Chapter XX: Section 4: Country Between the Berber-Suakin Road, the Atbara,

AND THE ABYSSINIAN AND ERITREAN FRONTIERS.

(_a_) COUNTRY BETWEEN BERBER-SUAKIN ROAD AND LATITUDE OF KASSALA.

[Sidenote: General description.]

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.

[Sidenote: Country north of Kassala.]

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 walls of the mud houses of the Dervish town.

The following general description of the country between Adarama and Kassala is taken from a report by Captain A. C. Parker, who traversed this country in April and May, 1901.

“Lying to the north of Kassala, and bounded on the east by the range of hills along which the frontier is delimited, and on the west by the river Atbara, stretches a vast plain of almost unbroken continuity.

“From Goz Regeb to a point on the river west of Kassala the country inland consists of, first, a broad strip of cotton soil, sparsely sprinkled with small trees and bushes. To the east of this there occurs a stretch of more or less sandy soil, supporting a coarse grass and a few stunted isolated trees until the fertile soil adjoining the Khor El Gash is reached.

“This khor, after passing the town of Kassala and receiving numerous small khors from the east, conveys its flood water in a more or less defined channel, or in some places channels, as far as Filik. Along its banks, north of Kassala, dom palms are replaced by thick tamarisk or tarfa trees, which continue most of the way to Filik, on nearing which they in turn are replaced by talh and other thick thorn scrub.

“A short distance north of Filik, owing to the extreme flatness of the country, the eastern channel disappears, and the water dissipates itself through the soil to a distance varying according to the volume of the flood water, its direction being roughly N.N.W.

“The opinion, still held by some, that the Gash water flows towards the Langeb seems untenable.

“The Odi plain which receives numerous small khors from the eastern hills is probably about the same level as the Gash plain, but there certainly appears to be sufficiently rising ground between, though hardly noticeable, to preclude the Gash reaching Odi.

“From Filik, following the direction of the Gash, the bushes which define its course gradually decrease until they become as scattered as in the rest of the plain, and all trace of its direction is lost.

“The plain still extends northwards, until at a point, said to be not far from Jebel Safra, it receives the waters from the Angwatiri and Godamaieb khors, which join here, and probably that of other khors flowing in a south-westerly direction from the rocky hills to the north-east. From these hills also many khors start in an easterly and south-easterly direction, which finally reach the Odi or the Langeb.

“From J. Sanai northwards, for some distance the country consists of large ranges of hills, separated by wide valleys, containing very often stretches of cotton soil in the wider parts, but close to the hills the ground becomes rocky and stony.

“From these valleys, the khors, some of which are lined with dom palms, trend in a south-westerly direction, but in nearly every case are hemmed in by sand hills, and are thus prevented from reaching the Atbara. The valleys, or rather basins, where the final exit is stopped, being usually selected by the Arabs to cultivate.

“Of these valleys the principal are Hegerib, Todabanob, and Hambokeb.

“Wells, the locality of which depend largely on the rainy season or local thunderstorms, are fairly plentiful throughout the whole of the country traversed by these khors, and supply water for numerous sheep and goats, and in some places a few cattle, grazed by Hadendoas of the Gemilab, Haikolab, Amerab, Shebodinab, and other tribes.

“A small party mounted on camels may travel through this country at any time of the year without fear of inconvenience from lack of water. After the rains, pools of standing water will be met with in many places.

“The Gash itself, according to native tradition, has an exit to the Atbara near Adarama, and it is very possible that the waters of the northern Gash plain, called by the Arabs Gash Dai, may have a channel meandering through the hills formed by the rush of water in exceptional years.”

(_b_) KASSALA.

Kassala is situated on the right bank of the Khor Gash, 1,735 feet above the sea, and lies 15 miles west of the nearest point on the Italian frontier, which is near Sabderat. The twin Jebels, Mokram and Kassala, rise abruptly from the plain 3 miles to the east and south-east. The highest of the peculiar dome-shaped protuberances of the latter is 2,600 feet above the town, and is usually visible at a distance of 60 or 70 miles. There are several perennial springs in the mountain.

[Sidenote: Town.]

