(Various.)
Grazing.Plenty for camels, &c., all along the route.
Water.Anywhere for the digging, except between Khor Lokweb and Khor Ali Gebrat, 28 miles, and between the latter and Kassala, 18 miles.
Camping ground.Good anywhere along the route.
Wood.Plenty for fuel and for making rough shelters.
Going.On the whole excellent for camels, horses, &c. Convoys should not take more than 14 days to do the journey from Suakin.
Parties without heavy baggage should do it easily in 9 days.
N.B.—As the major portion of this route leads through Italian territory, it is not now generally used south of Khor Langeb (vide note to Khor Langeb, 51st mile).
| Place. | Miles. | Description. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter-mediate. | Total. | ||
| Tokar | — | — | Leaving Tokar, the track runs a littlewest of south across the plains, leaving the Khor Baraka channel tothe west. |
| 10 | 10 | Traversing a broken tract, covered witheminences strewn with sand, enter the Khor Baraka. Vegetation onmuch larger scale; tall tamarisk trees. Channel 50 yards broad;hard sand; excellent going; banks 10 to 12 feet high, and thicklywooded. | |
| There are more routes than one; sometimesalong the channel, or on either bank, according to season orcircumstances. Broadly, the Beni Amer inhabit the eastern bank, andthe Hadendoa the western. | |||
| Temeren | 2 | 12 | (Tamenrê = 10 wells.) The wells here, twoin number, are situated in the bed of the Khor Baraka, depth about20 feet, and produce plenty of water of a brackish nature. Anotheraccount (1897) says two wells, close to fort; one well only used,good water 50 feet down. The khor here is about 80 paces wide, withlow banks, and is comparatively bare of trees. During the floods ofthe Baraka, these wells are flushed, the water being thick andimpregnated with alluvial mud. The country on the left bank is openand stony, and remains so until the line of the Jebel Shaba hillsis reached. To the right bank of the khor a certain amount ofcultivation exists, which increases in amount as the Tokar delta isreached. Heina range visible to south. |
| Jebel Shaba lies 26 miles W.S.W. ofTemeren; track to it clearly marked over stony plain by occasionalstone heaps. Contains grass, ravines, shrubs, and numerouspools of water (July); one large deep pool at foot of hillcontaining water all year round. Good look-out post in alldirections. | |||
| The route, after leaving Temeren, bearsfor a mile or so south-east to avoid the numerous sand dunes anddrifts lying close to the right bank of the khor, and then changessouthwards. | |||
| 2 | 14 | A belt of considerable bush is now passedthrough, after which the country becomes open, rough, and sandy;the khor about ½ a-mile to the right-hand side. | |
| Well | 1 | 15 | One well; good water. |
| The route continues in a generallysoutherly direction, passing through sand dunes, covered with aconsiderable growth of tamarisk bushes sufficiently high to conceala mounted man. | |||
| 1 | 16 | Khor Toshikh joins the Baraka on the westbank; route enters the Baraka. | |
| Here large khor also runs in from theeast, main channel now from 30 to 40 yards wide, banks varying to30 feet high. Natives say the whole of this bit of country for amile west, and to Jebel Haina east, is under water in the rainyseason. Tamarisk bushes line each side, nothing can be seen fromthe channel. | |||
| Seven miles on, track leaves the khor,runs west on a sandy plain for a mile. Eleven miles on a black hill150 feet high runs from west bank half across the khor. | |||
| Lower Debetawateb | 7 | 23 | The hill of Hainaruns down to top of channel on east side; a narrow gorge is thusmade, through which the rush of water at flood is very great. Whenit is a very high flood, a channel is also formed round the westside of the hill. Just beyond this there are some old disused wellsin the channel that were known as Lower Debetawateb. After this,the khor opens out to about 800 yards wide, sand dunes and scrubeverywhere, track winds round almost due west, and reaches UpperDebetawateb, where there are two wells, plenty of good water, closeto surface. Track leaves channel here and runs ½ mile through thickjungle on to east bank, and then winds round south over sandyplain. Five miles on, guide pointed due west to |
