1.—No. 6 STATION (S.G.R.) to DERAHEIB.

By Colonel Hon. M. G. Talbot, R.E., December, 1902.

General.The road described below is only one of several that might have been taken, but I believe it is perhaps the most direct. The portions between No. 6 and Murrat, and along the Wadi Alagi must be common to all routes.

Nature of road.There are no gradients on the road sufficiently steep to form a serious obstacle to laden camels, but there are a good many places after the Wadi Abu Bard is left, where the stony nature of the road is trying for the feet of plains camels, though the camels of the country seem to make nothing of it.

Water.Water is scarce and not always good. If marching with hamla,[1] arrangements should be made to carry at least two nights’ water.

Fuel and shade.Once the W. Telat Abda has been reached, fuel and shade can always be obtained with very little management. Till then there is practically no shade. No fuel between No. 6 and Murrat; a little between Murrat and W. Telat Abda.

Grain.No grain is obtainable. Sheep and goats and some milk can be obtained wherever Arabs are met with. The position of the Arabs and their flocks depends on the season of the year, and the distribution of the previous year’s rainfall.

Place.Hamla Hours.Miles.Description.
Inter-mediate.Total.Inter-mediate.Total.
No. 6 Station (S.G.R.)————No. 6 Station on Halfa-Khartoum Railway,127 miles from Halfa, and 1,555 feet above sea level.
British foreman. Telegraph office.
No station buildings nor accommodationfor persons detained there.
Well with steam pump gives 12,000 gallonsdaily. Water contains some salts, but drinkable. Nile water can beobtained for small parties from station supply. Some “selem” bushesgive firewood and a little grazing for camels. No inhabitantsexcept railway staff. No supplies.
Is the base of the staff of the Egypt andSudan Mining Syndicate now developing Um Nabari or Nabadimine.
77——The track, now pretty well marked, makesstraight for the N. end of J. Keheli, after rounding which it makesfor J. Mindara, keeping a couple of miles to the N. of it. Roadpractically level and mostly good trotting surface, though sand alittle heavy in places.
3¼10¼——Road crosses a low saddle and descendsinto one of the branches of the Wadi Murrat, amongst a lot of lowtangled hills. After following the wadi for 300 yards or so,another saddle is crossed to cut off a bend, after which the wadiis followed till it joins the main wadi, just before the fort ofMurrat is reached.
Murrat111¼—34The engineer of the Egypt and SudanMining Syndicate has fitted a pump in one of the wells in the wadi,which gives cleaner, though not less bitter water than before. TheArabs and Berberi servants drink it uncomplainingly, but Europeansare advised to avoid it if they can. About 10 miles slightly N. ofW. up the main Wadi Murrat is the site of the Um Nabari or Nabadimine, now being developed by the Company. Road quite easy along thewadi.
1½35½On leaving Murratfort the track keeps down the wadi for 1½ miles, then turns off tothe left over somewhat stony ground, and, crossing a saddle and thehead of another affluent of the Wadi Murrat about 1½ miles furtheron, descends easily into the basin of the Wadi Dayob. Acrossslightly undulating ground, aiming just to the left of J. AbuDayob, a rocky sand-covered hill (with a pillar on the top) which,though only 200 or 300 feet high, stands up well amidst itssurroundings, and turns down the wadi past its northern foot.
112¼1½37
1¾14441
½41½
½14½½42Along the wadi passing a gorge about 50yards wide; wadi then turns rather to S.E. There is some camelgrazing here.
115½——Road now turns to left out of wadi, and,after crossing low ridges for about one hour and passing near some“selem” bushes in one of the wadis, enters a plain ½ to 1 milebroad, and heads generally for J. Kerar Berar.
½163¾45¾Half-a-mile further on J. Mosiai (pillaron top) is at right angles about 1 to 2 miles distant on left.
1½17½——Track leaves plainover low ridges and descends by gentle slope obliquely to WadiMosiai. There are a few of the peculiar dom palms of the countryabove where wadi is struck, and a little “selem” and some scrubbyplants below. Track keeps down wadi generally, till it gets wellclear of the low hills, when it turns half left over open plain,good going, and passes an isolated patch of “selem” bushes inGabgaba.
118½——
1¾20¼——
W. Gabgaba222¼1661¾The bed of the Gabgaba is ¾ to 1½ mileswide in places, consisting of several channels separated by flatgravel. The bed itself is sandy, honeycombed with rat holes, andvery bad going. Immense quantities of the “handal” plant grow init, and in years of good rainfall dura is cultivated.
