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

92.—BARA to FOGA.

By Captain J. R. O’Connell, July, 1902.

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Bara	—	—	Leaving Bara the track goes due W. overhigh sandy ridges; heavy going to a small village Kidaka, onewell.
Kidaka	11	11	The track turns alittle to the N. of W., and passing through thick thorny bush leadsby a small village, Um Asal, one well. Ten miles further on isMaagla village called Saata. Wells 112 feet deep, good water, agood deal of cultivation.
Um Asal	4	15
El Saata	10	25
Shireiga	10	35	A good level trackpassing through thick bush leading N. of W., after 10 miles reachesthe village of Shireiga (Habbania), one well. Two miles due W. is asmall village called El Shegel Gedidat, one well, a good deal ofcultivation. The track leads N. of W. for 7 miles through thick gumforest, then ends; one now passes between three hills calledGedidat, two on the south and one on the north, through high grassfor 8 miles, then meeting the track going from Shireiga to Geleit,and 11 miles on reaches village of Geleit, near the hill, manywells, little water.
El Shegel Gedidat	2	37
El Geleit	22	59
Masrub	17	76	A good track leads N.W. over open countryto Masrub, little water.
Gilgil	10	86	A good track leads to Gilgil, a smallvillage; very little water, not drinkable.
Baraeis	10	96	Due N., no track, tovillage of Baraeis, no water. Marching S. of W., no track, andpassing south of and close to Jebel Asal and over a rolling plain,bad going. Meika, goffal, and heglig trees scattered over theplain. After 40 miles reach Hofra. There are three Nuba villages onthe mountain, one about the centre, and two on the southern end; nowells, water bad from pools on north end of hill, no rain thisyear, people living on meika berries, which they grind and use inlieu of grain. Village is on top of mountain. Leaving Hofra andgoing due W. struck track near a rock called Mekareik Abu Gadein,10 miles out, and after another 10 miles passed close to a rockcalled Sheikh El Rifa. Three miles further on the track turns dueS., and after 4 miles reaches Jebel Umfara, and 6 miles further onreaches mountains called Gerawid El Askanut, said to be half way toFoga. Track now turns S. for 10 miles, past Jebel Kanisa on thewest and small hills to the east called Ratak, and passes 2 mileson through the hills of Umkosh, and 17 miles on comes to village ofMina in Jebel Bishara Taib, and 3 miles on are the wells and camp;little water and not good. Foga is a district. Vide[Route 87.]
Hofra	40	136
Foga	65	201

93.—NAHUD to EL EDDAIYA and MUGLAD.

By Colonel B. Mahon, C.B., D.S.O., December, 1901.

N.B.—Distances approximate.

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Nahud	—	—	The country round Nahud is sandy andundulating; about 5 miles all round is cleared for cultivation.There are many tebeldi trees which are used for water tanks. Thereis a very good supply of well water, wells from 30 to 60 feet deep.Population about 3,500, chiefly Hamar Arabs. Vide alsolater reports.
Hella El Sau	5	5	Hamar village (Hamed Bey Fetin), nowells, but good supply of tebeldi trees. Track is very welldefined, being the main road to Shakka, &c., countryundulating, heavy going for camels, bush thick.
Hella El Garaui	4	9	Hamar (Hamed Bey Fetin), no wells.
Hella Um Hashaba	3	12	Hamar (Abu Dagal) no wells, but tebelditrees and water melons.
			There are no more villages before ElEddaiya, bush thick, chiefly ebony, bad shade, track good, butheavy going for camels and slightly undulating.
Fula	25	37	There is a large fula here, but it wasdry at the beginning of November, very good shade; is a goodhalting place.
	10	47	A broad shallow khor or valley, goodshade and some tebeldi trees; after this you cross an open plateauinto El Eddaiya, there is good grazing on this plateau and niceshade, a capital camping ground.
El Eddaiya	5	52	Is a large village or collection ofhellas, and has a mixed population, Homr (Felaita), Hamar (AbuDagal), Bederia and Messeria, besides many small merchants (Jaalin,&c.). It is the starting point for merchants for Bahr El Arab,Dar Jange, Dar Fertit and Shakka.
			Camels are very little used S. ofthis.
			Water very plentiful and good wells from8 to 30 feet deep; there are remains of many old gardens, and evennow they cultivate onions and other vegetables.
			There is a small Government post held byfifty Bashibazuks.
Khor Atrun	3½	55½	Very good shade, no water but afterkharif (rainy season) many fulas. The track is undulating andsandy, but broad and well defined.
Abu Asha and Walad El Seluk	4	59½	Both Bederia hellas, no wells, buttebeldi trees and water melons.
Mumu	7½	67	This is a district; many hellas, Homr(Felaita), Sheikh Hamed Yassin, several fulas but all dry by middleof November. No wells, some tebeldi trees, much cultivation. Afterthe harvest is gathered and when the water in tebeldi trees isexhausted, the people move near to El Eddaiya. There are no hellasbetween here and Muglad, it is more or less forest.
	6	73	At this point the road branches; the mainroad goes on to Shakka, but take left-hand one S.S.E. to Um Hagarif you want water.
Um Hagar	8	81	There are here asuccession of rocky basins. All had some water, the one furthest S.after the rains must have been a considerable lake, and some yearscontains water during the whole year, but, I think, will be dry byend of December this year.
	1	82
	1½	83½	The track, now very indistinct, runsW.S.W. for 1½ miles, until it rejoins main road which we left atmile 73. Country continues the same until about the 86th mile, whenit becomes flat and clay soil; track good and hard going, but allforest.
Um Sidr	14½	98	Large fula. Road branches at Um Sidr;main road to Shakka S.S.W. is much best and shorter, I took the oneto Um Battu, but returned by main road. Gullum now becomescommon.
Um Battu	8	106	Three small wells in dry bed of fula, 8feet deep. These wells could easily be improved, but are not now tobe depended on after 15th December. This, like all the followingplaces, was once a village. Country all bush and very little shadeexcept at these fulas, where there are splendid ardeib trees.
Um Gamadi	15	121	A dry fula and was an old village.
Um Gamadi	3	124	Also called Um Gamadi.
Um Kantor	6	130	Dry fula, there was an old village hereat some time.
Um Gedir	11½	141½	Dry fula; very fine ardeib treeshere.
Um Malis	4½	146	Dry fula, same as above.
Khor El Heggis	2	148	Northern boundary of Muglad district;very small khor, but thickly wooded.
	1	149	Road branches, take right-hand oneS.S.W., the other (main track) S.S.E. is one of the many tracks tothe Bahr El Arab.
Um Shanga	1	150	There is water here in khor and sometebeldi trees (but not filled with water), but this year waterwould be dry by end of December.
	3½	153½	No track for 3½ milesW. through very bushy country, then strike path N.N.W. to HellaEreiga. From here you strike a well-defined path to Moghrabi.
Hella Ereiga	1½	155
	4	159	Track branches S.W., main track S. toJange, take right-hand one S.W.
Hella Moghrabi	5	164	This is where Ali Gula, Nazir of theHomr, lives.
Um Moghrabi	2½	166½	Large fula, plenty of water.
Um Uerst	2½	169	Large fula and lots of good water. Butnone of these fulas (or rahads, as they call them) can be relied onafter end of December.
			There is another road from El Eddaiyafurther W., it is no longer, but goes through very thick forest,impassable for camels, but there are some wells on this road, andit is used in the dry weather.
Muglad	—	—	Is a district about 50 miles square, twodays easy from Shakka and two days from Bahr El Arab.
			There are many feriks, but no permanentvillages; the people all go to Bahr El Arab as soon as the watergets scarce and the harvest is collected. They store grain on thetops of trees for consumption and seed when they return in therainy season. Population all Homr (Ageira), there are many Rizeigatand a few Maalia when I was there, but they have returned toShakka. There is lots of gum in the district, but they do notcollect it. Wells can be made at 10 feet, but they make none. Ionly saw one well (at Um Ardeib). The people are lazy and poor, butthey have large herds of cattle and sheep.

