Chapter XXXVIII: Section 3: “bayuda Desert.”

[Sidenote: General.]

The tract of country north of Kordofan, _i.e._, north of N. lat. 16° (approximately), bounded on the north and east by the Nile and on the west by the Wadi Melh has been called the Bayuda Desert, though this name is not applied to it by the Arabs.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants.]

It is inhabited by nomad Arabs, viz., on the east by the Kababish, chiefly the Omatto section under Sheikh Fadl Mula Wad Rekha; in the centre by the Hawawir, of which the Sauarab is the most important sub-tribe, under Sheikh Hassan Khalifa; and on the east by the Hassania, whose headquarters are at Jebel Gilif and Jakdul. In the extreme north, in the angle formed by the bend of the Nile, are the Monasir, who are, however, a sedentary tribe. These above-mentioned nomads wander a great deal according to the grazing, on the existence or absence of which, in many cases, depends the fact of wells being open or not.

[Sidenote: Cultivation.]

The Arabs cultivate their dura in certain well-known wadis, mostly in the more southern districts, according to the rainfall, which is, as a rule, not heavy, and very local, and varies considerably from year to year.

[Sidenote: Wadi Melh.]

The W. El Melh is a broad shallow depression, frequently a mile or more in width, having its origin near Um Badr. It is inhabited here and there by the Kababish. It reaches the Nile at Debba, though it has long since ceased, if ever, to discharge water into that river. For further description of this wadi, _vide_ Route Report Dongola to El Fasher, Part III. This route is now seldom, if ever, used. _Vide_ also report on El Ein, p. 210.

[Sidenote: Wadi Mogaddam.]

The next wadi of importance in this district is the Wadi Mogaddam which has its origin near Bagbag, about 60 miles south-west of Omdurman, and joins the Nile near Korti after a course of about 200 miles in length. For description of this wadi and the wells, etc., in it, _vide_ Route Report Gabra to Korti, Part III.

[Sidenote: Gabra.]

The wells of Gabra in the Wadi Mogaddam, nearly 60 miles north-west of Omdurman, are an important Arab centre, there being many wells and a good deal of cultivation in the neighbourhood. The Arabs are principally Kababish, but Geriat and Hassania also come here. Gabra is under the Governor of Khartoum, but the boundaries of Dongola, Berber, and Kordofan Provinces are all within a few miles of it.

[Sidenote: Communications.]

Communications throughout this district are bad owing to scarcity of water. The principal trade routes are:—

(1) Debba-Fasher _viâ_ the Wadi Melh (little used).

(2) Debba-El Obeid _viâ_ Amri, Hobagi, and Haraza (used a little during rainy season).

(3) Debba-El Obeid _viâ_ Amri, Elai, and Habisa (longer than (2) but more water).

(4) Debba to Omdurman[134] _viâ_ Inderab, Gumr and Gabra (a good deal used).

(5) Debba to Omdurman _viâ_ Elai and Gabra (little used).

(6) Ambugol and Merowe to Shendi (Metemma) (little used).

(7) Merowe to Berber _viâ_ Sani (a good deal used).

(8) Merowe to Omdurman[134] _viâ_ Hamboti and Wadi Bishara.

(9) Gabra to Korti (little used).

All the above routes except No. 8 are described in the route reports in Vol. II, and from them some idea of the country may be obtained. The traffic along No. (7) will presumably increase considerably on the completion of the Nile-Red Sea Railway.

(_From the Reports of the Surveying Parties employed by
Mr. G. Kilgour and Mr. Fowler, C.E._, 1871-72, _and other Sources._)

[Sidenote: Northern Bayuda Desert.]

The track across the Bayuda Desert, from Ambugol to Shendi, is comparatively easy going, and is fairly well supplied with water; but not being a main trade route, it is little used by caravans.

There are no difficult defiles or passes.

The tract of country traversed consists of extensive plains divided by ranges of low hills. It is very unlike the sterile and rocky deserts further north, and in many places shows abundant signs of vegetation. Wadis, pastures of long coarse grass, and many clusters of trees are met with, whilst, during the rainy season, the ground is susceptible of profitable cultivation in some parts.

