Location of the Administrative Boundary between Egypt and the Sudan.
By an Arrêté of the Ministry of Interior issued in 1902 it was enacted that the boundary between the administrative divisions of Egypt and the Sudan should be as follows:—
Commencing at Bir Shalatein on the coast of the Red Sea, the limit runs to Bir Meneiga, thence to Gebel Niqrub, thence to Gebel Um el Tiur and to Deiga. From Deiga the line continues to Bir Esmet Omar, thence to Gebel Bartazuga, and finally to the Nile at Korosko.
This frontier was defined after a commission had sat, at the Mudiria of Aswân, to make enquiries as to the vested rights of the Bedouin tribes, the guiding principle being that all Bisharin tribes should be under Sudan administration, and all Ababda tribes (with one exception) under the Government of Egypt. A map accompanied the decision, but was of a very rough character, and the positions of the points specified were not known within several miles.
Part of my work comprised the precise fixation of the points specified in the Arrêté, with a view to laying down the boundary accurately on a map. As was natural in the case of a boundary settled without careful reference to the ground, certain difficulties arose in the location. In the first place, there are two distinct Gebels Niqrub, and two distinct Gebels Um el Tiur. I assumed the higher mountain of each pair to be the one indicated. Secondly, the precise point of the mountain was unspecified; I assumed the highest peak to be the point referred to. Thirdly, the text of the Arrêté disagrees with the map accompanying it, in that the map shows the line curved to pass close to Gebel Mishbih, which is not mentioned in the Arrêté. I assumed the text of the order to be determinative, and that between the points specified the limit followed great circles on the globe, i.e., practically straight lines on the map. The locality called Deiga was not visited, and can only be approximately fixed; it is said by guides to be a narrow road near Gebel Muqsim, of which mountain several peaks were fixed by triangulation.
The following table gives the positions found for the various points along the boundary from the sea to the meridian of 34° (1) from my survey operations, and (2) as scaled from the map accompanying the Ministerial Arrêté. A comparison of the two sets of positions will show how much the survey has added to our knowledge of the geography of this part of the desert.
| Point. | Latitude N. | Longitude E. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From my Survey. | From Arrêté Map. | From my Survey. | From Arrêté Map. | |
| Bir Shalatein | 23° 8′ 5″ | 22° 39′ 0″ | 35° 36′ 28″ | 36° 2′30″ |
| Bir Meneiga | 22° 47′ 8″ | 22° 41′ 30″ | 35° 12′ 20″ | 35° 2′30″ |
| Gebel Niqrub (El Foqani) | 22° 51′ 29″ | 22° 48′ 0″ | 34° 56′ 48″ | 34° 51′ 0″ |
| Gebel Um el Tiur (El Foqani) | 22° 17′ 54″ | 22° 18′ 30″ | 34° 41′ 1″ | 34° 32′ 0″ |
| Deiga (approx.) | 22° 10′ 0″ | 22° 9′ 0″ | 34° 1′ 0″ | 34° 3′ 0″ |