Beyond the fort built by the Italians, the barracks, and the various other Government buildings, etc., there are few brick buildings in Kassala, as the native part of the town is constructed chiefly of grass tukls. There are two or three fair stores kept by Greeks, where most tinned provisions and other small requirements are obtainable, and at least one of these is licensed to sell liquor.

[Sidenote: Garrison.]

The normal garrison consists of one regular battalion, six (late Italian) 9 cm. Krupp guns, four Nordenfeldt, and four Gardner machine guns. In addition, there is a battalion of Arab irregulars, recruited locally, chiefly from Beni Amers, Hadendoas, and Abyssinians. In consists of 200 men, all of whom are mounted on either camels or mules. This battalion rendered good service during the late campaign, and, in peace time at any rate, are by far the most suitable troops for this part of the country. They are natural scouts and exceedingly mobile. A considerable number of irregulars could be raised here at any time.

[Sidenote: Sheikh El Morghani.]

Said Ali El Morghani, the youthful head of the Morghani sect whose home is the Khatmia under the north-west end of J. Kassala, has now taken up his abode at Omdurman, where, however, he is by no means so generally revered as in the Eastern Sudan. Said Ahmed, an elder brother, who was a prisoner during the Mahdia, now acts as his representative at Kassala. Said Ali’s ancestors were Ashraf at Mecca, and settled at Kassala at the beginning of the last century.

[Sidenote: Population.]

The population of Kassala town in 1900 was 12,000; and the whole of the Nomad Arabs in the district were then estimated to number 6,000. In 1904, the total population of the town and the Nomads was computed to be 46,000. The townspeople are chiefly Halenga Arabs, who are excellent cultivators, also a mixture of Beni Amer, Shukria, Takruris, etc.

[Sidenote: Water supply. Cultivation.]

The water supply, which is from wells varying from 15 to 30 feet deep, is good and plentiful.

The principal cultivation is the dura crop, raised on the land flooded[52] by the Gash. This dura is a large white species called “Taulib,” and is harvested about January; it ranks in quality with the best “Mugad” dura of the Nile. At present the system of irrigation on the Gash is very primitive and wasteful. An improved scheme in accordance with modern ideas is under consideration.[53] A subsidiary rain crop (Naggad), harvested at the end of October, is also raised, but is not of much account. Crops are very liable to the attacks of extraordinary flights of very voracious small birds and also locusts. A very destructive species of “blight” occasionally devastates the crops. It is known as “El Asal” (_Aphis Sorghi_, _vide_ “Report of Wellcome Research Laboratories—Gordon College—1904”). The rains are often barely sufficient to raise those crops dependent on them. Gardens irrigated by sagias and wells are numerous.

[Sidenote: Rains.]

The rainfall of an average year is very meagre.[54] During the Kharif, the period from June to October, rain of any kind rarely falls on more than 20 to 30 days. On perhaps half a dozen of these there may be very heavy thunderstorms. Rain, which almost invariably comes from the east, generally falls between 6 and 8 p.m., and is preceded by a wind of hurricane force, which usually brings with it a phenomenal wall of dust several thousand feet high and many miles in extent, which often takes an hour or more to blow past, during which time the obscurity and colour of the atmosphere reminds one strangely of the thickest of London fogs.

[Sidenote: Climate.]

The climate for eight months of the year, though hot in March, April, and May, when the thermometer not infrequently registers over 112° Fahr., is healthy. From July to October there is a good deal of malaria, especially during a favourable rainy season. This has been reduced a good deal recently by draining, and precautions against mosquitoes.

[Sidenote: Trade.]

The trade at present is not to be compared with that before the Mahdia, but is increasing; what export trade there is, comes from Gedaref. The imports _viâ_ Suakin and Massawa are not of much importance at present; they are sugar and Manchester goods principally. By far the largest proportion of imports now comes _viâ_ Suakin.

[Sidenote: Transport animals.]

The camel is the best animal for this district, both for riding and transport purposes. A good camel costs from £E.7 to £E.10. They are nearly always available for sale or hire, though in the rains they are not to be found in the immediate vicinity of Kassala.

