The desert road to Suakin starts from here (242 miles). Behind the town an immense flat plain stretches to the horizon. This is fertile soil, and only awaits proper irrigation to be reproductive. Berber is 1,140 feet above the Mediterranean or 95 feet below the level of Khartoum.
Section 2.—Country between Halfa, Berber, Suakin and the Intersection of the 22nd Parallel with the Red Sea.
(a) Between the Railway and the Nile.
General.For purposes of description this area is conveniently divided into two portions by the Halfa-Abu Hamed Railway. The portion west of the railway comprises some of the most arid country in the Sudan. The general formation is that of a plain covered with sand or gravel, dotted here and there with steep and even precipitous hills of from 100 to 800 feet elevation above the plain, which falls gently and uniformly to within a few miles of the Nile. In places these detached hills are so numerous and so close together as to resemble connected ranges. As a rule the sand is coarse and heavy enough to afford excellent going for camels; but strips of soft deep sand are occasionally met with, especially where the wind has banked it up against or between the hills.
The crest of this gently sloping spur projecting into the bend of the Nile, is some 2,000 feet above sea level, where the railway crosses it, that is some 1,550 feet above Halfa and 1,080 feet above Abu Hamed.
The country midway between the river and the railway has been little visited, and the only known place of any importance is J. Kuror, the highest hill west of the railway and some 4,070 feet above the sea. After heavy rains its “Makhzans,” or rocky reservoirs, hold water for many months, and are occasionally visited by nomad Arabs.
Immediately south of Halfa the plain terminates in a belt of low hummocky hills, some 8 to 10 miles wide. After Sarras, the belt becomes wider and the hills bolder, till they culminate in J. Ago, east of Akasha, at the southern end of the Batn El Hagar.
Between Akasha and the latitude of Kosha the country becomes less confined, but contains several high and precipitous hills. South of Kosha it becomes more and more open, and the hills lower and more scattered until they appear to die away south of Kerma.
From Kerma, as far as Old Dongola, practically no hills are visible from the river, and the sand hills are piled up on the very edge of the water. At Old Dongola the ground rises, and from there, as far as J. Barkal, near Merowe, rocky elevations approach the river here and there, or are seen in the distance, without, however, always encroaching on the fertile belt on the right bank.
From J. Barkal to Abu Hamed there is a rough and rocky belt of hills a few miles from the river, though the elevations are inconsiderable.