xvin INTRODUCTION. 
fauna of the Suakin range. From Sinkat a descent is made through a defile in parts 
closed in by mountains, and sometimes so narrow in its bed that there is only space 
for the water to precipitate itself when the gorge is in flood. Below, the route 
debouches on the littoral plain of Suakin at Otao. 
The town of Suakin, in lat. 19° 17' N., and long. 37° 20' E., purchased by Egypt 
from Turkey in 1865, is situated on the seaward face of an extensive plain backed to 
the west by the Erkowit and Sinkat mountains. In its geographical position it 
resembles Massowah. The coral-reef is traversed by a long, narrow, deep channel, 
a feature more or less characteristic of all the coast-line where khors debouch into the 
sea. According to Dr. Klunzinger, the fresh water which is transmitted along them 
proves destructive to the coral polypes, so that wherever fresh water flows to the sea 
it keeps open a clear passage through the reef. The sahil, tehama, or maritime 
sandy plain has a gentle upward slope towards the base of the hills for a distance 
of 13 to 20 kilom. It is more or less undulating throughout, due chiefly to the fact 
that it is traversed at intervals by broad shallow lines of drainage from the mountains, 
along and in which vegetation is usually richer than on the intervening portions ; 
but the plain as a whole is here and there covered with acacias and with tabbes- 
grass, the favourite fodder of the flocks, and by numerous other desert shrubs and 
plants which have been indicated by Professor Schweinfurth. The country about 
Suakin itself is tolerably open for miles to the west and north, but to the south-west, 
in the direction of Tamai, and near the base of the hills, there is a belt of thick 
undergrowth which extends as far as Tokar. The acacia-scrub occurs in dense patches, 
in places rising to 2 or 3 metres in height, with intervening areas of grass and small 
shrubs. At Tokar, situated on the open plain close to the debouchment of the Baraka, 
and about 80 kilom. to the south of Suakin, the plain is covered by a thick layer of 
alluvium brought down the Khor Baraka after the periodical rains have fallen, and on 
it either dhurra or other crops are grown. The only other delta in any way com- 
parable to this one, along the coast-line to the north, appears to be the small delta at 
Marsa Durrur. Numerous herds of camels, goats, and sheep are grazed on this 
maritime plain by their Arab owners. It is occasionally visited by ostriches from the 
savannah country to the west. Rhinoceroses have been seen on it, and a species 
of wild ass (i Equus africanus) is well known in the neighbourhood of Tokar, where 
a mountain bears its name. The usual tenants of the tehama and its slopes are the 
following animals: — Erinaceus wt/riopicus, Hyama crocuta, II. striata, Proteles cristatus, 
Cards variegatus, C. famelicus, C. pallidus, Felis maniculata, F. caracal, F. serval, 
Mellivora capensis, Ictonyx zorilla, also Psammomys olesus, Gerbillus pyramidum, 
Isomys variegatus, Hystrix cristata, Gazella isabella, G. scemmerrivgi, and members 
of the genera Genetta, Herpestes, Lepus, Xerus, and Acomys, with a diversity of 
reptiles to be mentioned hereafter. 
The mountain-range running north from Suakin is separated from the spurs of the 
