PHYSICAL FEATURES. xix 
Abyssinian highlands by the valley of the Baraka and by other wadis. Jebel Erbab, 
about 1547 metres in height, is the highest peak in the immediate neighbourhood of 
Suakin, but, a little to the north, Jebel Kerib, behind Durrur, rises to about 1654 metres 
above the level of the sea. Still greater heights occur in the Erba group further north, 
where, according to Mr. Bent l , who visited these mountains, in 1896, accompanied by 
Mrs. Bent and Mr. A. J. Cholmley, one peak, which he calls Nabidua, attains to an 
elevation of 22S6 metres. From this group of mountains a long ridge of crystalline 
rocks extends to the west, and is met with at Jebel Shikr on the route from Abu 
Hamed to Darawi. 
Mr. A. B. Wylde 2 describes the coast-line from Suakin to Rawai as presenting a 
wonderful sameness. Stretches of flat country or miniature plains divide the different 
khors, in the vicinity of which the land is more irregular, and more vegetation is 
met with, chiefly acacias, tamarisks, aloes, camel-thorn, aud other desert trees. When 
he visited the tehama at Rawai he found it covered with acacias in full flower, and 
with fresh green grass ; larks and other birds were singing, and butterflies and bees 
were hovering over and settling on flowers. One of the valleys of the Erba group 
visited by Mr. Wylde was shut in between two high mountain-ridges, and as he 
followed it up vegetation improved, and the rocks here and there were festooned 
with ferns. He says the western side of the group, southwards to the Amarara 
Asorterba, must be covered with plenty of vegetation and pasturage. The rain that 
falls on this group of mountains and along the range as far south as the commencement 
of the Suakin mountains is carried off on the western side apparently by two extensive 
systems of khors. The larger, known as the Wadi Amur, is described as an oasis in 
some parts of its course, and it appears to reach the Nile at Abu Hamed. The exact 
course of the second, the Wadi Hayet, is unknown. The relations also of the Erba 
group of mountains to the plateau of the Nubian desert have yet to be ascertained. 
Mr. Bent's excursion, above referred to, was made in the month of February from the 
small port of Mohamed Ghul. He first directed his steps to the valley system on the 
north of the Erba group (Introd. Pis. I. & II. ), and to reach it his way lay through wadis 
between low barren mountains and dry river-beds studded here and there with acacia- 
trees, other watercourses being filled with sand. Ascending and traversing a narrow 
pass he reached a plateau about 610 metres above the sea, and, beyond, entered a valley 
in which there was a small pond of water visited nightly by partridges, pigeons, and 
sand-grouse, the bottom of the valley being sparsely supplied with vegetation, seemingly 
only resorted to by gazelles. In a neighbouring valley, Wadi Gabait (Introd. PI. I.), 
an old mining district, the senna-plant was growing in such abundance that the leaf- 
gathering of this drug is one of the industries of the Arabs. Mr. Bent then entered 
desert valleys in which everything was dried up, the tufts of grass being as black as if 
1 Geogr. JourD., Oct. 1896, p. 335. * '83 and '87 in the Sudan. 1888. 
d 