Horses or mules, which are imported in small numbers from Eritrea or Abyssinia, cannot usually be hired or purchased. Horses are liable to be attacked by a species of horse sickness, which often ends fatally. The Abyssinian and Dongolawi breeds do best. A good riding mule costs from £E.6 to £E.8.

[Sidenote: Posts and telegraphs.]

There is a weekly camel post for both letters and parcels to and from Berber, also a weekly mail to and from Keren and Massawa, also a fortnightly mail to and from Suakin, and a weekly mail to Gedaref and Gallabat. Telegraph lines connect with Suakin, Gedaref, Gallabat, Massaua, and Addis Ababa. Communication is liable to occasional interruptions during the rains.

[Sidenote: Serut fly.]

During the “Kharif” the whole country south of the line Kassala-Asubri swarms with a wasp-like “Serut” fly, which bursts into life as soon as the young grass has sprouted and dies as the vegetation dries up at the end of the rains. This fly is most vehement in its attacks on all animals, including game, but camels suffer the most, and if exposed for any length of time to their bites, they rapidly lose condition, and will probably die from the effects.

[Sidenote: Game.]

In various parts of the districts, described in Section 4, the following varieties are found:—Elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, roan-antelope, kudu, waterbuck, tora hartebeeste, ibex, wild sheep (?), bushbuck (two (?) varieties), reedbuck (scarce); Abyssinian duiker, oribi, dig-dig, and the following gazelles:—Sommering’s, Dorcas, Heuglin’s, Isabella, and possibly Rufifrons; also hippopotamus, crocodile, turtle, warthog, pig, wild ass, lion, leopard, hyena (two varieties), cheetah, serval; also various civet and wild cats, hares, wild dogs, baboons, and monkeys; ostrich, bustard, guinea fowl, francolin, sand grouse, geese, snipe, wild fowl, and quail.

Both rhinoceros and buffalo are rare.

(_c_) THE KHOR GASH.[55]

For at least 70 miles above Kassala the Gash has a sandy bed, which averages 100 to 300 yards in width, with strips of higher ground, covered with grass, and liable to be flooded in a good year, bordering it at intervals, especially at the bends. Outside these again, on what may be called the real banks, is an almost continuous fringe of dom palms and high grass, varying from 100 to 500 yards, and occasionally nearly a mile, in width. There is no definite track parallel to the khor on either bank, but the going on both banks outside the belt of dom palms is good. If desired, the bed of the Gash may be followed, though rather heavy-going, and corners may be cut off occasionally.

Year after year, in the dry season, water is found in certain well-known localities, usually 2 or 3 miles apart. The depth of the wells, which are revetted with brushwood, varies, according to the season and the flood, from 5 to 20 feet. The cattle and sheep are watered usually every alternate day from large mud basins (duruk), two or three of which are constructed near each well. There are nowadays no places between Kassala and Todluk where water stands in pools for any considerable time after the flood has subsided, as it is said to have done formerly at Saneit,[56] where, however, water is still found very close to the surface.

The Gash flood usually reaches Kassala during the first week in July, and brings down with it numerous fish, which are eagerly caught by the natives. It ceases to flow about the end of September or beginning of October. During the period when it is in flood it is occasionally unfordable for several days together. The Gash, like the Atbara, brings down a large amount of fertilising matter from Abyssinia. The discharge of the Gash in flood is estimated at about 100 metres cube per sec.

There are no permanent inhabitants living on the Gash, but in the dry season, thousands of Beni Amer cattle and sheep, and nearer Todluk, those of the Baria, are brought to it south of Kassala for pasture and water.

Many of the Beni Amer, Baria, and Baza in Italian territory, all of whom are bitter enemies of the Abyssinians, may be met openly carrying Remington rifles.

North of Kassala the people, watering from the Gash, are principally Hadendoas. For description of Gash, north of Kassala, _vide_ p. 97.

(_d_) COUNTRY SOUTH OF KASSALA TO THE SETIT.

