There is a perennial spring on Jebel Abu Gamal, 18 miles south of Kassala, from where there used to be a road, now overgrown with bush, viâ this Jebel to Um Hagar on the Setit.[57] A scanty water supply is sometimes obtainable from holes in the rock of Koraitib, 47 miles south of Abu Gamal.
(e) Country South of R. Setit.
Inhabitants.Sudan territory, south of the Setit, bounded on the west by the Atbara, and on the east and south by the Abyssinian frontier, running from the mouth of the Khor Royan (a tributary of the Setit) to a point opposite the Khor Abnakheir (a tributary of the Atbara), near Gallabat, is uninhabited, save for the one village of Gadabi, about 25 miles north of Gallabat. The people living at this village are Takruris. The village of Nogara, which lies 10 miles S.S.E. from J. Lukdi, belongs to Abyssinia, and is under Dejaj Gasessa (1904). Many of its inhabitants were formerly under Mek Nimr, and are a mixture Jaalin, Takruris, and Sudanese, the majority of whom are said to be robbers and runaway slaves.
The country bordering the Setit to as far south as J. Lukdi belongs to the Hamrans, south of them the country, including the Bahr El Salam, belongs to the Debania, and further south again the country, including Gadabi, belongs to the Takruris, of Gallabat.
Description of country.Between the Setit and the Bahr El Salam rivers the country is flat and waterless, and its surface is badly cracked, cotton soil, overgrown with high grass, and generally wooded, but with here and there wide open spaces. South of the Bahr El Salam, though the trees, grass, and soil continue much the same, the Abyssinian foot hills approach nearer to the Atbara and the ground becomes more undulating and intersected by khors, in some of which, though chiefly in the extreme south, water stands throughout the year.
Roads.As the inhabitants are few, roads are proportionately little used, and consequently bad and overgrown. Off the track, the going is execrable, and grass, bush, and cotton soil make the following of game paths a necessity.
All roads lead to Nogara, the asylum for illegitimate hunters and renegade blacks from the Sudan. They are: (1) Gedaref to Nogara (70 miles, approximate), viâ Sofi, Geif El Hamam (on Setit), and J. Lukdi. About 25 miles without water between the two latter places. At Lukdi, a large well, filled with sand, requires cleaning out; now (1904) only contains rain water for a few months.
(2) Um Hagar (on Setit) to Nogara (38 miles). Water comparatively plentiful up to December, after that only obtainable by digging in bed of Khor Royan and Khor Bowal (17 miles interval). The Italians hope this road will be a trade route from Abyssinia into Eritrea. With this object in view a road has been cut by them from the Khor Gash to Um Hagar.
(3) Abu Gulud to Nogara, viâ Abu Siteib (50 miles). Water at Tabarakalla (17 miles), also Atbara, Abu Siteib, Bahr El Salam.
(4) Nogara to Gallabat (83 miles), viâ Abu Siteib, Khor El Dom, Gadabi, and Um Sai. Water plentiful in December, probably scarce between Abu Siteib and Gadabi (37 miles) later. Very little used and much overgrown.