Chapter XXXVII: Section 2: Wadi El Gab (kab)

_The Northern Branch of the Wadi El Gab._

(_By Major A. E. Turner, R.A., December_, 1884.)

The northern branch of the Wadi El Gab extends from Hannek to the village of Sawāni, 20 miles due west of El Ordi, or Kasr Dongola.

It is a flat tract mostly sandy, but there are many stony plains and occasional rocky hills, as well as plains where salt and lime crop to the surface. The natives collect the salt, and carry it to the villages on the Nile, where they barter it for grain, etc. There are many wells, and round these wells the straw-built huts are congregated, forming villages; there are numerous, and some very fine, palms, both dom and date, near the wells, and these in some places mark the site of deserted villages, where the wells have dried up.

The people at the present time (1884) have very few camels,[133] except milch and young. They have sold a great many, and a good many are employed by contract between Dongola and Sarras on the west bank.

The villages are all built near the wells, and in deep reddish sand.

There is no ground for cultivation whatever, and hardly any grass (halfa or other); the trees are palms, acacias (the latter very fine and old).

[Sidenote: Lagia.]

[Sidenote: Abu Naama.]

[Sidenote: El Mungur.]

Leaving Hafir and the Nile, the road leads S.S.W., crossing a plain covered with stones and shingle, with scanty mimosa shrubs; at 9 miles a low ridge is mounted, and the Wadi El Gab is visible with the village of Lagia and its palms 5 miles distant. At 13½ miles, the ruins of three old buildings are met, one on the west, two on the south side of the road; one of the latter is a ruined convent or monastery, and its cells are visible. Many of the palms are burnt, having been destroyed by their owners who went to join the Mahdia. 4 miles S.S.W. is the village of Abu Naama. Seven miles south-west the village of El Mungur, which has two good wells.

[Sidenote: Abu Baguga.]

[Sidenote: Abu Halfa.]

Two miles south-west of El Mungur is the well and village of Abu Baguga, and 1 mile south-west of it that of Abu Halfa.

[Sidenote: Sarari, Dukur, deserted.]

[Sidenote: Ain El Bir, deserted.]

[Sidenote: Mount El Kwais.]

After going 2 miles S.S.W., the road goes W.S.W., and a ¾ mile further lies, on the east of the road, the village of Sarari, now deserted, and that of Dukur on the west, also deserted. At 3 miles further, the deserted village of Ain El Bir, a mile from the road on our left (east), and just beyond it a solitary rocky hill called El Kwais.

[Sidenote: Goz El Fugar.]

[Sidenote: Bayuda.]

At 9 miles the road mounts a ridge, and then descends into a sort of circular basin about 1 mile in diameter, surrounded by low hills. On leaving this at 10 miles, I saw the village of Goz El Fugar 1 mile to the left (east), and ¾ mile further I arrived at the village of Bayuda, on a sandy hill, with numerous palms; a considerable village.

[Sidenote: El Gumra.]

[Sidenote: Zalia.]

[Sidenote: El Kurmotai.]

After leaving Bayuda, the road goes south by east; at 1 mile on the right (west) lies the village of El Gumra, and 2 miles further, also on the west side, that of Zalia; at 7½ miles a large expanse, covered with palms and acacias, with two good wells, is reached, called El Kurmotai. From this the road goes south-east for 1½ miles to the village of Sawāni, the sheikh’s own village and chief village of the Wadi Gab. Some of the huts are built of mud, but mostly of straw.

[Sidenote: Sawāni.]

Sawāni is a very picturesque village with a large open space on the south side, bounded on three sides by trees, and on the fourth side lies the village.

[Sidenote: Um Hellal (1).]

[Sidenote: Um Hellal (2).]

The road to Dongola is due east; after 2 miles a low range of hills is crossed, at the east foot of which lies the small village of Um Hellal, at ½ mile further, a flat plain with much lime; at 4½ miles (2 miles further), another village, called also Um Hellal, on the north side, and 1 mile from the road is passed; a mile further, rocky ground is reached, which gradually rises, and 1 mile further the Wadi Gab ceases, and the road goes over bare, rocky, and broken ground to Dongola. The latter is 26 miles from Sawāni.

[Sidenote: Wells.]

