Gallahnt, Blue Nile, Binder and Mahad Country.

109 fired, and the old and new are destroyed together ; the ground is now clear and ready for sowing without further trouble, and thus cultivation is carried on with a minimum of labour. As the country is mostly forest, of course clearings have occasionally to be made. Two crops of dura are raised—" Naggad " and " Kurgi "--also a good deal of dukhn, which is ready for harvesting by the middle of October. Cotton is said to grow well, and in 1901 there were 800 acres of it under cultivation ; this was four times as much as in the preceding year. It is expected that several thousand acres will be under cotton cultivation in 1905-6.

A few lime trees are now all that remain of the beautiful gardens which existed formerly on the banks of the Khor Abnaheir. The Dervishes are said to have ruthlessly cut down the fruit trees for building wood.

The garrison is usually a detachment furnished by the company of the Sudanese or Arab Battalion at Kassala. There are also the usual civil police.

The rains begin here earlier and are much heavier* than at either Gedaref or Kassala. After the end of April heavy rain storms become pretty frequent and last till September or October. During this season the roads are very bad for travelling. The serut fly appears when the new vegetation has sprung up.

The same as Gedaref. Healthy, December to June ; unhealthy, during the remainder of the year.

The main water supply is from the Khor Abnaheir, which averages 5 j'ards wide and 2 feet deep, but varies considerably according to the time of year, and becomes stagnant and foul towards the end of the dry season. There are also some small springs near the fort, the water from which, at this season, is more wholesome.

Roads lead from here to Chelga and Gondar, Kwara, Dunkur, Roseires, Rahad, and Gadabi. (Vide Vol. 2). There is a telegraph and post office at Gallabat. Camels are the most suitable transport animals, unless the Abyssinian frontier is crossed, when mules or donkeys become desirable ; for the journey to either Gondar or Kwara they are indeed indispensable.

When the Dervishes sacked Gondar, their transport consisted chiefly of camels, but very few are said to have survived or even to have reached there.

Camels are hardly ever procurable at Gallabat. No number of mules, donkeys and horses can be relied on unless plenty of notice is given, when the Abyssinians would probably readily supply a limited number.

British, Egyptian, or Turkish money is not as a rule accepted by the Abyssinians, who require to be paid in Maria Theresa dollars, which they value at PT.IOJ, but the Sudan Government at not more than PT.9J.

From El Damer to the line Roseires-Gallabat all the game mentioned under " Kassala " is found, with the exception of ibex, oryx, wild sheep, and klipspringer, and in addition rhinoceros and tiang (Damaliscus Senegalensis) ; bohor, or reedbuck, and Gazdla rufifrons are common in places.

Garrison.

Bains.

Climate. Water supply.

Trade routes. Telegraph offices. Transport auimals.

Currency.

Game.

Section 4. — Country between Blue Nile, Dinder, and Rahad, with Description of these Rivers.

The country between the Blue Nile and the Rahad and Dinder Rivers is at present (1904) practically uninhabited General south of the village of Durraba on the Dinder, which is about the same latitude as Karkoj on the Blue Nile. description.

Before the Mahdia, villages extended along both the Rahad and Dinder to nearly as far south as the Abyssinian frontier. Now, however, though inhabitants are slowly returning, there are but few villages even north of the Karkoj-Durraba line.

The country lying south of the latitude of Sennar being infested with the serut fly during the rainy season, the Tribes, inhabitants, who are principally Kenana, Kawahla, Rufaa El Sharg, and Agaliin, are semi-nomadic ; that is to say shortly before the commencement of the rains many of them trek with their camels, cattle, horses, etc., northwards across the Rahad to the well-known El Butana grazing district {see p. 103), in order to escape the fly, whilst only a few remain behind to cultivate their dura, simsim, and cotton.

The whole of this country as far south as the Abyssinian frontier, in the vicinity of which the hills commence, is perfectly flat and covered with bush or forest of varying density, with here and there open spaces, often many miles in extent. The bush is thickest in the vicinity of the river banks and thickest of all along the Rahad.

The trees and bush most usually seen are talh, hashab, kittr, sayal, kurmut, heglig, laot, sunt, sidr, etc. El Agab Abu Gin, Nazir of the Rufaa El Sharg Arabs, is in charge of all the country bordering the Dinder and El Agab Rahad (left bank) from the latitude of Sennar southwards. His residence is at Abu Hashim on the Dinder (left bank). Abu Gin. Of the other villages occupied by his people the principal are Durraba, Bandana, Gileidat, and Lueisa.

From the villages of Wad El Abbas and Sheikh Talha, both on the Blue Nile, roads lead to Gileidat and thence [5'°™'""'"' southwards along the Dinder to Durraba. beyond which point there is no regular road. FromSenga and Karkoj, roads lead, via Abu Hashim and Deberki on the Dinder, to Hawata on the Rahad. South of this, as far as the Roseires-Abu Ramla track, the country may be said to be roadless and, owing to the cotton soil and bush, travelling across country is a trying operation for man or beast. There is a good road up the right bank of the Blue Nile from Wad Medani to Famaka.

* Total rainfall, .January to October, 1904, 34-6 inches.

Q 2