(c) The Khor Gash.[55]
For at least 70 miles above Kassala the Gash has a sandy bed, which averages 100 to 300 yards in width, with strips of higher ground, covered with grass, and liable to be flooded in a good year, bordering it at intervals, especially at the bends. Outside these again, on what may be called the real banks, is an almost continuous fringe of dom palms and high grass, varying from 100 to 500 yards, and occasionally nearly a mile, in width. There is no definite track parallel to the khor on either bank, but the going on both banks outside the belt of dom palms is good. If desired, the bed of the Gash may be followed, though rather heavy-going, and corners may be cut off occasionally.
Year after year, in the dry season, water is found in certain well-known localities, usually 2 or 3 miles apart. The depth of the wells, which are revetted with brushwood, varies, according to the season and the flood, from 5 to 20 feet. The cattle and sheep are watered usually every alternate day from large mud basins (duruk), two or three of which are constructed near each well. There are nowadays no places between Kassala and Todluk where water stands in pools for any considerable time after the flood has subsided, as it is said to have done formerly at Saneit,[56] where, however, water is still found very close to the surface.
The Gash flood usually reaches Kassala during the first week in July, and brings down with it numerous fish, which are eagerly caught by the natives. It ceases to flow about the end of September or beginning of October. During the period when it is in flood it is occasionally unfordable for several days together. The Gash, like the Atbara, brings down a large amount of fertilising matter from Abyssinia. The discharge of the Gash in flood is estimated at about 100 metres cube per sec.
There are no permanent inhabitants living on the Gash, but in the dry season, thousands of Beni Amer cattle and sheep, and nearer Todluk, those of the Baria, are brought to it south of Kassala for pasture and water.
Many of the Beni Amer, Baria, and Baza in Italian territory, all of whom are bitter enemies of the Abyssinians, may be met openly carrying Remington rifles.
North of Kassala the people, watering from the Gash, are principally Hadendoas. For description of Gash, north of Kassala, vide [p. 97.]
(d) Country South of Kassala to the Setit.
South of Kassala a flat and, except for the Gash, waterless plain, bounded on the east and south-east by the Eritrean hills from Sabderat to Sogada, extends to the river Setit. The whole of this plain is more or less covered with kittr and other thorn bush, which becomes particularly dense towards its southern and western extremities. With the exception of the Nomads living during the dry season on the banks of the Gash and Atbara and the few Hamrans on the Setit, the entire country is uninhabited.
Though a good deal of the country south of Abu Gamal is drained by several khors, chief of which are Gersat and Gullui which, having their origin in the Sogada hills, or even further east, join the Atbara at Khashm El Girba, nevertheless, the ground, being cotton soil, becomes at intervals in the rainy season boggy, and practically impassable, and water stands in ponds at several places, notably Umsiteiba and Mellawiya, on the roads from Kassala to Asubri and Fasher. At this season, too, most of the country is covered with tall rank grass, and travelling even along the roads is a thing to be avoided.