The wells are very good, the water is, as a rule, near the surface, and the wells are lined with stone; the depth of water did not appear to be more than a few feet.

The sheikh told me that there is no settlement of his branch of the Kababish tribe south of Khandak, and that all is desert between that end of his valley (wadi) near Khandak to within a day’s march of Debba.

----------------+-------------+--------------------------------------
|Distance in |
| miles. |
Names of places.+-------------+ Description.
|Intermediate.|
----------------+-------------+--------------------------------------
Hafir | |On the Nile.
| |
| |The road is in a S.S.W. direction,
| |and is over a plain mostly covered
| |with shingle and a few mimosa shrubs.
| |At 9 miles, a ridge is mounted,
| |whence the Wadi El Gab is visible. At
| |12 miles, the valley is reached; and
Lagia | 14 |at 14, the village of Lagia.
| |
El Mungur | 7 |The road is S.E. for 7 miles to El
| |Mungur.
| |
Bayuda | 10¾ |The road goes S.S.W. for 2 miles; the
| |rest of the way W.S.W.
| |
Sawāni | 9 |The road goes 7½ miles S. by E., then
| |S.E.
| |
Dongola | 26 |The road due E into Dongola.
+-------------+
Total | 66¾ |
----------------+-------------+--------------------------------------

WADI EL GAB.

(_By Col. Colvile, Grenadier Guards, October_, 1884.)

The Wadi El Gab is a sandy khor about 63 miles in length, running through the trough of a broader and rocky valley. Its general direction is north-west and south-west. It is inhabited by the Omatto section of the Kababish tribe, of which Sheikh Fadl Mula Wad Rekha is the chief. Its most southerly well is Marghum, 30 miles to the west of Khandak, and its most northerly is said to be 20 miles west of Hafir. Its only productions are wood and dates, both of which are plentiful. Its inhabitants do not appear to own any great number of camels; those to be seen at the various settlements being mostly milch nagas and their foals. Goats, which feed on the mimosa, are plentiful.

On leaving the Nile at Bakri the road at first crosses a flat sandy desert, destitute of vegetation; but after 7 miles a district is reached, thickly studded with low mimosa bushes. In the district are several Arab encampments, some of them as much as 4 hours’ journey from the nearest water. Fifteen miles from Bakri the country becomes more undulating, and the surface covered with firm gravel; and 10 miles further on, a range of hills running north and south is reached. Passing through a break in this range, the road follows for 3 miles a valley running nearly at right angles to the main one, and then strikes the track running down the Gab to the Abu Gussi-Kordofan road. Passing down a sandy valley, dotted with sand dunes, and sparsely studded with low mimosa scrub, the most southerly well, Bir Marghum, is reached, 7 miles north of the point where the valley first entered. The well is stone-lined, and the water is 20 feet below the surface and 4 feet deep. It is said that the well never runs dry; the water is good. For the next 6 miles the country continues to be scantily covered with low mimosa scrub; Bir El Ain is then reached, and the valley becomes more thickly and heavily wooded, and continues to be studded with fine acacia timber to El Sawani. Between El Ain and El Sawani are the following six wells:—

Abu Haweid. El Hudden.

El Bab. Bayuda.

El Harma. El Huffera.

They are all lined with stone, and about 4 feet of good water is found in each of them at from 3 to 4 feet below the surface. Nine miles beyond El Huffera, El Sawani, the chief settlement of this section of the Kababish, is reached. It contains many native huts and four mud dwellings. This well, like all the others (with the exception of El Marghum) is marked by a clump of palms.

The road to El Ordi, after skirting the valley for a few miles in a north-east direction, turns to the east and crosses 10 miles of broken rocky ground and low ridges. A tract of undulating ground is then reached, which extends to El Ordi. With the exception of small patches of acacia in some of the valleys, this district is wholly devoid of vegetation; it is uninhabited.

WADI EL GAB.

(_By Colonel A. Hunter, C.B., D.S.O., November_, 1896.)

