Tukls are cylindrical buildings with conical roofs. They are generally built by driving forked stakes (shab) into the ground in a circle from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. A circle (kara) of similar size is then made, apart from the other circle, of strong tough twigs tied together every few inches with strips of bark. To form the roof, four poles are tied together at their small ends and the butts pushed into the kara to form a cone. A small circle of twigs is then lashed on near the top and more poles placed with their butts in the kara and their tops lashed to the upper circle. As many more horizontal bands of twigs as the size of the huts demand are then made, and the whole frame is lifted on to the forks of the uprights. The roof is then thatched with dura, or dukhn stalks, and the walls are built of the same material.
“Rakubas” are box-shaped huts made of poles and covered with grass or straw. They are useless in the rains but excellent at other times, as the walls, while keeping out the sun, let the wind through.
The camel-owning Arabs make tents of woollen blankets. They are exactly the shape of gipsy tents in England. The Baggara tribes make similar tents, but cover them with mats made of grass or reeds and tanned ox-hides called “dilla.” The old frames can frequently be seen on deserted camping grounds.
The Nubas, though they vary very much in skill, generally build better tukls than the Arabs. The walls are made of either stone, mud, or wattle and daub, the latter being sometimes ornamented with a pattern in red clay. The roofs are much better thatched than those of the Arabs and are given a steeper pitch.
The furniture of an Arab tukl consists of a few bedsteads (angarib), very short and narrow, and sometimes a mat. The cooking utensils consist of a grindstone (generally outside the door), a stone to cook kisra on, a few wooden dishes for food, some flat baskets and earthenware pots (kantûsh), spherical in shape, for water. Pillows of wood to support the head are used by the blacks, who go in for extensive head dresses. Small and very light axes are used for cutting wood, they are seldom more than an inch wide and 5 inches long. A dilwa or bucket made of a piece of soft leather suspended from a circle of wood by strings a few inches long, so that it can open out nearly flat at the bottom of the well when water is scarce, is used for drawing water.
Rope.Rope is made from the bark of trees, such as the tebeldi (Adansonia digitata), sayal (Acacia spirocarpa), kittr, and usher, which makes the best.
Fire.Fire is made by twirling a stick of marakh (Leptadenia spartium) on a piece of usher (Calotropis procera), or if no usher is available, two pieces of marakh are used. Two pieces of hard wood are also used at times, sand being put in the hole to increase friction.
3. Towns.
El Obeid.—El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, is situated in lat. 13° 11′ north and long. 30° 14′ east. Its elevation has been given as between 1,700 and 2,000 feet. It is built on the side of a depression in the centre of which are the wells. These are from 60 to 80 feet deep, and give (except from March to June) a plentiful supply of water for the present population of about 10,000 people, but in former times, when the population was larger, there were frequently water famines.
The old mudiria is still standing and has been repaired. Barracks for a Sudanese battalion and details are being built, and the town laid out in squares. Most of the inhabitants, many of whom only come in for the dry season, live in tukls, but a good many mud-brick houses have been built by merchants. There is a large market, and a considerable trade is done in gum and cattle.