COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 

 CLIMATE. 



117 



The climate of the Sudan is generally a dry desert climate, 

 considerably hotter than that of Upper Egypt, and in the south it 

 is tropical. The mean annual temperature in Khartoum reaches 

 28'6 C., in January 22'7 C, in June 34*5, and it frequently rises 

 above 45 during the afternoon. For the year 1904 the following 

 temperatures were given for : 



Cool north winds blow from October to March. North of the 

 line of latitude of Shendi (17) the climate is always dry, whilst to 

 the south of this zone one enters the district of tropical rainy seasons, 

 which fall from July to October, reaching their maximum in August ; 

 they increase the further we go in a southern direction, especially 

 towards Abyssinia, causing the climate to be moist for about three 

 months, whilst during the remainder of the year it remains dry. 

 Between Shendi and Khartoum the rainfall is local and irregular, 

 which consequently renders only the cultivation of quickly-maturing 

 grain crops, such as Durra (Sorghum) and Duchn (Pennisetum) 

 possible; south of Khartoum, however, the rainfall increases pretty 

 uniformly, and to south of Wad Medani, the capital of the Blue Nile 

 province, the rainfall becomes so abundant and regular that the natives 

 grow, between here and up to about latitude 13 north, rich crops of 

 the varieties of millet, and also of Indian corn, sesame, ground nuts, 

 and cotton, all as rain cultivation. During the rainfalls, which occur 

 mostly in the form of thunder showers, the thermometer falls in some 

 places to zero, and the low-lying river beds become changed into 

 malarial swamps. The annual rainfall amounts to 150 cm. in the 

 neighbourhood of the Victoria and Albert Lakes and in the Abyssi- 

 nian Highlands, 100 cm. in the eastern portion of the Bahr-el-Ghasal 

 district and in the middle course of the Sobat and Atbara, 50 cm. 

 in the western portion of the Bahr-el-Ghasal, but does not exceed 

 25 cm. in the lower reaches of the White and Blue Nile, as well as of 

 the Atbara, and the entire tract north of Shendi receives such a 

 scanty supply of rain that it may be regarded as almost rainless. 



The following rain measurements are given for the years 1906/11 

 In the cotton districts, the quantity varying very considerably for 

 individual years, viz. : Khartoum, 87 to 232 ; Kassala, 290 to 388 ; 

 Wad Medani, 307 to 508 ; Senaar, 324 to 619 ; Singa, 480 to 677 mm. 

 To-day there are meteorological stations erected in 13 principal 

 places of the Sudan, 



WATER SUPPLY. 



In the Sudan also the possibility of culture depends in the first 

 place upon the question of water supply. But in the Sudan, the very 

 life does not depend only on the Nile the same as in Egypt, 

 for, leaving the other watercourses and springs out of 

 account, the annual rainfall and the duration of the rainy season 