| Upper Debetawateb | 3½ | 26½ | |
| Odwan | 5 | 31½ | Odwan, lying in the khor, one well. Eightmiles on, hills of Shaba and Heina run down to banks of channel,track leads east of some low hills, and khor is seen winding west agood deal. |
| Tefadi | 5 | 36½ | Some large sand hillsin khor, guide said this was Tefadi. No well, but water easily gotby digging. Track now leads over bad ground broken up bywatercourses, sand dunes, &c., and re-enters channel 4 mileson, then leaves it and runs on to west bank, winding graduallysouth-west into Khor Farag Salem. (Laiameib.) |
| Laiameib | 6½ | 43 | |
| Farag Saleib | 3 | 46 | Here there are 12 or more pools of water,rather salt. This khor runs south-east into Khor Baraka, and whereit meets it, there is a small stone enclosure on a hill held byArabs under Sheikh Abu Fatma, called Langeb. There is one well invalley at foot of hill. |
| From Khor Farag Salem is seen Jebel AdaAbab, about 10 miles to the south-west. The track runs from thiskhor south-east, then south-west over rocky ground, skirting theKhor Baraka, of which the east bank is lined with hills. | |||
| Khor Langeb[8] | 5 | 51 | Five miles on trackenters channel, and 100 yards further Khor Langeb[8]runs in from the west, about 25 yards wide, and described assimilar to Khor Baraka. Directly afterwards the track leaves khorand proceeds for 8 miles over stony ground on west bank, and thenfor 11 miles over alternate rocky and sandy plains, directionsouth, then re-enters khor and passes pool of dirty water, andafter heavy going in the channel reaches two pools with anyquantity of clear sweet water, called Tebhateit. |
| Tebhateit | 23 | 74 | |
| [Other accounts of theroad from Khor Toshikh to Tebhateit are as follows:— | |||
| 10 | 22 | At 10 miles from Temeren a large numberof sandhills are reached, covered with a good deal of scrub andtamarisk trees. These sandhills proceed from the neighbourhood ofthe khor towards the Jebel Heina; they are not of any height, butwould form admirable concealment for horse and foot men. Afterpassing through the sandhills, the route re-enters the khor, beingthe first point the khor is touched since Temeren. The khor here isabout 50 paces wide, with a firm sandy bottom, fringed by scrub,though not of a dense character. | |
| There is also a track along the west bankof the Khor Baraka from Temeren to Langeb (Junker’s road), but itis bad, leading through thick bush and wood, and much broken bynumerous small khors. | |||
| Debetawateb | 3 | 25 | Wells. About 35 water holes 5 feet deep,situated close to west bank of khor. Wells mostly together, waterbrackish (April). The wells are placed in what practically is agorge. The left bank rises in a rocky hill from 150 to 200 feethigh, and gradually falls away into a wide open stony plain, which,with occasional rocky isolated hills, extends to the high mountainof Jebel Shaba. On the right bank the hills are higher, formed intonumerous peaks, the hills gradually losing themselves in the JebelHaina. The rush of water down this gorge is very considerable whenthe Baraka is in flood; it is said to be of such force as to sweepa camel with ease before it. The hills of this gorge would form afair position; though, perhaps, capable of being turned by thewest. Such dense scrub approaches to within a few yards of the south side of the hill onthe left bank that it would enable an enemy on the hill to defendhimself from this bush with reasonable prospects of success, andmake it a difficult operation to touch the top of the ridge of thehills without carrying the bush. This gorge would seem to be thebest place to put a barrage, should such a work ever becontemplated. After leaving the wells the route follows the khor,which now opens out very considerably. The west bank is coveredwith dense bush, mostly tamarisk trees; the east bank has aconsiderable amount of bush, but the belt is not so broad or sohigh as that on the opposite bank. |
| 2 | 27 | After about ¾ hour is reached a largepatch of dura crop planted in the bed of the khor, dense bushcontinuing on the left bank; after ½ hour, reach a few water holeson the right side of the khor, evidently used for the cultivationof the above-mentioned dura. After passing the cultivation the khormaintains the same general appearance. | |
