(II) River.—North of Khartoum the river is navigable throughout except at the five cataracts; at certain times of the year most of these are navigable, with difficulty. South of Khartoum communication is maintained along the White and Blue Niles and their affluents. During low Nile—January to June—the Blue Nile is not navigable. The White Nile is navigable up to Gondokoro in Uganda, though there are some difficulties in the way of navigation (vide [p. 73]). The Sobat and Baro are not navigable from January to beginning of May.
(III) Roads.—Roads are, and must be for some time to come, the principal means of communication in the Sudan. Transport is chiefly performed by camels, mules and donkeys. The greater part of the Sudan, being level, lends itself without much difficulty to the making of roads suitable for carriages, though draught transport has not been in use hitherto to any extent. Bullock wagons are in use in the Bahr El Ghazal.
Some automobile carriages are now being tried in the different parts of the Sudan, and have so far given fairly good results.
RESOURCES AND COMMERCE.
The chief natural resources of the Sudan at present lie in the forests of Kordofan and the Blue Nile, which produce gum (Hashab and Talh), ebony, furniture woods and fibre; and in those of the Bahr El Ghazal, which produce india-rubber, gutta-percha, etc.; also in the products of animals, such as ivory, ostrich feathers, rhinoceros horns, skins, etc.
There are large quantities of fine cattle in the country, especially on the Upper White Nile, but export of these is for the present forbidden.
As regards agricultural products, only the country lying close to the Nile and its tributaries is, as a rule, cultivated, and the people do not, so far, grow more than is necessary for their own use. The principal crops are dura (a kind of millet), beans, lentils, dukhn, sesame, onions, melons, and a little wheat and barley. In the Gezira, however, between the White and Blue Niles, and in the Gedaref district, large tracts are cultivated.
The Dongola Province is rich in date palms, and exports large quantities of dates.
There is a large opening for the growth and export of cotton. Little is grown at present, but the soil is favourable and the quality is good. Inducements, therefore, in the way of seed and promises to purchase what is grown, are being offered to the natives to cultivate this invaluable plant, and it is expected that the opening of the Nile-Red Sea Railway will considerably increase its production.
Sugar could also be grown: there was formerly a sugar factory at Kamlin.