69.—SHEIKH SADIK to HOMRA.
There is a good broad track the whole way. Good grazing, but indifferent shade.
| Place. | Miles. | Description. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter-mediate. | Total. | ||
| Sheikh Sadik | — | — | A small and very dirty village. One well120 feet deep. Shade in khor to the south. Tomb visable at adistance. Good mosque. People own many goats. Dura sometimesavailable. Leaving the village the track crosses a khor and leadsover gravel soil across several shallow khors. The country isfairly open, much samr bush. Telegraph line is on the west. |
| Wadi Afu | 8 | 8 | Is reached soon after crossing thetelegraph line. Much cultivation on the surrounding rising ground.The gravel is now much mixed with clay which makes the going badduring rain. |
| Goz El Leia | 15½ | 23½ | Sand commences and continues to Shageig.The marakh bush first appears. |
| Bir Khanga | 6 | 29½ | Now dry. There is also a large fula. Manyothers exist in the neighbourhood. Heavy going in places(1903). |
| Shageig | 13½ | 43 | Fula and many wells. Water practicallyunlimited. Small village. Fair shade but grazing bad in hotweather. The road now leads to the north end of J. Tius. There islittle shade, but fair grazing. |
| J. Tius | 18 | 61 | About 300 feet high above plain. The roadcrosses the sand hill that has collected on the north side. Theroad now passes one or two fulas that only contain water in therains. |
| El Homra | 16 | 77 | Good rest house. Small Gowama village.Two good wells 125 feet deep. Fair shade near well. Moderategrazing, gets indifferent towards end of hot weather owing to thelarge number of convoys that pass through. |
70.—EL DUEIM to HOMRA.
This is portion of the main route from El Dueim to El Obeid. There is a well defined track throughout.
| Place. | Miles. | Description. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter-mediate. | Total. | ||
| El Dueim | — | — | Leaving the town in a westerly direction,the track is at first difficult to pick up. Black soil, whichduring the rains becomes very swampy. Bush never bad, but manykhors, which at times hold a great deal of water, have to becrossed. |
| Id El Ud | 11½ | 11½ | Small Kurtan village, many wells, waterpractically unlimited. Fair shade near wells, but during the rainsground becomes very swampy and mosquitoes are very bad. |
| Track continues over black soil at first.Then sand gradually increases and the bush disappears. After 4miles no shade. Nothing but marakh bush. Slightly undulatingcountry. | |||
| 30th mile | 30 | 41½ | Telegraph line is struck, and soon afterJ. Helba is seen ahead. |
| Helba | 8 | 49½ | Two wells 90 feet deep; good supply ofwater. Small Shuweihat village. Little shade near wells, but plenty½ mile on. The road is on the south side of the telegraph line.There is a good deal of bush, sayal, heglig, etc. |
| Homra | 13 | 62½ | See [Route No.69.] |
71.—HOMRA to EL OBEID viâ BARA.
(Corrected to January, 1904.)
Throughout this route there is plenty of grazing and firewood. Water is, however, apt to give out at Homra and Shegeila if more than 300 camels are watered in one day as may happen at times, but the wells quickly refill. Wide track the whole way.