Water supply.Water is scarce throughout the whole district and, where found, is in many places more or less brackish.
The only wells that have been sunk by the present Government are at Nos. 4 and 6 stations, at both of which a plentiful supply is obtained at less than 100 feet depth.
The ordinary water supply consists of regular wells, stone lined for part or all of their depth, rough excavations in the beds of wadis, and accumulations of rain water in cracks or hollows in the rocks. These latter, which are called “makhzans,” if large, and “gammam,” if small, contain the best water. Those on J. Rafit are particularly well known, and were drawn on for the supply of the garrison of Murrat before the re-conquest of the Sudan.
The largest supply of water is perhaps found in the Wadi Murrat close under the old fort. This, in the pre-Dervish days, was the midway halting place of caravans proceeding from Korosko to Abu Hamed, and very large numbers of camels used to be supplied from the wells at this place. The water is brackish and disagreeable, but drinkable.
Like the Murrat Wells, most of the wells in the Atbai are situated in the beds of wadis and khors, and are consequently filled in every time a flood descends, entailing great labour on the inhabitants, who have to clear them out. This is especially the case with those which are not stone lined. (A list of wells is given on [page 92.])
Cultivation.As may be supposed, the Atbai is not a great agricultural district. In years of good rainfall, however, there is a considerable amount of dura cultivated in the Wadis Alagi, Gabgaba, and Di-ib, etc., but the Arabs rely chiefly on Aswan, and to a lesser extent on Halaib and Suakin for their grain supply. At the former town they find a ready sale for their sheep, which command good prices. The price of a sheep at Aswan is about PT.75, at Suakin PT.25, whilst dura at Aswan only costs from PT.40 to PT.70 per ardeb, whereas at Suakin it is oftener nearer PT.150. Aswan is, therefore, the most popular market with the Arabs of the Atbai.
Roads.The one main road through this country, that from Korosko to Abu Hamed viâ Murrat, which used to be the artery through which the commerce of the Sudan flowed to Egypt, has fallen into disuse since the construction of the railway, and there are now no other tracks except those made by the Nomad Arabs.
The nature of the country, consisting as it does of masses of very small features intersected by numerous khors, and often separated by plains of considerable extent, lends itself to great freedom of movement in almost all directions. The absence of regular trade, too, has militated against the formation of stereotyped routes, and the result is, that between any two places you can find at least one and very often several more or less different routes, none of which, unless lately passed over by a large party, would appear to the traveller more frequented than the others.
The hilly mass forming the watershed is so far an exception that camel transport from one side to the other is restricted to a few passes.
The tracks, as a rule, are bad and stony; camels, even those bred in the country, soon suffer from sore feet. The tracks usually follow the wadis.