2¼24½667¾Track, leaving the wadi half right, keepsover a gravel plain with gentle slopes till it strikes the W. TelatAbda just outside the low hills.
There is plenty of “selem” in the wadi,giving good camel grazing and abundance of firewood.
Bir Telat Abda327½8¼76Track keeps up wadi, occasionally makingshort cuts to right to get better going, as wadi is heavy inplaces, to well at foot of rather higher hill on left bank whichhas two stone pillars.
The well gives good water, but not verymuch of it. About ¼ mile higher up under the right bank where thewadi forks is another well generally used for watering camels. Fromhere the roads to Abu Tabag and Naba branch. That to Naba keepsstraight on, that is up the right-hand branch of the fork. Naba isabout 17 miles from Telat Abda, whence it draws its drinking water.Near Telat Abda well is a sayal tree that gives good shade.
J. Liseiwi330½682The track starts up the Khor Liseiwi, orleft-hand branch of the fork, past the upper well, but soon turnsto right from it to cut off a corner, and drops into the khor againat a water hole (generally dry) under Jebel Liseiwi (marked by apillar).
W. Abaraga232½688Keeps up khor and, crossing a low saddle,descends into Wadi Abaraga.
¼32¾¾88¾Keeps up wadi, whichis well wooded with selem, sayal and the single-stemmed fan palm(Medemia argun), and passes some wells close under leftbank. The wadi flows through very broken low hills, 200 to 400 feethigh.
½33¼1½90¼
1¼34½3½93¾Track issues on to open space where thehills recede and wadis come in from all directions.
——497¾Track now turns N.E.,passing between some low hills over gravelly plain, and turns S.E.up wadi, now confined between rounded reddish hills. The palms havenow ceased, but selem is still found. The hills soon get lower andwadi less confined.
——4¼102
——4½106½A track from Hesmet Omar.
——2¼108¾Saddle at head ofWadi Abaraga is reached, easy ascent and descent commenced overgently sloping gravel to the Wadi Abu Bard which flows through anopen valley 2 to 3 miles wide. Plenty of wood in wadi.
Wadi Abu Bard7¾42¼2¼111
——2113The same direction iscontinued across the wadi till a low saddle is crossed, and trackdescends a branch of Abu Bard for a little more than a mile; thenacross an open space N.E. up an affluent of the same branch till itcrosses a low saddle at its head and descends into an affluent ofthe Wadi Hesmet Omar. This part is very stony and severe on plainscamels, though the gradients are not heavy. The track keeps downthe valley, crossing a couple of affluents bounded by low hills,till it reaches another low, but stony saddle, whence it descendsinto and crosses an affluent of the Wadi Abu Tabag or Wadi Ga;after another 2 miles of stony ground the track descends intoanother branch of the Abu Tabag wadi, which it follows till itreaches the well.
——3½116½
——5121½
——2123½
Abu Tabag5½47¾2125½
The valley opens out a bit here, thoughimmediately over the well there are low hills which still carry thebreastworks erected by Beshir Bey’s men as a protection againstdervishes.
The well is about 20 feet deep, of whichthe lower 12 feet, is revetted with stone. Plenty of water. Manysmall partridges.
An Inspector’s rest house has been builthere. Some fine sayal trees.
There are a number of dom palms trying tocome up, but none have succeeded in showing any trunk yet.
The wadi here is, I believe, called theWadi Ga, but I am not sure.
Wadi Ga——2127½The track continuesdown the wadi for 2 miles and turns off to the left over flat andundulating ground; easy going for some miles, the general directionbeing a little to the left of J. Kirmai, crosses the Wadi Ga(plenty of selem) and cuts over a low saddle at the north end ofKirmai.
4¼5210137½
Wadi Abu Kitabab——2139½After about 2 more miles, heavy going,over sand-covered ridges the track descends into the Wadi AbuKitabab, which joins the Wadi Ga about 1½ miles below where thetrack crosses it. There are plenty of trees of several differentsorts.
2543142½Road continues up wadi for 3 miles to apoint where it forks.
——4146½The southern branchis also called Abu Kitabab. The track to Sohanit and Onib, viâMashushenai well (very little water), ascends it. Theother branch is called Ebeirid. After ascending it for 4 miles, lowsaddle is crossed; after 4½ more miles of mostly very stony ground,ending in a short and very rough descent, the Wadi Abdelala isreached. This wadi is here well wooded. Lots of marakh. The trackascends it a short distance and then turns up a side khor, out ofit to left into another and over an easy saddle down into WadiBitna or Butna; confined bed, high hills on right bank.
Wadi Abdelala3½57½4½151
1½594½155½Top of Mashushenai just visible, a fewselem and a good many samr trees.