South of Kassala a flat and, except for the Gash, waterless plain, bounded on the east and south-east by the Eritrean hills from Sabderat to Sogada, extends to the river Setit. The whole of this plain is more or less covered with kittr and other thorn bush, which becomes particularly dense towards its southern and western extremities. With the exception of the Nomads living during the dry season on the banks of the Gash and Atbara and the few Hamrans on the Setit, the entire country is uninhabited.

Though a good deal of the country south of Abu Gamal is drained by several khors, chief of which are Gersat and Gullui which, having their origin in the Sogada hills, or even further east, join the Atbara at Khashm El Girba, nevertheless, the ground, being cotton soil, becomes at intervals in the rainy season boggy, and practically impassable, and water stands in ponds at several places, notably Umsiteiba and Mellawiya, on the roads from Kassala to Asubri and Fasher. At this season, too, most of the country is covered with tall rank grass, and travelling even along the roads is a thing to be avoided.

There is a perennial spring on Jebel Abu Gamal, 18 miles south of Kassala, from where there used to be a road, now overgrown with bush, _viâ_ this Jebel to Um Hagar on the Setit.[57] A scanty water supply is sometimes obtainable from holes in the rock of Koraitib, 47 miles south of Abu Gamal.

(_e_) COUNTRY SOUTH OF R. SETIT.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

Sudan territory, south of the Setit, bounded on the west by the Atbara, and on the east and south by the Abyssinian frontier, running from the mouth of the Khor Royan (a tributary of the Setit) to a point opposite the Khor Abnakheir (a tributary of the Atbara), near Gallabat, is uninhabited, save for the one village of Gadabi, about 25 miles north of Gallabat. The people living at this village are Takruris. The village of Nogara, which lies 10 miles S.S.E. from J. Lukdi, belongs to Abyssinia, and is under Dejaj Gasessa (1904). Many of its inhabitants were formerly under Mek Nimr, and are a mixture Jaalin, Takruris, and Sudanese, the majority of whom are said to be robbers and runaway slaves.

The country bordering the Setit to as far south as J. Lukdi belongs to the Hamrans, south of them the country, including the Bahr El Salam, belongs to the Debania, and further south again the country, including Gadabi, belongs to the Takruris, of Gallabat.

[Sidenote: Description of country.]

Between the Setit and the Bahr El Salam rivers the country is flat and waterless, and its surface is badly cracked, cotton soil, overgrown with high grass, and generally wooded, but with here and there wide open spaces. South of the Bahr El Salam, though the trees, grass, and soil continue much the same, the Abyssinian foot hills approach nearer to the Atbara and the ground becomes more undulating and intersected by khors, in some of which, though chiefly in the extreme south, water stands throughout the year.

[Sidenote: Roads.]

As the inhabitants are few, roads are proportionately little used, and consequently bad and overgrown. Off the track, the going is execrable, and grass, bush, and cotton soil make the following of game paths a necessity.

All roads lead to Nogara, the asylum for illegitimate hunters and renegade blacks from the Sudan. They are: (1) Gedaref to Nogara (70 miles, approximate), _viâ_ Sofi, Geif El Hamam (on Setit), and J. Lukdi. About 25 miles without water between the two latter places. At Lukdi, a large well, filled with sand, requires cleaning out; now (1904) only contains rain water for a few months.

(2) Um Hagar (on Setit) to Nogara (38 miles). Water comparatively plentiful up to December, after that only obtainable by digging in bed of Khor Royan and Khor Bowal (17 miles interval). The Italians hope this road will be a trade route from Abyssinia into Eritrea. With this object in view a road has been cut by them from the Khor Gash to Um Hagar.

(3) Abu Gulud to Nogara, _viâ_ Abu Siteib (50 miles). Water at Tabarakalla (17 miles), also Atbara, Abu Siteib, Bahr El Salam.

(4) Nogara to Gallabat (83 miles), _viâ_ Abu Siteib, Khor El Dom, Gadabi, and Um Sai. Water plentiful in December, probably scarce between Abu Siteib and Gadabi (37 miles) later. Very little used and much overgrown.

[Sidenote: Natural products.]

Honey and gum are practically the only products of this country. A good deal of game still exists, but it has suffered both from the depredations of cattle plague, as well as from professional game dealers with their parties of armed natives who have hunted this district for years: these are now rigidly excluded by the Sudan Government. The inhabitants of Nogara are also mostly armed with modern breechloading rifles.

