206 Wadi El Gab.

tamarisk bushes, in the roots and undergrowth of the palms, date and dom, till it piles over the bushes, and reaches towards the top of the palms or smothers them. The whole place has the appearance of a forest after a heavy storm : trees Iving prone in all directions, but no effort is made at replanting or replacing. A few seedlings struggle into existence now and then. The sand moves on, leaving the palms crippled or dead. I have heard so much of the vegetation and grazing, and date trees, verdure, luxuriance, etc., of the Wadi El Gab — it never existed. Ruthless, and judging by events, not altogether unavoidable, neglect, has diminished the little there ever was. We know it carried a large head of camels, goats, and sheep, at least so it was supposed ; but, barring goats and a few donkeys, the herds of the Kababish had to roam " for forty days in the wilderness " towards Darfur and Kordofan, and northwards to abreast Mahass and Sukkot, for their food. Water is found at from 12 to 20 feet below the surface ; the Gab averages about .5 miles in breadth, patches of grass and thorn bush crop up at intervals, separated by rolling hills of rock and sand. Round the wells there are the miserable straw huts and mud houses of the tribesmen, with here and there groves of palms ; no game to speak of. Gazelle exist in small numbers, and are very afraid of mankind. This is accounted for by the fact that the Arabs trap them, and hunt them with dogs, a breed of yellow greyhound. The trap is a round hoop, with thin strips of wood tied to the circumference, and the points of the strips meet at the centre, laid so that the strips make a slight cone, like the top of a basket. The gazelle browse on the thorn bushes ; close to the bush the Arab puts the trap in a little hollow in the sand, cone downwards, places on the rim of the trap a running noose, to the other end of which is fastened a billet of wood. The whole is covered over with sand. The gazelle comes to feed off the sprouts of the bush ; puts his foot into the noose ; his foot slides through the apex of the spines of split wood ; he kicks to free his foot, and so the noose tightens on his leg, and there he is, with a rope tied to his leg ; he cannot kick off the rope, for the billet of wood drags the knot tight, and the trap prevents it slipping down, and the Arab then appears with his dogs, and chases the animal down.

Twelve miles west of Shemsi is Wadi El Butta, very much like the Gab in appearance. Addax and wild sheep are said occasionally to come here in summer. Water is near the surface, and is got by the animals by scraping. A curious feature is the occurrence over the whole face of the desert of patches of succulent plants and grasses which serve as food for camels and for goats.

Sawani to Bayiida, 9 miles. El Bab to Haweiya, 9 miles. At Haweiya, or Haweid, a number of wells, also at El Bab. They are part and parcel of one place. Rode to El Marghum, the post occupied by the old Sheb post. I asked about these wells in the Gab, and got always the same answer. Those existing were dug by their ancestors, so long ago no one remembers, and ever since no one has been to the trouble to dig or explore for anything fresh. Well here deep, 18 or 20 feet, and stone faced.

The Wadi El Gab.

{Sir W. Garstin, G.C.M.G., AprU, 1897.)

No account of the Dongola province would be complete without some mention of this great depression which extends through the Western Desert from Hafir to Debba, a distance of some 125 miles. It is chiefly inhabited by the Kababish tribe of Arabs, who use it for grazing their flocks ; and it contains numerous wells.

It has been thought that this depression might possibly be utilised as a storage reservoir or as a means for escaping the surplus water in an excessive flood. It is very doubtful whether it could thus be made use of. The wadi appears really to come to an end a few miles north of Hafir, and the nearest point to the river to be at a distance of some 10 miles.

The lowest portions of the Wadi El Gab must be considerably lower than the level of the river in flood, but by how mu( h it is impossible, without levels, to say.

On leaving the Nile, in the direction of this valley, the country rises rapidly for some 4 miles. It then begins to fall away from the river, in a succession of terraces, until a total of about 10 miles have been traversed. The real edge of the wadi then commences. Its width at the northern end appears to be about 5 miles. The western edge is filled up with drift sand, which is gradually covering the palm trees. A well, measured at the Oasis of Lagia, showed the water level to be some 9 feet below the ground surface. The water was sweet and of good quality.

It would be useful to have the whole of this depression carefully levelled and surveyed. The area covered by it is very large, and supposing it were possible to fill it with water, the loss from evaporation would certainly be very great.