CHAPTER IV.
CENTRAL EASTERN SUDAN.
(Country between the Nile and Abyssinia, bounded by the Atbara and the Blue Nile.)
Section 1.—Country between the Atbara and the Niles—from El Damer Southwards to Abu Haraz-Sofi Line.
General description.The vast tract of country from the junction of the Atbara with the Nile southwards to about the line Abu Haraz-Sofi, bounded on the east and west by these rivers, and on the south-west by the Blue Nile, has been generally called by cartographers “the Island of Meroe”; this name in reality, however, has long ceased to be applied to it locally, and is quite unknown to the Arabs of the present day. By the latter it is divided into four districts. The northern one, forming the triangle El Damer, Adarama, Shendi, is called El Daheira (the high stony ground). The western district, including Shendi, Halfaya, Geili, and Abu Deleig, is known as El Karaba; south and south-east of this the country north of the Blue Nile from Khartoum North to Abu Haraz is called Sharg El Adeik; whilst the whole of the eastern portion from Adarama southwards, bounded on the west by Um Hatab, El Hawad, Geili, and Galaat Arang, forms the well-known El Butana grazing district.
El Daheira.The northern or El Daheira district is, as its name denotes, a sandstone plateau generally bare, level, and desert-like. On the west, there are considerable ranges of sandstone hills. The soil, which is more sandy than further south, is, as a rule, poor and unfertile, except in the wadis, a few of which are usually cultivated in favourable years, and are generally marked by stunted selem and kittr bush. El Karaba and Sharg El Adeik.Further south, in the El Karaba and Sharg El Adeik districts, there is much more land suitable for cultivation, though even here it is generally seen in the wadis only, notwithstanding that the rainfall is markedly heavier. Selem, kittr, samr, sayal, and tundub trees grow plentifully, though they are rarely thick enough to obstruct free passage through them, and homra and maheirib grass are everywhere to be met. In the two last-named districts wells are comparatively numerous, though often excessively deep, occasionally as much as 250 feet, and the water rather salt.
In El Karaba, saltworks are frequently seen. Hafirs or tanks for holding up rain water, many of which are said to have been made by the ancients, are here particularly numerous compared to other parts of the Sudan, and are quite a distinctive characteristic of this part of the country.
El Butana.The region known as “El Butana” is wonderfully open and flat, indeed, so much so, that, as a rule, not a single tree or bush is visible for miles, except along an occasional wadi. These, as a rule, drain northwards, and, as elsewhere in this part of the country, are usually the localities selected for cultivation, though the soil, generally speaking, is here richer than in the other districts.
The great product of El Butana is, however, Hantut grass and Siha plant, both particularly good for camels, and thus during the rains it was, and is still to a lesser extent, customary for camel-owning Arabs from all parts of the Sudan to visit this district for grazing. Water at this time of year, being comparatively plentiful, the Arabs are not tied down to the very limited number of wells existing in the dry season, and are thus free to wander far and wide wherever it suits them. A month or two after the cessation of the rains the grass becomes dry, weather-beaten, and broken, and the greater part of this region is then bare and desolate.