[Sidenote: Abyssinian outlaws.]

Two Abyssinian outlaws have haunted this region both during and since the Mahdia. One, whose name is Hakos,[58] reputed to have some 150 rifles, has lately (1902) been actively raiding villages along our frontier. Kidana Miriam, the other brigand chief, has remained comparatively inactive, and is now (March, 1903), reported to be on the Upper Bahr El Salam or Angareb with 50 to 200 rifles.

(_f_) THE ATBARA[59] AND TRIBUTARIES.

THE ATBARA.—The Atbara rises near Chelga in Abyssinia, where it is known as the R. Goang. Coal is found in the valley of the Goang near its source. Both the Atbara and Setit in their course through the Sudan flow for the most part through a flat alluvial plain, and have cut for themselves a deep channel, which is, in the upper reaches of the Atbara at any rate, over 150 feet below the level of the plain. The banks, too, have been washed away by the drainage from either side and are cut up into numerous ravines and khors for several miles on either side of the actual bed.

Thus it is that the banks of the Atbara from Gallabat, to a point 15 miles north of Goz Regeb, are so intersected with ravines and watercourses, that it is seldom possible to march within 2 or 3 miles of the river, which is only approached at intervals. At Gallabat the width of the bed, which is generally shingle, and in which during the dry season the water stands in pools as it does throughout its course from here to the Nile, varies from a minimum of twenty yards at a spot where the river passes through perpendicular cliffs of rock to an average width of 100 to 150 yards.

At Asubri the width between the banks, which are some 15 to 30 feet high, is about 350 yards.

At Gallabat (1899) the spate commenced to come down on 17th May, and the river was still just fordable at Fasher in the same year on the 15th June; after about that date it does not again become fordable until the beginning or middle of November. The flood water reaches the Nile about the end of June.

There are usually ferries at Sofi, Fasher, Suweihil (near Asubri), and Goz Regeb during the flood season.

South of Sofi a road leads up the left bank to Gallabat.

North of Sofi, which is on the left bank near the junction of the Setit, roads run parallel with the river on both banks, that most generally used being from Sofi to Asubri by the left bank, thence to the Nile by the right bank. The country from the Setit to Fasher (right bank) belonged formerly to the Hamrans; it is now practically uninhabited except by Nomads during the dry season. Fasher to Mitateb (right bank) belongs to the Hadendoas, who go there in large numbers for grazing during the dry season. Their country practically extends from the Atbara to Suakin. From Mitateb (right bank) and Goz Regeb (left bank) to the Nile the country belongs to the Bisharin. From a point about 50 miles south of Adarama northwards to the Nile the banks are fringed with dom palms. Few people live along the river during the rains, and though the alluvial soil brought down by this river is one of the chief fertilizing agents of Egypt, there is at no season any system of irrigation in use along it. Here and there where nature causes the river to overflow its banks a certain amount of cultivation may be met.

TRIBUTARIES OF THE ATBARA.—These nearly all emanate from the hilly country of Abyssinia or Eritrea. There are none of importance on the left bank in the Sudan.

(1) THE BAHR EL SALAM AND ANGAREB.—The Bahr El Salam is a flowing stream during most of the year. Its bed is very rocky, and in places the bends are extremely sharp as it cuts its way through high cliffs of rock. It has many deep pools with hippopotamus and crocodiles, and appears to often overflow its banks in flood time in places where it passes through these narrow gorges. It has generally a north-westerly direction. The River Angareb appears to be only another name for the upper Bahr El Salam. The Bahr El Salam joins the Atbara on the R.B. about 28 miles south of Sofi.