94—FOGA to EL EDDAIYA, viâ J. KAJA SERRUG, DAMJAMAD, and KORDOFAN-DARFUR.

By Captain B. C. Carter, January, 1903.

Place.	Miles.		Description.
	Inter-mediate.	Total.
Foga	—	—		Vide [Route28.]
J. Kajaserrug	—	—		This hill is now deserted. There is abroad track running from J. El Hella (Darfur), viâ J.Adashir into Kaja. This was chiefly used, I think, for lootedcattle. J. Zerga holds water in the rocks, and there is a khorrunning, roughly, E. and W., with tebeldi trees, which were filledin the rains. They were still full in January. J. Zumkhor hastraces of a wall and brick houses, said to have been built by theFungs. Also traces of old wells in the wadi. The bricks are goodand well-burnt. There are similar buildings on J. Sukunja, W. ofKaja, and also on J. Bishara Taib, E. of Foga.
J. Zerga Mima	9	9		These villages are built on abare sandy ridge and grow dukhn only. Two miles from Gamania thepath joins road from Foga to Damjamad, which latter is a district,including 4 villages of the same name. These people go to Um Shangawhen the water supply fails.
Gilatt	4	13
Gamania	3	16
Damjamad	14	30		A fair path, after passingsmall village of Dunur, goes through some thick thorn, and in about 8 milesdescends into Wadi Zernak. This wadi is full of tebeldi trees andmay be noted as a base in case of trouble with Darfur. The treeswould hold a very large amount of water, but, of course, would haveto be filled by hand at the proper time.
Zernak	15	45
Hemir Sibil	15½	60½		Six miles from Zernak the road quits thetebeldi forest and goes over undulating ridges to Hemir Sibil,which depends entirely on melons. There is a good deal ofcultivation.
Tom Wad	11½	72		A small village dependent chiefly onmelons.
Zarug Dagmar	7½	79½		Fair sized village growing a good supplyof dukhn.
Lingu	9½	89		This district is known as Zalatta, from arock which holds rain water.
Edam	3	92		Small village.
Gurab	7½	99½		Small village, deserted early, as melonswere scarce. Ridges end and country becomes flat with trees andgrass.
Um Reida	8½	108		Large village with many tebeldis andmelons enough to last till next rains. This is in district calledGhabeish.
				Good track all the way to El Odaiya.
Gad el Habub	8½	116½		Small Hamar village. Few tebelditrees.
Wad Domai	3½	120		Village.
Abd el Hai	3½	123½		„
Sharafa	3½	127		Large Gowama village. Water from tebeldisand from Ogr; a “Hafir” or pond 50 yards in diameter, 8 to 10 feetdeep, 2 miles south. It holds water until about January.
				There is no bad bush from here to ElEddaiya. Good going.
				Sharafa belongs to Kordofan, El Ogr toDarfur.
Gabralla	9	138		Small village of people from Bornu.
Gariban	6	144		Small Hamar village. Main roads fromTaweisha and Shakka come in here.
Um Sedeir	7½	151½	⎫ ⎪ ⎪ ⎬ ⎪ ⎪ ⎭	All small Hamar villages.
Wad Dunga	7	158½
Tamba	9½	168
Sabi	12	180
Aris	7½	187½
Wad Dau el Beit	5	192½
El Eddaiya	12	204½		Vide previous routes.