This route is just within the limits of the tropical rains. The wet season lasts from May to August, but rain never falls for more than 15 days in any year. Sometimes there is no rain for two consecutive years.

There are no streams, the water sinking into the sand and disappearing within 24 hours after rain has fallen.

During exceptionally hot days small whirlwinds pass in great numbers, and carry across the desert sand and fine debris in columns upwards of 150 feet in height. They have a formidable appearance, but are really almost harmless. A very large one might upset a tent, but this performance represents their maximum effect.

The Bayuda Desert is inhabited merely by wandering Arab tribes, of whom the principal are the Hawawir, Hassania, the Sauarab, the Fadnia, and the Aonia.

They subsist almost entirely by keeping flocks of sheep and goats, and by breeding camels, wandering from spot to spot to the best herbage, at such distance from the wells as enables them to water their animals. They also trap the gazelle—so plentiful in this desert; and after the rains a certain amount of ground is usually cultivated by them, and small crops are obtained.

About 4 miles above Ambugol the wadi (valley or stream course) Abu Gir debouches into the Nile; this wadi takes its rise in the Jebel Gilif about 70 miles from the Nile; water is obtainable from shallow wells along its entire course in its bed; like most of the lower portions of the Bayuda Desert, it is thickly covered with vegetation.

[Sidenote: Vegetation.]

This consists principally of low “samr” bushes (spreading thorny acacia), occasional “sunt” trees (_acacia arabica_, 20 to 25 feet high), the milk plant (_asclepia gigantea_), the “marakh” (a green shrub), the “tundub” (a bush, some 15 feet high,), and “heglig” trees (20 to 25 feet high, and often with a diameter of trunk at 5 feet from the ground of 12 to 15 inches), the “mokert” (_salvadora persica_), and even occasionally the “dom” palm (_hyphæne thebaica_), of which the “dom” palm, the “usher,” and “marakh” are indicative of water close to the surface.

[Sidenote: Firewood.]

Best suited for firewood are the “sunt,” the “samr,” the “tundub,” and the “heglig,” the wood of the latter, I may mention, being used as the base on which the natives twirl a dry piece of “samr” root with the object of producing fire.

[Sidenote: Food for camels.]

Camels devour eagerly the younger branches of the “samr,” the succulent leaves of the marakh (camel thorn) and el gau (camel grass), both of the last-mentioned being plentiful in the Bayuda; indeed, this is a favourite district for breeding and rearing hagins (the lighter and faster class of camels).

[Sidenote: Sheep.]

Sheep, of which large flocks are owned by the Hassania, Aonia, and other wandering Bedawi tribes of the Bayuda, find, during the dry season even, ample food in the grasses of the plains near Jebel Gilif; whilst the fresher shoots of the marakh and tundub, with the juicy leaves of the usher, provide sustenance for the goats.

[Sidenote: Route from Ambugol.]

The readiest route from Ambugol is to strike for the desert close to the town, whence an easy slope, some 2 miles in length, rises to the desert plateau, here some 50 feet above the Nile bank. A shingly level plain is then traversed for about 3 miles, when the Wadi Abu Gir is struck, leading right up to Jebel Gilif, with an ascent of about 10 feet per mile.

The route now skirts the hill Jebel Abu Shenkawi, near to the salt diggings, and passing another clump of hills, Debba El Kebir, joins another camel route from the Nile at a point some 300 miles from Ambugol, where the Wadi Mofokakart debouches into the Wadi Abu Gir.

[Sidenote: First wells.]

This other camel track, after leaving Ambugol, follows the Nile to near Korti, a distance of some 4 miles, then, turning sharply to the right, passes by the Wadi Um Marra, and crossing the ridge of Nasaib El Ruchan, at a point some 300 feet above Ambugol, descends over rather broken ground to the Wadi Abu Gir, and from this point there is but one route. At about 37 miles from Ambugol the first wells are met; these are merely holes scooped in the sand, deepened as the subterranean waters fall, until either the sides fall in, or the whole of the excavations are obliterated by the rush of water down the wadi during the rainy season.