| From here a short cut may be made toTamatu by leaving the khor, and marching over a scrubby plain,going rough, and cut up by small khors and hills. | |||
| The path now leads by the right bank ofthe khor, and clear of it; the ground here is much cut up byravines and watercourses, covered with dense bush, in fact might bedescribed as a regular jungle. After passing this rough ground thekhor is again struck at | |||
| Odwan (meaning greatwaterpot). | 4 | 31 | The khor here is in a channel 16 to 18feet deep; the channel bifurcates, the old bed passing in awesterly direction, the new cutting for itself a passage in a morenortherly direction. Pools here before the Baraka floods, runningwater in winter. No definite wells. On 16th July, 1894, the khorhere was a rapid stream, 40 to 50 yards broad, and 4 feetdeep. |
| Khor takes sharp bend to the west. Bushon either bank very dense; tamarisks and bushes bound together withbright green creepers. | |||
| Tamatu (or Tefadi?) | 6 | 37 | Fifty wells near west (?) bank of khor, 5feet deep; water brackish. |
| Route now goes along bed of khor, goodgoing, muddy soil with patches of sand. Banks 4 feet high anddensely wooded. Four miles (?) on, the khor is left, and an openplain to the west crossed, covered with scattered scrub, groundgenerally stony. Spurs of Shaba range extend to within half mile ofkhor. | |||
| Laiameib | 8 | 45 | Lies a mile to the west of the KhorBaraka, and is reached by proceeding up a stony tributary khor withoccasional trees, a few dom palms marking the entrance to the khor.This point is called Khashm Lwi (?); sides of khor 50 to 100 feethigh. The wells lie at the foot of a mass of irregular rocks, whichstop further advance. |
| The reservoir of rain water is situatedunder the rocks, and is reached by a narrow downward passage whichfinally opens into a subterranean cave. The entrance to the cave issufficiently high and wide to admit the passage of two horses atthe same time. The water, perhaps 6 feet deep, is of excellentquality and most delicious to drink, covering about 15 feet square,and taking up the greater part of the cave. | |||
| Khor Farag Saleib | 3 | 48 | Three miles south of the Khor Laiameib,the Khor Farag Saleib is crossed. Here the Baraka forms a lake inflood time. |
| Langeb | 3 | 51 | The entrance to the khor of that name,which trends south-west from here. |
| Tebhateit | 12 | 63 | Good wells; ground hilly. Jebel Haggr,6,000 feet. |
| (From this point CaptainMcKerrell is the authority.) | |||
| After Tebhateit (74 miles) the track nowruns on to east bank, and winds gradually south over broken rockyground; 5 miles on re-enters khor, and runs through dense mass oftamarisk and scrub into channel 100 yards wide here, and khor ½ to¾ mile wide. | |||
| Ambakta | 8 | 82 | Shortly afterwards reach Khor Ambakta,with one well. This is where Sudan-Eritrea boundary meets theBaraka on the east bank. Jebel Senad, to the west, is a goodlandmark here, and Jebel Ayob, on east. Channel now twists about agood deal, then runs south-west; both banks lined with hills. |
| Hakhal | 8 | 90 | Eight miles on is Hakal; one well, 6 feetdown, good water. |
| Adardeb | 9 | 99 | Track continues south-west and entersEritrean territory, and 9 miles on reaches Adardeb, with threewells, 4 feet down; good water. Three miles on channel splits upand runs east and west; track leads over ground between. Very badgoing over ground broken up by watercourses and sand dunes for next6 miles; channel is then re-entered and Khor Salha is reached. |
| Khor Salha | 10 | 109 | Five wells, 4 feetdown, good water. This is a large khor running in from the east,and is itself joined by Khor Anseba, about 10 miles east, whichlatter khor comes from south-east. From here Jebel Adarkalab, avery high hill, is seen due south, and Jebel Skena due west, acone-shaped hill. Track leaves channel here and runs along eastbank, passing, 3 miles on, two stone pepper pots, built byDervishes. Bad going over very broken ground, intersected bywatercourses, for next 8 miles; then re-enters channel and reachesfour wells, water 4 feet down, and some small rain pools, from oneof which two fish were caught. One hundred yards on is Jebel Sotaion west, and Jebel Adarkalab on east, bank; latter swarming withgrey monkeys. These hills are about 60 yards apart, and the rush ofwater between them at flood must be very great. |
