Practically the whole of the region enclosed between the Rivers Rahad and Atbara from a point some miles north of the town of Gedaref, southwards to Khor Seraf Said on the Gallabat road, an area containing more than 11,000 square miles, is comprised in the Gedaref District. This large tract of country, like other parts of the Sudan, is now greatly under populated. The inhabitants of the district are estimated at about 25,000 (1904).
The whole of the northern portion of this area is generally flat and open and devoid of bush, but here and there, particularly to north-east and south of the town of Gedaref, it is undulating and rather hilly. As these hills extend further south, the whole country becomes gradually enveloped in forest, which, though it yields a good deal of gum, is practically uninhabited, waterless, and for the most part unexplored, and bears few signs of former inhabitants.
In the rains, the surface of the ground, whether open or forest, is covered with grass 3 to 5 feet, and in places 15 feet, in height, which, until burnt, is exceedingly annoying to the traveller, should he be on foot or riding a mule or a donkey.
Generally speaking, the whole country is fertile, and only needs inhabitants and a minimum of labour to render it reproductive; water, though now scarce, would probably not prove to be an insuperable difficulty.
Historical.In pre-Mahdist days, Gedaref and district, including the old Gedaref or Suk Abu Sin, was a fertile and populous spot. Its cornfields supplied a large portion of the Sudan, both to the north and west, and it was, in short, prosperous. It was devastated by the Dervishes in 1885, and the garrison captured. Abu Anga and later Ahmed Fedil were appointed Emir of the district. In 1898, it was seized by a small column from Kassala under Colonel Parsons, after a hazardous and successful fight, a few miles outside the town, and though subsequently twice attacked by Ahmed Fedil, held its own until relieved by a force from the Nile. (Vide [p. 267.])
Gedaref Town.
The town of Gedaref is situated partly on an under-feature emanating from some low hills, rather more than 100 feet high, half-a-mile to the east, and partly on the plain which lies below the general level of the surrounding country on three sides, and on the fourth, slopes away very gradually westwards.
This plain, which extends for some miles in all directions, especially to the west and north-west, is devoid of trees of any description, and being practically all rich black cotton soil, there is really an almost unlimited extent of land available for cultivation during the rains.
The quasi-European quarter of the town consists of one street of shops, built of brick, about 200 yards long, and, with the exception of a few other brick houses and the Government buildings, the whole of the remainder of the town consists of grass tukls.
Trade.The principal traders are Greeks, but these are few, and so far trade has not reached the expectations formed of it, owing chiefly to want of railway communication with this part of the Sudan.