance, and can readily obtain an abundant suppl)' of water for themselves and their families, their crops, and their cattle. On the lands away from the river, which lie within the rainy zone, large crops of various kinds of grain are grown, and herds of fine cattle find pasture ; but when the deserts, and ranges of hills, and swamps, have been deducted from the area of the Sudiln the cultivable land is reduced to a relatively small amount.

In spite, however, of its savage and waterless deserts the Sudan has been traversed by trading caravans from time immemorial, and the profit to be gained by barter from the Sudani folk, both from those who live on the river banks and those who breed cattle on the plains to the south of Khartum, has tempted men in all ages to journey from the north-east coast of Africa to regions which lie only a very few degrees north of the Equator. In all ages the merchants of Lower Egypt, who carried on business with the Siidan, sailed up the Nile to some convenient stopping place, where, having landed, they made up their caravans, and set out for their destination, travelling thither by way of the desert, and stopping at the Oases to water their animals, and to replenish their stores of dates and grain. In the earliest times of all, and probably down to a period so late as the XVIIIth Dynast}', the beasts of burden were asses. If some place near the modern town of Asyut were chosen for a starting point, which was most likely, the caravan of asses or camels marched to the Oasis of Kharga, and then, in a direction which is almost due south, on to the valley which is now known as ** Bahr bila-ma," i.e., the ** Waterless River." This crossed, the journey was continued ip a south-westerly direction to the Oasis of Selima, where a halt was made. From Selima the track ran, still in a south-westerly direction, nearly to the famous swamp wherein, according to an ancient tradition, tortoises lived and bred, and then, bending almost due south, it went on to settlements which probably lay near the modern towns of Kobi, Dar Mara, and Dar Fungara.

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