The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: a compendium prepared by officers of the Sudan government, Vol. 2 (of 2)

by Sudan. Wizarat al-Naql wa-al-Muwasalat

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Goz Abu Guma	—	—	Bad landing place—easily improved; alsobad watering place at this season (November) for animals; bucketsnecessary. No good grass close. Camel fly bad.
Menauel	24	24	Several pools; best, 50 by 30 yards.Water good.
Gedid	11	35	Good road. Several pools; waterfair.
Abu Rukba	18	53	Small fula, dirty water, 3 miles W. ofvillage, would be dry by end of November. Drinking water fromwells. Close cultivated country.
Um Kueika	25	78	No water at Um Shokaba or Um Hagar, sowent on to Um Kueika. Shallow fula, filthy water, more like liquidmanure. Wells not much better. Thousands of water melons are growninstead.
Sherkeila	20	98	No water at Ageila. Big lake atSherkeila—fair water; also good water from wells. Road, beforereaching here, heavy going. Bad place for horses.
Um Ruaba	18	116	No Tebeldi trees, but big fula, 50 yardsby 40. Country more open. Passed big village, named Gogham. 3 milesshort of Um Ruaba. No water at Shamagatta, so marched viâRahad.
Gadadin	6	122	Big village.
Abli	6	128	No village. Half a mile off road, inthickly wooded khor, were 3 small pools, each 20 yards diameter;also another smaller pool of clean drinking water.
Um Kheiran	16	144	Road over succession of ridges of deepred sand, rendering going heavy. After passing Village Eilafun,country open. Large fula at Um Kheiran, 70 yards wide—goodwater.
Umbeil	3	147	Village.
Fula Um Sheikh	4	151	Large fula, 120 yards by 80, 3 feet deep.Good clear water.
Rahad Lake	11	162	Lake 3 miles long, ½ mile broad, about 3feet deep—good water. Numbers of mosquitoes and sand flies. Bigvillage about 2 miles from lake.
Mao	10	172	Tebeldi trees and well. Road from hereonwards much obstructed by trees.
J. Ein	19	101	At foot of rocky hill is a well, said tobe a spring. 60 buckets did not empty it. Forest very thick andfull of deep khors about here.
J. Deigo	11	202	2 small fulas of filthy water hardlydrinkable by horses.
El Obeid	9	211

78.—GEDID to EL RAHAD viâ AGEILA.

By Captain W. Lloyd, December, 1901.

This road is very swampy in the rains.

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Gedid	—	—	Two good wells. Many Gimma villages near.They are not occupied during the rains, as there is littlecultivation near. Good shade. Track over cotton soil, thickbush.
Abu Rukba	17	17	Some old wells. The tomb of the Khalifa’sfather is on a hill a little to the N. of the road. There are agreat many tracks here. Local guide necessary.
Um Afgheim	18	35	Pool and one well. Track now leads overmany sandy ridges. Between the ridges black cotton soil. Bush thickin places.
Ageila	14	49	Several wells (14) with good supply ofwater. The village of Sheikh Yasin Yusef head Sheikh of the Gowamasis a mile N. of wells. Good shade. Water stands here in rains andmosquitoes are very bad. (There is a road from here to Sherkeila,12 miles). There is now less black soil, and the bush becomes lessthick.
Um Ruaba	24	73	A large fula with wells. The latter arevery bad. Much trouble in watering ten camels. Good shade. Thevillage is 1½ miles to the N.
Track to Shamagatta andTaiara	12	85	[To Shamagatta 12 miles, Taiara 30miles].
			Country becomes undulating, sandy ridges,black soil between.
El Eilafun	10	95	A small place with one well, but littlewater.
Um Sereiha	1	96	Small village, water from El Eilafun.These two villages were once large places, now very poor. Goodtrack.
El Rahad	22	118	Several large villages, much cultivationand small suk. Lake now full.
			N.B.—Lake was dry in autumn 1902. Whendry, wells are dug in bed of the lake.

79.—KAKA to opposite JEBELEIN, by Left Bank.

By Captain H. H. Wilson, March to April, 1903.

