A mixed Hamla—mules, donkeys and camels—was taken from Kirin to Kodok, April, 1903.
No rain had fallen, but more water was found in the neighbouring country than in previous years, so that conditions of water may be assumed normal for middle of dry season, but more favourable than usual for extreme end of dry season.
There was no recognised track, and no guides could be obtained from Kirin, nor would it have been possible to obtain Dinka guides to make the journey in the reverse direction.
The route followed is not necessarily the best, as probably deflections were made by guides owing to inter-village fighting or for other reasons.
| Place. | Miles. | Description. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter-mediate. | Total. | ||
| Kirin | — | — | From Kirin there are several tracksleading west to the farm village belonging to Ahmed Wad Yimr. |
| Khor Yabus at junction with KhorSerekoli | 13 | 13 | Water is obtainable at several places,vide Map. |
| The Khor Yabus known to the Gallas asAyaya, and to the Khomas as Kizi, is a strong flowing stream 40feet wide and 1 foot deep, rocky bottom and wooded banks. Soil inneighbourhood mostly sandy and firm. Stream full of fish, whichmany Kirin people come to catch and dry. Fishing places do notextend more than 20 miles west of Kirin. | |||
| As I had been told the Khor Yabus took asharp bend S. after clearing the hills I chose the left bank, so asto avoid missing the turn. The ground near the khor was stony andbroken by side khors, so marched well clear of stream. Ground firmand bush not thick enough to be an obstacle. If grass had not beenburnt going would have been difficult. | |||
| Khor Mia | 13 | 26 | Went to Yabus for water at its junctionwith a large khor (probably Khor Mia), coming from the Khomamountains. The character of the Yabus had changed, and now ran overa level sandy bed, water 6 inches deep, banks cotton soil, marshyand high grass jungle. Country on either side almost entirely open,but large trees by the khor. Country from this point to thebeginning of Burun villages swarms with game—buffalo and elephant.Hunting parties from Kirin, with rifles, constantly about. |
| Khor | 5 | 31 | Kept clear of banks of khor again, whichwere swampy and had thick jungle in places. Country away from riveropen and slightly undulating. |
| J. Belshingi and JebelBelatoma | 1 | 32 | Cotton soil, but fair going. Khor passesbetween Jebel Belshingi on N. bank and J. Belatoma on S. A rockyoutlying knoll of latter close to stream gives a fair campingground at its base. A wide marshy khor comes from the south justbefore reaching this knoll. |
| Knoll | 3 | 35 | The Yabus winds round the south end of J.Belshingi and spreads out into two marshy lakes, a small rockyknoll forming the extreme south end of J. Belshingi (though onopposite side of khor) lying between the lakes. |
| The north bank of Yabus is wooded, butcountry to south is open. Bed of stream winds through wide marshybelt. Skirting the marsh, game tracks gave good going. | |||
| Village (deserted) (?) Mago | 4 | 39 | First Burun village was deserted. Foundit had been raided by Kirin people two months before, and SheikhDigga had been killed. Village had evidently been occupied since.From this village found a good track, and, after 3 miles, bushbecame thick; many dom palms. |
| N’yunka | 4 | 43 | N’yunka, a collection of villages amongdom thickets. No men at first to be seen, but surprised some womenwho shortly induced men to appear. Latter very frightened at first.All armed with long bows, wooden pointed featherless arrows andgenerally a spear, and quite naked. |
| Yabus crossing | 9 | 52 | A good track ran through wooded countryS. of the Yabus, passing the villages of Toma, N’dinga, Bane Bugga,Ote, Onka and the villages of Sheikh Washa. At these latter crossedthe Yabus, which from this point turns S.W. The Buruns could notgive me any clear account of where it went to, but thought itdischarged into Sobat. I believe it opens out into a swampy lakewhich also receives the Sonka, and part of the water from this maymake its way to the Sobat near Nasser and part into the Khor Adar.When last seen there was a good flow of water. The country to S.W.appeared to be thickly wooded, and I could not ascertain to whatextent it was inhabited. |
| Track continued to be good, and passedthrough villages of Kanje and Loma, almost deserted owing todistance from Walu to Bangaia. | |||
| Bangaia | 7 | 59 | Hafirs. The village is small and thehafirs are in a marshy overflow from a khor ½ mile S.E. of village.These Burun hafirs are generally dug in marshy spots, and sometimesare merely reservoirs, sometimes really gammams. They are carefullycovered in with sticks, and grass and water is generally clean andgood. At Bangaia very good and plentiful. |
| Tuer | 3 | 62 | Small village with hafir—several desertedvillages between it and Bangaia. |
| Beio | 5½ | 67½ | Track good, country fairly open. Smallvillage. |
| Hillock | 1 | 68½ | Very small hillock with few huts. |
| Kyela | 2½ | 71 | Kyela is a group of several villages withwide track of cultivation. Inhabitants gone away for water. |
| After 4 miles track ceases, and guides tookus N.W., avoiding a piece of badly broken cotton soil. | |||
| K. Yungen | 9 | 80 | Lot of giraffe and ostrich. A gammam withsome very bad water in Khor Yungen. |