The Gab does not realise expectation, nor fulfil the descriptions given of it. The hand and sand of destruction is everywhere visible. The wind, blowing prevalently north or north-west, rolls the sand along, the sand catches in the tamarisk bushes, in the roots and undergrowth of the palms, date and dom, till it piles over the bushes, and reaches towards the top of the palms or smothers them. The whole place has the appearance of a forest after a heavy storm: trees lying prone in all directions, but no effort is made at replanting or replacing. A few seedlings struggle into existence now and then. The sand moves on, leaving the palms crippled or dead. I have heard so much of the vegetation and grazing, and date trees, verdure, luxuriance, etc., of the Wadi El Gab—it never existed. Ruthless, and judging by events, not altogether unavoidable, neglect, has diminished the little there ever was. We know it carried a large head of camels, goats, and sheep, at least so it was supposed; but, barring goats and a few donkeys, the herds of the Kababish had to roam “for forty days in the wilderness” towards Darfur and Kordofan, and northwards to abreast Mahass and Sukkot, for their food. Water is found at from 12 to 20 feet below the surface; the Gab averages about 5 miles in breadth, patches of grass and thorn bush crop up at intervals, separated by rolling hills of rock and sand. Round the wells there are the miserable straw huts and mud houses of the tribesmen, with here and there groves of palms; no game to speak of. Gazelle exist in small numbers, and are very afraid of mankind. This is accounted for by the fact that the Arabs trap them, and hunt them with dogs, a breed of yellow greyhound. The trap is a round hoop, with thin strips of wood tied to the circumference, and the points of the strips meet at the centre, laid so that the strips make a slight cone, like the top of a basket. The gazelle browse on the thorn bushes; close to the bush the Arab puts the trap in a little hollow in the sand, cone downwards, places on the rim of the trap a running noose, to the other end of which is fastened a billet of wood. The whole is covered over with sand. The gazelle comes to feed off the sprouts of the bush; puts his foot into the noose; his foot slides through the apex of the spines of split wood; he kicks to free his foot, and so the noose tightens on his leg, and there he is, with a rope tied to his leg; he cannot kick off the rope, for the billet of wood drags the knot tight, and the trap prevents it slipping down, and the Arab then appears with his dogs, and chases the animal down.

Twelve miles west of Shemsi is Wadi El Butta, very much like the Gab in appearance. Addax and wild sheep are said occasionally to come here in summer. Water is near the surface, and is got by the animals by scraping. A curious feature is the occurrence over the whole face of the desert of patches of succulent plants and grasses which serve as food for camels and for goats.

Sawani to Bayuda, 9 miles. El Bab to Haweiya, 9½ miles.

At Haweiya, or Haweid, a number of wells, also at El Bab. They are part and parcel of one place.

Rode to El Marghum, the post occupied by the old Sheb post. I asked about these wells in the Gab, and got always the same answer. Those existing were dug by their ancestors, so long ago no one remembers, and ever since no one has been to the trouble to dig or explore for anything fresh. Well here deep, 18 or 20 feet, and stone faced.

THE WADI EL GAB.

(_Sir W. Garstin G.C.M.G., April_, 1897.)

No account of the Dongola province would be complete without some mention of this great depression which extends through the Western Desert from Hafir to Debba, a distance of some 125 miles. It is chiefly inhabited by the Kababish tribe of Arabs, who use it for grazing their flocks; and it contains numerous wells.

It has been thought that this depression might possibly be utilised as a storage reservoir or as a means for escaping the surplus water in an excessive flood. It is very doubtful whether it could thus be made use of. The wadi appears really to come to an end a few miles north of Hafir, and the nearest point to the river to be at a distance of some 10 miles.

The lowest portions of the Wadi El Gab must be considerably lower than the level of the river in flood, but by how much it is impossible, without levels, to say.

On leaving the Nile, in the direction of this valley, the country rises rapidly for some 4 miles. It then begins to fall away from the river, in a succession of terraces, until a total of about 10 miles have been traversed. The real edge of the wadi then commences. Its width at the northern end appears to be about 5 miles. The western edge is filled up with drift sand, which is gradually covering the palm trees. A well, measured at the Oasis of Lagia, showed the water level to be some 9 feet below the ground surface. The water was sweet and of good quality.

It would be useful to have the whole of this depression carefully levelled and surveyed. The area covered by it is very large, and supposing it were possible to fill it with water, the loss from evaporation would certainly be very great.