The water is drawn from these, and all similar wells in the Bayuda, by means of a rude skin bag; it is then poured into earth cisterns, on the surface, at which the camels, sheep etc., drink. It is so pure that a small quantity of salt, fairly plentiful in this desert, is mixed with it.

The wadi at this point, about 38 miles from Ambugol, which has hitherto been flat and sandy, with gently sloping sides, becomes much broken. Small metamorphic ridges, hills, and lava-like mounds close in, and petrified wood is strewn in all directions, showing that the belt of metamorphic rock that intervenes between the lower Nubian sandstone and the extensive granite rocks is being traversed.

[Sidenote: El Haweiyat wells.]

[Sidenote: El Mesalima.]

About 55 miles from Ambugol are the wells of El Haweiyat, of similar character to those described above; the plain of El Rechewa is left on the right, and quitting the Wadi Abu Gir, which turns abruptly to the left, the route crosses a curious plain, about 3 to 4 miles wide, called El Mesalima. This plain is surrounded by low hills, and without vegetation; it is intersected by veins of mountain limestone, much resembling marble, and I here found fossil remains of the Saurian type.

Leaving El Mesalima, the route now crosses the plain at the southern foot of the Jebel Gilif, passing across watercourses which, in the rainy season, carry off the drainage from the mountains. These streams issue from wild gorges, and are said to drain extensive plains, 20 or 30 miles distant; a statement corroborated by the fact that they bring with them much brushwood and small timber.

After issuing from the gorges these streams wander at will, cutting constant new channels over an irregular talus of boulders and debris they bring with them; at the foot of this talus, they collect and run down defined sandy channels from 1 to 3 miles long, whose permanent character is proved by their tree-covered banks; these large channels then break up into a number of smaller diverging channels, which lose themselves in a grass-covered plain to the south, fairly covered with trees and brushwood, and about 8 miles across; this plain is said to be covered with water during the rains to a depth of 3 or 4 feet.

[Sidenote: Abu Halfa wells.]

Water may be procured in any of these sandy channels by digging holes as described above; and at Abu Halfa, about 90 miles from Ambugol, are large wells of this description, at which large numbers of camels and flocks are daily watered.

After passing numerous pools of water still standing in basins worn out of the granite bed, the gorge, at a distance of some 7 or 8 miles from the entrance, widened out into a valley about ½ mile across; here there was a small lake, the edges fringed with bulrushes and dom palms, whilst the native huts, flocks, and even birds and conies showed the permanent character of the lake. I heard that many similar lakes exist in the recess of the Jebel Gilif, but the Arabs are extremely reticent on this point.

[Sidenote: Jebel Gilif range.]

[Sidenote: Jakdul wells.]

At about 79 miles from Ambugol the Jebel Gilif range, with its uniform precipitous face, breaks up into outlying spurs with intermediate plains. In one of these spurs, about 2 miles to the north of the route and 100 miles from Ambugol, are situate the wells of Jakdul; these consist of water-worn basins in the bottom of a granite gorge of similar character to those mentioned above. The largest of the pools is some 60 yards long and 10 yards broad, and it is stated never to have run dry.

The water is sweet, but the lower pools are much contaminated by the flocks constantly using them, and the sight of thousands of beetles issuing from the water at dusk is not inviting.

The upper pools, however, are much cleaner, and with care an ample supply of excellent water might be ensured.

No doubt there are many other reservoirs up this gorge as at Abu Halfa.

[Sidenote: El Faar wells.]

To the eastward of the wells of Jakdul, and about 8 miles from the camel track, are the wells of El Faar, consisting of holes dug in a sandy water-channel similar to those of the Wadi Abu Gir.

With Jebel Gilif the granite rocks are left, and the route traverses the upper Nubian sandstone, simple and metamorphic, to the river at Shendi, or rather Metemma.