| Khor Anseba | — | — | |
| Jebel Sotai | 9 | 118 | |
| Akiduli (Koliteb?) | 4 | 122 | Four miles on is ablack rock, called “Akiduli,” on east bank, with figures of camels,men, and ostriches scratched over it. Water here also in pools andold wells, in places only 2 feet down. Further on is Khor Attai,with wells; water good, and 4 feet down. |
| Khor Attai | 2 | 124 | |
| Kolik | 18 | 142 | Track now runs south, and hills recede oneither side; khor widening to about a mile east and west; channel100 yards, and shallow, lined with thick tamarisk and bush.Thirteen miles on passed several wells, old and new, and later khorcontracts and hills run down on either flank; reach Kolik. |
| Khor Tamaguanti | 6 | 148 | Jebel Koreb is seen here, a landmark tothe west. There is water. Then track leaves khor and crosses weston to a wide, fairly open, sandy plain. Long range of black hillson east, running with khor, country west much more open and hillsfar away. Six miles on, cross Khor Tamaguanti, running south-west,which is lined with dom palms, has an old well with good water, anda few inhabitants. Track continues over plain passing “Mala” ofSheikh Abu Tahir, who was head of the Hadendoa tribe in MohammedAli’s time. Here there are between 200 and 300 graves; plain iscovered with coarse grass and acacia. |
| Khor Lokweb | 11 | 159 | Track now leaves KhorBaraka and enters Khor Lokweb, a large khor running into the Barakafrom the south-west; channel, lined with any number of dom palms,100 yards wide; banks 15 to 20 feet high. Two good wells here,water 5 feet down; track continues in khor, direction south-west,for 2 miles and comes to two new wells, water 6 feet down. Thenleaves khor to avoid heavy sand, and runs parallel to it on westbank, but here also going is bad, over very broken ground coveredwith bush. Eight miles on track runs over rocky ground, two hillsappear on both flanks. Sixteen miles on passes old stone house onhill to left and shortly after re-enters Khor Lokweb at spot calledKhashm El Kawab, where there were two wells, water 3 feet down,slightly salt. Track now runs south-west and then for 8 miles west.Channel blocked by large stone boulders after first mile, bad goingthrough deep sand, dom palms on both banks, also saw two witheredTebeldis with edible fruit like an elongated pear. Six miles onreached three wells called Khashm Hodelt. Eight miles on, left khorand marched west over plain, covered with acacia, &c. Thenre-entered khor and reached three at Khashm Ribdab, goodwater. |
| Khashm El Kawab | 19 | 178 | |
| Khashm Hodelt | 6 | 184 | |
| Khashm Ribdab | 6 | 190 | |
| No water for the next 28 miles. | |||
| Jebel Irkit-Anob | 8 | 198 | Track leaves KhorLokweb now, which runs west, and enters Khor Ribdab. Channel 50 to100 yards wide, with low banks covered with bush, hard sandybottom, excellent going, direction due south. Sighted here, duesouth, curious grey hill, with top sticking up like a chimney,called Jebel Irkit Anob, a good land mark. Natives said no one hadever been able to climb to its top. Three miles on reached plain, where the oldMamuria stood. Five miles on passed close to the above-mentionedhill, leaving it on our left. Track shortly afterwards leaves khorand runs west over plain of acacia, coarse grass, &c. Ninemiles on reached hill called Tiniki, with a single thorn tree onits east shoulder, moved round its east flank in single file intoplain beyond; direction west, bad going, and axes had to be used inplaces. Fifteen miles on sighted Jebel Kassala to south-west. Bush-grown plain. Shortly after track passes between low hills on theright, called Shushaieb, and a large burying ground on left, called“Balad Ali Gabret,” and enters shortly after khor of that name,running south and west, with six wells of good water, 4 feet belowsurface. Plenty of shade. Jebel Sabderat is seen on leftfront. |
| Jebel Shushaieb | 16 | 214 | |
| Khor Ali Gabret | 4 | 218 | |
| Kassala | 18 | 236 | Track now leaves khor and runs south-westover grassy park-like plain, covered with bush, &c. Bad goingin places. Seven miles on sighted Jebel Mokram and, passing it onour left, reached Kassala, 3 miles further on. |