Cultivation.In years when the rainfall is good there is a considerable area under dura cultivation in Khor Arab near Talgwarab and between there and Thamiam wells. The natives build numbers of horse-shoe shaped dams to retain the water and keep it standing on the ground. There are also signs of the main khor channel having been dammed to divert the water over the flat earthy soil of the valley.
The upper stretches of Khors Barameyu and Erheib and Hareitri are also used for dura growing.
There is also cultivation near Abu Goloda, on the eastern side in the head of Khor Haieit, in Khor Adit above Sinkat, and especially in the Odrus Plain, dura is grown.
Near the Atbara River there is a considerable area under cultivation in Khor Abadar.
Roads.Besides the main Berber-Suakin caravan road there are well-marked roads leading to Rauai well.
The Tendera-Mib-Oi road is also a good track and the surface is fairly smooth, except at the approaches to Mib and Oi wells.
The going on the main Suakin-Berber road is distinctly bad in several places, notably at the head of the Kokreb valley, in Wadi Hareitri and in Khor Hadasana.
Near the hills, communications parallel to the watershed are difficult, as for instance between Haieit and Kokreb. Such a line is very hard on camels, as there is a continued succession of deep-cut khors of varying size divided by hills or ridges of loose shale and black rock, steep and difficult to surmount.
The road leading from Khor Haieit to Khor Garar is a fairly easy one for camels, but Khor Garar itself is very rough.
The chief routes across the watershed are:—