(2) THE SETIT[60] AND ROYAN.—The lower Setit, _i.e._, that portion of it which flows through Sudan territory, much resembles the upper Atbara in general character. Its banks are similarly intersected by ravines and small khors which carry the drainage from the plateau along which on either bank there is a track at some distance from the river, and which only descends to it occasionally. The river is generally about 300 yards wide, and during the dry season it is fordable at frequent intervals, and here and there almost ceases to flow.[61]

The only inhabitants of the Setit, west of the junction of K. Royan are the survivors of the once famous Hamran sword-hunters, who live in a small village on the right bank about 15 miles from its junction with the Atbara. Although now very poor and with their hunting to a certain extent restricted by the Game Laws, they have nearly all acquired horses and are as bold and keen Nimrods as ever. Latterly, many of the Beni Amer Arabs from Eritrea have brought their flocks for pasturage to the banks of the Setit during the dry season.

Above Umbrega there was no track on the right bank in March 1900, as the Abyssinian Baza, living east of Maietib, were said to terrorise the country. There is now (1904) a fairly good track made by the Italians who have a small post at Um Hagar.

In Abyssinia the Setit is known as the Takazze.

The junction of the Royan and Setit is about 4 miles east of Khor Umbrega. The Royan appears to be merely a khor which is dry, except for occasional pools, a few months after the cessation of the rains. Its junction marks the boundary on the Setit between the Sudan and Eritrea on the north bank, and Abyssinia on the south bank.

[Footnote 41: There are 4 Berberine dialects, viz.:—

(1) “Kensi” from Shellal to Korosko.

(2) “Feiadija” spoken near Korosko and South.

(3) “Mahasi” spoken at Halfa, Sukkot, Mahas and up to Hannek Cataract and Badin Island.

(4) “Dongolawi” from Kerma to Ambugol.

(2) and (3) are nearly the same, and (1) and (4) are somewhat similar; but a Dongolawi cannot understand a Mahasi.]

[Footnote 42: The Gararish are Nomad Arabs and their northern limit may be said to be Halfa.]

[Footnote 43: In 1904 about 30,000 kantars of dates were exported from Dongola, the average price per kantar being about 22 P.T. The cost of freight per kantar from, say, Merowe to Omdurman is about 75 P.T.]

[Footnote 44: The population of Halfa Province in 1904 was 30,800.]

[Footnote 45: _Vide_ p. 89.]

[Footnote 46: In spite of their claim to be of Semitic origin, the Bisharin are not true Arabs and are of Hamitic descent.]

[Footnote 47: _Vide_ list of wells, p. 92.]

[Footnote 48: Chiefly on this account it has been decided to abandon Suakin and construct a harbour and town, etc., at Sheikh Barghut, _vide_ p. 95.]

[Footnote 49: About 4·5 inches.]

[Footnote 50: In 1903-04, 7,425 feddans were under cotton cultivation and yielded 29,039 kantars which realised £E.25,873, or an average of 89·1 P.T. per kantar.]

[Footnote 51: Barghut = fleas. The new name for Sheikh Barghut is “New Suakin.”]

[Footnote 52: In 1903, under 2,000 feddans of cultivation were irrigated by the Gash flood.]

[Footnote 53: _Vide_ Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 54: 12·4 inches (1904).]

[Footnote 55: _Vide_ Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 56: _Vide_ “Wild Tribes of the Sudan”—James.]

[Footnote 57: A road is now (1904) being cut from Kassala _viâ_ Abu Gamal to Umbrega on the R. Setit.]

[Footnote 58: Hakos is reported to have been killed on the Abyssinian side of the frontier, December, 1903, whilst Kidana Miriam appears to have settled down in Abyssinian territory.]

[Footnote 59: _Vide_ Sir W. Garstin’s “Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile.” Foreign Office Blue Book, Egypt No. 2, 1904.]

[Footnote 60: _Vide_ “Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia” (Baker), and “Wild Tribes of the Sudan” (James).]

[Footnote 61: Mr. P. C. Waite (Scottish Geographical Magazine) gives the length of the Setit as 800 miles, and its flood discharge (at mouth?) as more than 4,500 metres cube per second. Sir W. Garstin estimates the maximum discharge of the Atbara at its mouth to be about 3,000-4,000 metres cube per second. The discharge of the Setit is, therefore, evidently considerably over-estimated.]

CHAPTER IV.

* * * * *

CENTRAL EASTERN SUDAN.

(Country between the Nile and Abyssinia, bounded by the Atbara
and the Blue Nile.)