[Sidenote: 115th to 125th mile.]

Between the 115th and 125th mile the route crosses a belt of drift-sand hills travelling from east to west, these are of the usual type, _i.e._, a crescent presenting its convex side and gentle slope to the wind; up this slope the sand is driven to the apex, whence, falling over and remaining at its natural angle of repose on the concave side, the hill gradually but surely advances, the highest of the sand hills in this locality are about 13 feet high, their rate of progress depending entirely on the strength of the wind; to a camel they are no obstacle as it winds amongst them at will.

[Sidenote: Abu Klea or Tleh wells.]

At 150 miles from Ambugol are the wells of Abu Klea, or strictly speaking Abu Tleh (Tleh equals a particular kind of grass), artificial pits of similar character to those already described; the water is good and rarely fails; they require of course frequent cleaning out.

[Sidenote: Shebakat wells.]

At Shebakat, near the 168th mile, is a large well about 12 feet in diameter, sunk to a depth of 50 feet through the sandstone to a bed of water-bearing gravel; the water is brackish but the supply perennial.

[Sidenote: Metemma.]

At 175 miles from Ambugol, Metemma is reached; the town is about 1 mile from the Nile, but the plain between is occasionally flooded. The water supply is from wells kept up by percolation from the river, and is therefore excellent.

Hence to Khartoum, as stated above, the river is navigable for nearly the entire year, _vide_ Chap. X.

[Sidenote: Rainy season.]

The rainy season in the Bayuda Desert is uncertain, as this is the extreme northern range of the tropical monsoon; there may be showers in May, but the true rains fall in June, July, or August. Some years may pass without any at all, and then a perfect deluge floods the country and refills the pools and wells.

[Sidenote: Water.]

The conformation of the Jebel Gilif is such, that notwithstanding the large amount of water running off during the rains, a considerable quantity is stored at high levels, gradually finding its way into the sand-filled wadis, through permeable granite augites and diorites, of which Jebel Gilif is composed.

[Sidenote: Sinking wells.]

These wadis are crossed at intervals by spurs of trap rock, that serve the double purpose of keeping up the level of the wadi, which would otherwise rapidly degrade, and of affording, so to speak, “artesian” vents, up which the water, confined between the beds of the “Nubian” sandstone below, finds its way into the loose sand above. In sinking wells, spots should be selected where the vegetation in the wadis is of a brighter hue, and where heglig and the dom palm exist. In December, 1871, water was found in many such places, never more than 15 feet below the surface. The trap dyke in the vicinity will provide any quantity of fairly bedded stone with which to line the sandy sides of the well; the way I should suggest, would be, in the first place, to dig through the sand until water be reached, and then to excavate the ground in a circle of say, 24 feet diameter, lining it with a dry stone wall 3 feet in thickness, in this should be built, at intervals, pieces of hard wood, of which there is a large quantity, in order to form a rude ladder; as soon as the water is reached, a Norton’s tube pump should be driven some 6 feet or more; this will prevent the accumulation of insect life, to be found in any open pools in the vicinity, and prevent other pollution; then, when this runs dry, the excavation should be again carried down to the lowering water level, and a well of internal diameter of 14 feet be built with a dry stone wall of say, 2 feet thick (the word in India for this form of well is “butcha”), the Norton tube driven down, and the process repeated as the waters lower. Were it possible to procure lime readily, the well might be sunk from the top, as is so habitually done in India, but the only limestone found in the Bayuda is at the plain of El Mesalima, as mentioned above.

The stone near these wells, and of which as described above, the supply will be practically unlimited, may be used in constructing defensive works, whilst there will be in their neighbourhood large quantities of fuel, and a considerable amount of bush that will serve as fodder for the camels.

A considerable quantity of sheep, milk, etc., may be procured from the neighbouring tribes.

[Sidenote: Jebel Gilif.]

