Erkoiuit and Tokar, etc.

95 hill slopes are still clothed with green, the hill sides are covered with bush, ferns, flowers of various kinds, and grass, and the plateau affords excellent grazing.

With regard to the road communications, there are four tracks in use from Suakin : — (1) Fi« the Sinkat Agaba and Khor Gebet ; three days for loaded camels.

(2) Tamaneb and Khor Arab route, at present easier for lightly loaded camels than the following, but longer, and crossing two agabas, 39 miles.

(3) The Masilli route, on which the very bad portion is fairly short, but the route involves an unnecessary detour and is only practicable for very lightly-loaded camels. Length, 36 miles.

(4) Kolkilai Route: A new road or track has been made this year (1904) up this hillside, which rises over 2,000 feet above the plain below, and it is now possible for hill camels carrying average loads to reach Erkowit without difficulty by this route — length 33 miles. A heavy hamla would still require to come by routes (1) or (2).

Tokar, the next town of importance in the district, 56 miles by road south of Suakin, consists of a fort (built after the defeat of the Dervishes and capture of Tokar in 1891) in which are the Government offices, Mamur's house, post and telegraph offices, etc. There is also a small market place, with a few merchants' houses. It is situated at the mouth of the Khor Baraka, between Jebel Shabba and Jebel Heina, two prominent landmarks. The population is about 3,000.

The soil of Tokar is rich, and there are very extensive fields for cultivation — cotton,* dura, dukhn, etc. — but owing to the uncertainty of the Baraka flood, and also to the fact that the country yearly runs a great risk of being devastated by locusts, it is impossible to foretell events or to form an estimate of what the produce of the district will be. One year the harvest may be an extraordinary rich one, the next may prove to be a blank. The Baraka is in flood from the middle of July to the end of September, reaching its maximum about the middle of August.

During the months of June and July, i.e., prior to the Baraka flood, blinding dust storms prevail daily from 9 in the morning tUl 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and it is impossible to see more than a few yards in front of one. Travellers constantly lose their way and occasionally die on the road between Tokar and Suakin. Formerly convoys and troops moving at that time of year often suffered severe privations.

In the summer of 1891, a party of cavalry were caught in one of these storms and had terrible experiences, losing many men and horses.

In the winter the climate of Tokar is dry and healthy. There are many wells, but the water is not of very good quality. Ras Magdam forms the northern entrance point of the inlet forming the harbour of Trinkitat, about 10 miles inland from which is the town of Tokar. The entrance to Trinkitat is not easily distinguishable, as the coast is low and sandy. Off the entrance lie extensive reefs and shoals. There is good anchorage outside the harbour in about 6 fathoms, under shelter of the reef named Katat Kennasha. The harbour opens to the north-east, is about J mile wide, extends J mile to the southward, has a depth of 4 fathoms, and is capable of acconmaodating 20 vessels drawing from 18 to 21 feet ; the holding ground is good. The shores of the harbour are sandy, with low bushes.

About 14 miles south and | miles west from Mersa Durur, and 36 miles north of Suakin, is the entrance to Mersa Barghut, useful as a temporary anchorage, and which is to supersede Suakin as a harbour, and the outlet for the trade of the Sudan. This Mersa is named after a chief,f the ruins of whose tomb on the northern point of the entrance is a good sea-mark. The khor is formed by a gap in the coast reef, by which it is also bordered ; its north-western arm extends inland 2\ miles, with depths of from 14 to 18 fathoms, mud for 1| miles, and then irregular soundings. A small vessel can go up in mid-channel, but could not turn without using warps.

The western arm extends about J mUe, and shoals gradually ; there is a donga at its head trending more than a mile in a south-westerly direction, in which, during the wet season, there is fresh water, but, in the summer, only & shallow tidal drain.

The tomb on the northern entrance point is more in the shape of a cottage than of the ordinary Arab tombs, and its summit, being about 25 feet above the sea, can be seen from the masthead of a vessel from a considerable distance.

There is good anchorage in 14 fathoms near the entrance of the north-western arm with the tomb, bearing about south-east by east. Here there is room for three vessels of moderate size at single anchor.

No supplies of any kind can be procured, but there are some springs of good water on the southern side of the khor, about a raUe from the beach. Fish may be obtained by the score in the western arm. Game is plentiful, but somewhat wild.

The remaining stations of importance in the district are merely police posts, consisting of a fort, garrisoned by police, with a small Arab community living in grass tukls close by. These are : Halaib, Mohammed Gul, and Agik, * In 191)3-04, 7,425 feddans were under cotton cultivation and yielded 29,039 kantars which realised ;£E.25,873, or an average of 891 P.T. per kantar.

t Barghut fleas. The new name for Sheikli Barghut is " New Suakin."

Communications with Suakin.

TOKAB.

Population. Cultivation.

Dust storms.

Climate.

Water supply.

Trinkitat.

Sheikh Barghut (Barud).

Directions.

Supplies.

Police posts, &c.