Si6 Bed Sea Littoral.

Chkme.

all on the Red Sea, and Karora, inland. Halaib is the most northern, and is near the frontier of Egypt. Karora is the post on the Sudan-Eritrean frontier, about 28 miles from the Red Sea. There are about 1,000 feddans of cultivable land between Karora and the sea on the northern side of the Sudan boundary of which the natives take advantage, though not to any great extent.

In different parts of the Suakin district the following species may be found : Kudu, oryx (beisa), ibex, wild sheep, klipspringer, ariel, gazelle {Dorcas and Isabella), dig-dig, hare, bustard. Lion, leopard and cheetah are rare. There is good sea fishing at Suakin, which is famous for its so-called lobsters, which are really large crayfish.

Nomad Arabs and Tribes.

It is quite impossible to arrive at anything like an accurate number of the population of the Arabs in this district, but 50,000 is a fair estimate. Vide Appendix F.

The majority of them live right in the interior of the hills and are constantly on the move, here, there, and anywhere, wherever rain happens to have fallen or grazing is plentiful.

A journey, no matter how far, is nothing to them ; their houses, consisting simply of straw mats stretched over curved sticks, can be put up or pulled down in a very short ime. Their families, wives, children, and belongings, are put on what camels and donkeys they possess; cattle, sheep, goats, etc., are driven on ahead, and so the caravan proceeds, sometimes for a whole month and more, sometimes for only a few days.

The chief tribes are the Amarar and the Hadendoa, both of which have many sub-tribes. There are also the Beni Amer, Bisharin, Ashraf, Shaiab, Habab, Komilab, Arteiga, and Rasheida, who came originally from Arabia and now live partly on the Atbara in Berber Province and partly near Agik. They were until recently much addicted to slave running.

For detailed list of Nomads, vide Appendix F.

Red Sea Littoral-Suakin District.

The coast of the Suakin Province extends from Suakin to N. Parallel 22° on the north, and from Suakin to Ras Kasar on the south, i.e., roughly about 500 miles in all. The coast from Sheikh Barghut to Suakin is quite low, being composed entirely of raised coral reef, furrowed by khors which contain water only in the rainy season.

There are several small inlets and creeks where dhows can anchor all along the coast, but the chief harbours, in addition to those already described, are as follows : — On the North. On the South.

Halaib. Rowaya. Mohammed Gul. Darur. Gezira Abdalla.

Heidob.

Ras Magdam.

Agik. Adobana. Ras Kasar.

At all of the above harbours, except Gezira, Abdalla, Heidob, and Ras Magdam, fresh water can be found a short way inland.

Most of the entrances to the harbours are narrow, and require careful navigation ; moreover, they are in every case guarded by coral reefs, and as they are not at present (1904) lighted, they cannot be entered at night.

General deacription.

Country north of KaoaaU.

Section 4. — Country between the Berber-Suakin Road, the Atbara, and the Abyssinian and Eritrean Frontiers.

(a) C!oUNTRY BETWEEN BeRBER-SuAKIN RoAD AND LATITUDE OF KaSSALA.

Kassala and Adarama are, with the exception of a few small outlying hamlets near the former and the one diminutive Hamran village on the Setit, the only permanent towns or villages in Sudan territory east of the Atbara. Nearly the whole of this country, except that near Kassala and south of it, belongs to the Hadendoas, who range from the Atbara to Suakin.

Adarama, on the Atbara, about 78 miles above its junction with the Nile, once the headquarters of the redoubtable Osman Digna, but now almost deserted, consists of little more than a few tukls, and the walis of the mud houses of the Dervish town.