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Kaka Meshra	—	—	A good landing place at low Nile, butimpossible at high. Track from here to opposite Jebel Ahmed Agharuns in N.E. direction, and lies some way from the river.
Moro	2½	2½	Most northerly Shilluk village, part ofthe Kaka district. Country round here is bushy, with certain numberof good trees.
Arab village	¾	3¼	Part of the Kenana tribe, who are to befound in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Fashoda, Fama,Atara, and Kaka.
Debba Adaraba	1¾	5	On right of track. Site of old Shillukvillage.
Debba El Asal	¾	5¾	On right of track. There is a very fairtrack all along here, passable all the year round, but crossing anumber of shallow khors which would be a serious obstacle in therains. After passing El Asal, the bush gives place to finepark-like land, situated on high sandy ground.
Ferik	2¼	8	Sheep ferik of Baggara Selim Arabs, onlyoccupied by them during dry season. The whole of the country fromKaka to Jebelein is the Selim country, over which they roam fromDecember to May. A number of Hemeida and other Arabs from Kordofanalso come and graze their flocks here.
	5¼	13¼	Small Shilluk village on what is anisland in the rains; I was unable to find out the name of it, butthe name of the sheikh is Angwet.
	¾	14	Track here crosses two khors which weredry in April. Forest all along here on left. Wide river foreshorewith khors on right.
	2½	16½	A big khor runs into the river from thewest—dry in April. Some very fine big trees about here, some of thetimber being exceptionally long and straight.
Debba Duara El Sogheir	3¾	20¼	Debba on right, high sandy ground andfine forest.
Debba Duara El Kebir	2¼	22½	Big khor runningalongside of track on right. It is impossible to get to the riveranywhere in this country, except at one or two recognised places,without struggling over a wide foreshore of half-burnt tangledgrass. Track crosses a khor.
	1	23½
Debba Berdan	6	29½
Ferik	1¼	30¾	Sheep ferik of Selim Baggara.
Debba	2	32¾	On left of track. Good level ground andpark-like land; excellent going under foot. Owing to the trackbeing at a considerable distance from the river, and the khors notall having water in them, it is advisable to travel about thiscountry with a guide, as certain spots are known to the Arabs ascamping grounds, where generally a large ardeb tree is to be foundwith water close at hand. First sight of the jebel from here.
Debba Berdan	2¼	35	Another debba of this name. Countrybushy.
Debba Aliang	3½	38½	Track now runsgenerally between the forest on the left and khor on right. A widekhor all along here on the right, then a thick belt of treesbetween it and the river.
	6½	45
	2	47	The khor here runs into the river—aconsiderable amount of water in it for the last 10 miles.
Meshra Meteima	⅛	47⅛	An excellent meshra at low Nile, and notat all impossible at high. After having pushed through about 80yards of reeds, the high sandy bank is reached and access gained tothe inland track, which is excellent all the year round. JebelAhmed Agha opposite. River about 1,000 yards wide here. Followingthe ordinary track this is the first time that the river water canbe obtained after leaving Kaka. Selim Baggara ferik about ½ mileinland here in bush. Track from here northwards runs through a fineforest for about 6 miles, when it debouches on to wide riverforeshore.
Ferik	6⅜	53½	Sheep ferik of Selim Arabs in bush.
Khor Nagor	2¼	55¾	A khor is crossed here which is anobstacle to any transport except carriers all the year round,having a water channel of about 8 feet, and a depth of 5 feet,choked with grass. This khor bends round northwards and joins theriver just S. of Meshra Alwat (right bank) (which is a name howeverbut little known to the Arabs, who generally speak of it as the“Balad Selim Bangan”). The track follows this khor inland, as the“island,” or ground between it and the river, though dry in the dryseason, is exceedingly bad going for animals and men, owing tocracks and rank grass.
Ferik	6½	62¼	Track strikes the khor again. A smallferik under a well-known Selim Arab, Yasin, a little grey-headedman.
Debba Tebeldia	1½	63¾	Track crosses the khor here. This countrybeing practically uninhabited—and full of game—is a haunt of lions.I saw three when marching along the track all within 100 yards ofeach other. The Jackson’s Hartebeeste is to be obtained here also.Track now runs on left side of khor; thick forest all round.
Debba Nabagaia	4¾	68½	High open debba left;this is the Nabagaia district. Country now changes generally tobush, with, as a rule, a belt of trees somewhere between the trackand the river.
	5	73½
Minadak	1½	75	A fair meshra; opposite Alwat. Selimferik about ¾ mile inland in bush. Just inland of the bush thereextends a vast plain covered with thorn, scrub, and grass, andabounding with game.
Debba Megabr	7½	82½	Left, and a Selim ferik just S. ofit.
Ferik	3	85½	Another Selim ferik; wide khor on rightof track.
	1	86½	Khor close to track; big ardeb tree, andmid-day camp.
	1	87½	A branch of the river is visible about300 yards off on right. Track is now alternately sandy and good andcracked and very bad; the latter state owing to the number ofshallow khors the track passes over. Country bushy.
Ardeb Aliga	12	99½	Near river bank. Good camping ground, asthere is little shade to be got, except under these (to the Arabs)well-known ardeb trees.
Ardeb Matemenat	2¾	102¼	Another big ardebtree. Shortly after this the track descends on to the foreshore andcontinues thus to opposite Renk, where there is a fair meshra inthe dry season only.
Renk	3¾	106
Hasoia	4¾	110¾	Arab encampments. Island of Hasoia herealso. The track winds monotonously through interminable kittr bush,generally within reach of the river. Selim feriks thick for thenext 17 miles; but as they are only temporary, and change everyyear, it is not worth while marking them all down.
Debba El Tor	23¼	134	On left of track.
Um Ashrin	2½	136½	Bush very thick here. Island of Waka(Bulli) stated to be opposite here. (This was the name given by theArabs on this occasion, and probably differs from any other knownname.)
Meshra	4½	141	Meshra used by the Arabs during the dryseason.
El Ardeb	22	163	Meshra, and Selim encampments, oppositeJebelein, bearings of the two chief peaks of which 114° and 70°respectively. This is the chief meshra of the Selim people, as itleads to their villages, which are about 15 miles inland oppositeJebelein.

Note.—The information re the track from Renk to the Jebelein is from a Report by El M. A. Said Eff. Nur El Din, Police Officer, Renk.

80.—OMDURMAN to EL SAFIA WELLS.