Wells1½60½4159½Track keeps down wadi, cutting off one ortwo corners, stony, but not very bad going. The bed gets narrowerand low cliffs more perpendicular till wells are reached at a placewhere a projecting cliff appears to bar the passage. Just beforereaching it some tombs are passed.
There are two wells or water holes about5 feet in diameter, surface of water 6 feet below bed of wadi. Lotsof good water.
262½4½164The track continues, original direction,for about ½ mile and then turns E., and a mile further on meets theWadi Elei coming from the S.E. The united wadi now flows a littleE. of N., the hills diminish and the valley increases in width andthe vegetation decreases. After 2 miles the track turns off toright, up what was a good track a year or so ago, but is now barredby waves of sand. After some three miles, most part of which isvery heavy going, the track descends into the broad and ill definedbed of an affluent of the Wadi Elei. Little grazing.
3½6610174Over bare undulatingplain, dotted with hummocky ridges of decomposed granite more orless covered with sand. Good going till a low and easy watershed iscrossed and track descends easily to Wadi Nasari, a broad wellwooded wadi that comes from Jebel Sohanit, and joins the Alagi afew miles N. of where the track strikes it. Track crosses wadi inthe direction of Jebel Eigat and, passing through some low hills,reaches the Wadi Alagi. Track quite easy.
Wadi Nasari1¼67¼3177
Wadi Alagi1½68¾4181
The Wadi Alagi here is at least ½ milewide, bounded by low hills on both banks, but rising higher behindon the right bank. It contains many refreshingly green trees ofseveral sorts, marakh, heglig, sayal, sidr, arak, &c.
Wadi Taimurit270¾6187Up wadi, which narrows to about 300 to400 yards. It is joined on the left bank by a khor called Taimurit,up which there is a waterhole, good water. On the right bankopposite it is a hill conspicuously higher than the majority ofthose that overhang the wadi.
On both banks are remains of houses, anda quartz reef is conspicuous on the left bank. The latitude ofjunction of Taimurit and Alagi is 22° 1′ 11″, so most, if not all,the reef is north of 22°. It shows marks of having beenprospected.
Wadi Neshd171¾3190One hour further on, where the wadichanges the direction of its flow from S.W. to N.W., some tombsclose under the right bank are a landmark for the Wadi Neshd, whichcomes in on the left bank opposite. There is good water in the WadiNeshd.
Wadi Kamotit273¾6196The wadi now begins to wind more. Twohours further on the Wadi Kamotit on right bank is passed. There isgood water a short way up it.
Deraheib4¼7812208The wadi now begins to wriggle aboutwithout, however, much decreasing in width. The hills on eitherside continue to be of no great height, and in one or two placesthe track crosses low saddles to cut off corners; good trees allthe way.
Water————At Deraheib is a ruined castle of stoneset in mud, with two or three pointed arches set in lime. Anotherbuilding of nearly equal size in plan, but not so high, and theruins of a number of houses and shelters are on the left bank. Onthe right bank, nearly opposite, are a number of ruined stonehouses arranged in streets, and covering 3 to 4 acres. They arebuilt in stone and mud, but a few arches in lime are to be seen.The ruins are evidently greatly filled in and might possibly repayexcavation. There are small stone shelters of the same kind upvarious khors. The nearest water now is 2 or 3 miles offup a wadi that joins the left bank of the Alagi about 1½ milesfurther up.
The latitude of the N.W. corner of the ruinedcastle is 21° 56′ 48·5″.
On the low hills on left bank, within ½mile of the fort, are a number of shafts sunk in the reef which ishere very apparent. In December there were very few Arabs in theWadi Alagi. In the summer there are many.
The rate of the hamla has been taken at2½ to 3 miles per hour, as, I think, my camels went. Neither timesnor distances, therefore, can be relied on absolutely.

2.—SUAKIN to BERBER.

Roads.There are two main routes between Suakin and Berber, both joining at Obak. The first, viâ Tambuk—Dissibil—Kokreb—Ariab and Obak, the most northerly of the two, is the usual caravan route. Major Prout (1877) states that “this route is quite practicable for wagons, the greater part of it being indeed an admirable road for wheels; some difficulty would, however, be found in getting wagons over the passes of Hareitri and Kokreb, and the dunes of Obak. At these three points some work, not much, but rather expensive, would have to be done to make the route a good wagon road.” The chief difficulty lies in the arid stretch of 114 miles between Ariab and Berber, for which Obak, lying about halfway, provides the only water.