The Jebel Gilif presents a certain source of danger (during the expedition, 1884): this consists of, in places, an almost precipitous face of some hundreds of feet in height, at the foot is an irregular talus formed by the degradation of the face, and by the stones and boulders brought down the “khors” (ravines) with which it is intersected. These “khors” are, in many places, near their debouchure from the mountains, very narrow (in places only one camel can pass at a time), with steeply precipitous sides, the bottom being of granite rock, polished by the materials carried down in the torrents of the rainy season, and in many places half blocked up with boulders and _débris_. As these “khors” rise to the level of the range they widen out into valleys, well supplied with wood, water, forage, etc., where large numbers of men could be kept concealed for a considerable period.

_Report on El Ein._

[Sidenote: Situation.]

El Ein is situated about 130 miles from Debba up the Wadi El Melh. The general trend up the wadi is S.S.W. At El Ein on the western bank, for some 60 miles northwards and a short distance southwards, is a precipitous escarpment of rugged outline, but extremely uniform in height, known as Jebel Makakush. El Ein is a gorge in this, the northern promontory of which is surmounted by a rock of curious shape and is called El Serg.

There are two places where water is obtainable along the route from Debba to El Ein, one called Mahtul about 30 miles from Debba has two wells, and the other is Soteir another 30 miles further on. The latter is the better water, but the quantity is small. On the arrival of the writer the well had been emptied by watering a troop of camels, and his men stated there was not enough water to fill waterskins for from two to three hours. At El Ein there is good and abundant water, while grazing may be found almost anywhere along the Wadi El Melh, but from about 30 miles south of Soteir it lies only along the western side, and is much less abundant than further north.

[Sidenote: Geology.]

The formation at El Ein is a series of undisturbed sedimentary beds lying horizontally, most of which are sandstones or grits. This overlies unconformably a much older series of gneisses and schists which are exposed in the lower parts of the Wadi El Melh along the foot of the Makakush escarpment a few miles north of El Ein.

The sandstone series is continuous all the way to Debba, and extends over very large tracts of the Sudan.

[Sidenote: Mineral deposits.]

There are no indications of any mineral deposits of value at El Ein in any of the beds exposed.

[Sidenote: Old workings.]

At several points, especially along the sides and just above the stream-bed, there are natural caves in the sandstone. For some little distance a very soft underlying bed has been weathered away undermining a harder upper one, the unsupported portions of which have broken off and fallen, or cracked and bent over, leaving open gashes. The general appearance of all this very much resembles that of an ancient shaft nearly filled up with _débris_, though a careful examination leaves no doubt that the phenomena are natural.

[Sidenote: Ancient buildings.]

On either side of the gorge about opposite the well is a cluster of ancient houses, while on a hill some way up the gorge and on the south side are some five more.

The houses are all of similar design approximately round, and are well built, without mortar, of unhewn stone laid in courses; the walls are about 2 feet thick, and many of the stones are of great size. The doorways of most of them face down the valley, but a few are on the opposite side. Many have additional rooms built forming segments of circles.

These buildings are more substantial, and differ in other respects from those usually seen round ancient mines in the Sudan. The only implements noted were two crushing stones; these, however, have not been used for crushing quartz (the matrix in which gold usually lies), being of ordinary millstone and not hard enough for that purpose. They were in all probability only the usual stones for crushing grain.

Across the entrance to the gorge is a wall probably originally 6 to 8 feet high, but now in ruins. It is built of unhewn stones, fairly well coursed, without mortar. The sides are vertical. This runs across the flat space at the entrance to the gorge and a little way up the northern slope. The stream bed lies in a creek some 15 feet below the level of the ground on which the wall stands, and there is no evidence of this waterway ever having been blocked.

In view of this as well as of the general construction of the wall, it is impossible that the structure was a dam, but I should imagine it was probably built for defence, and the gorge was used as a place of refuge against marauding bands by a people whose flocks usually grazed in the valley below.

[Footnote 132: This district is not actually in the Sudan, but owing to its proximity to Halfa, some description of the wells in it is given here.]

[Footnote 133: This remark applies equally now (1903).]

[Footnote 134: Cost of camel transport by this route varies from 55 P.T. to 75 P.T. per kantar.]