| Nyeda | 3 | 83 | Nyeda, a village with 300 to 400 peopleon Khor Murga (probably the same as Khor Yungen). Poor water ingammams in khor. These are 6 feet deep and fill slowly; barely gavewater enough for 50 animals and 50 men. |
| From here a good number of people know alittle Arabic or Dinka. The Sheikh is Dar El Sagia, and he has beenfighting with the surrounding villages. | |||
| The whole district is called Dar El Imamand was under a Sheikh called Wad Regab Wad Ali. This man wasmurdered some four years ago, and Dar El Sagia claims to be hissuccessor, but is not recognised by most of the villages. This isabout the limit of the raiding of the Beni Shangul people. | |||
| Khor Murga is said to be a branch of thebig khor which formed from the khors between Jebel Kurmuk and JebelFanagamenta, passes close to J. Jumjum under the name of KhorTumbakh. | |||
| J. Jumjum lies south of J. Mofwa and isthe southern limit of Idris Wad Regab’s influence at present. KhorTumbakh appears to split up into branches, and one probably reachesKhor Adar near Rengachuk. | |||
| Hafirs | 4 | 87 | Two good hafirs. Track bad over brokencotton soil. |
| Nyeda (Sh. Tukani) camp | 8 | 95 | After passing hafirs track becomes verygood and goes through a number of villages whose inhabitants hadgone to water. About two miles short of camp entered on a widestretch of cultivation, cotton soil. Scattered villages. No definedkhor, but probably the whole under water in the rains from overflowof Khor Tumbakh. There were many gammams, but water very bad andmuddy. |
| Dinko Wad Dageig | 7 | 102 | Bad going over cotton soil. Dinko WadDageig was last Burun village. It is situated in a grove of dompalms, dry sandy soil. Water from gammam 10 feet deep, plentifuland good. This village is in about 10° 10′ and 30° 10′ E. |
| Tibn | 13 | 115 | There is no defined track west of this,but hunting parties frequently go to El Tame. Passed over opencountry; cotton soil, rather rough going. Passed the Debba of Tibnlying ¼ mile to right just before entering a track of park land;heglig trees. |
| Tibn was the most outlying of the Dinkavillages, but had been deserted since the beginning of the Mahdia.Water used to be stored in hafirs, but now none. | |||
| A second debba was seen about four milesfurther W. | |||
| El Tame | 10 | 125 | Heglig trees last for eight miles, andcotton soil is bad. El Tame is a marshy lake, or rather two largepools in a khor, which, however, does not appear to connect toanything. |
| Water is plentiful, but muddy and fouledby game. There are no trees or anything to mark the position of thewater except flocks of birds. Game very abundant, and both Burunsand Dinkas come to hunt. The latter are very much afraid of theBuruns. | |||
| Khor Adar | 15 | 140 | Kept S.W. for 15miles. Cotton soil and fairly good going; country generally openwith a few clumps of heglig. Struck Khor Adar at some feriksbelonging to Sheikh Wal Awal at about the point where CaptainWilson’s reconnaissance ended. This point is about 40 miles dueeast of Kodok. The Dinkas, however, in going to Kodok always followthe Khor Adar to Rengachuk and thence across to the Nile at Mialek,which makes a journey at least 20 miles longer and involves severalcrossings of the Khor Adar. |
| Kodok | 60 (?) | 200 (?) | |
134.—KHOR BOSUK[43], viâ KHOR EINE to GOHA.
By Major G. de H. Smith, February, 1904.
| Place. | Miles. | Description. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter-mediate. | Total. | ||
| Camp (Khor Bosuk) | — | — | |
| Cavalry Camp (Khor Bosuk) | 12 | 12 | The road runs along the foot of the N.slopes of J. Beldoesu; a new road now made along other side ofvalley and along course of stream which is much better going. |
| From Cavalry Camp, where there is a lotof water (running in khor), the road goes up a slope up theShanendo valley, also called Fanishuman (name of old village). Theascent up the valley is easy at first, but afterwards up steepslopes with rocks. Water is met with twice on way up—at one place arunning stream. There is a bad bit of road just at this stream,difficult even to make it safe for horses and mules. For camels theroad would require zigzaging and grading. There are flat places onthe tops of the spurs where halts can be made. | |||
| Khor Eine | 7 | 19 | From top of pass the road goes along theplateau in an easterly direction till Khor Eine is reached, wherethere is a flowing stream, good shade and grazing, and campingground. |
| Camp at Goha | 3 | 22 | From Khor Eine good road round spur leadsinto Goha, about 2 miles before reaching which road branches off toAsosa, going in a southerly direction. The tukls are on the foot ofslope of J. Goha and also all over the top of the hill. J. Goha isa series of broken, rocky hills, and is in reality a spurprojecting from the higher plateau. |
| There is a fair amount of cultivation inpatches in the open valley. There is a running stream at foot ofGoha Hill on N. side, which is fed by many tributaries, most ofwhich contain running water. There is a good camping ground acrossthis stream on low hills facing the lower N. slopes of J. Goha,water and grazing plentiful. Supplies of dura apparently got fromAsosa. There were only about 20 cattle to be seen, and no sign ofany trade going on or Gallabas about. This may be due to thedisturbed state of the country and the roads being closed. | |||
| (Note.—Asmall party of cavalry marched along this road at the rate of 3 to4 miles per hour.) | |||
135.—GOHA, viâ K. BARSU to BOSUK.
By Major G. de H. Smith, February, 1904.