1. Desert District 



The Libyan and Nubian Deserts receive from zero to two inches 

 of unequaUy distributed rainfall annually. The southern margin of 

 this District west of the Nile is about 16°N. Towards the Nile and 

 eastwards, this margin swings gradually northward from a point inu 

 mediately south of Dajner to just north of Port Sudan. Except for 

 the Nile area, vegetation in these areas is confined to a few da. 

 pressions and rare watercourses harboring some runoff moisture. 

 Almost no woody plants occur. Towards the southern boundaries, 

 on broadly undulating plains of loose red sand, a very few clumps 

 of plants exist and towards the Nile scant stands of samr acacias 

 appear. In the stark, rocky mountain masses of Kassala Province 

 slight vegetation persists in valleys. 



In the Nile Valley there are a greater variety of plants, 

 especially date and dompalms, and some shrubs, herbs, and grasses, 

 besides four species of acacia trees. Cultivation of the seluka 

 type, confined to Nile basin areas, utilizes silt deposited by 

 Nile floods. Some waterwheels, saqiyas, are used. Even this 

 will disappear with the advent of the lake behind the proposed 

 High Dam just south of Aswan in Egypt. 



2. Acacia Desert Scrub District 



This and the following semidesert areas are nowhere so rich 

 as semidesert in the American sense of the word. The Acacia 

 Desert Scrub District extends as a sandy, rocky two hundred mile 

 wide belt, sometimes rolling and with dunes, bordering the northu 

 ern desert area. Two to twelve inches of annual rainfall is dis- 

 tributed through the four winter months. Many areas are entirely 

 treeless; where vegetation does occur Acacia trees and some shrubs, 

 or a few shrubs, short grasses, and no trees are found. A slight- 

 ly greater variety of trees exist near the Nile. The Red Sea 

 Hills at the eastern periphery of this District support a separate 

 flora characterized by the dragon's blood tree and various drought- 

 resistant herbs. Here, too, valleys and plains contain dompalms 

 and samr acacia trees. The seacoast supports a separate flora, 

 among which mangrove is noteworthy. 



- 837 _ 



