THE GUMU, BERTA, AND LEGA MOUNTAINS. 219 



The Berta Mountains, followed by those of the Lega, whose highest tulu or 

 summits exceed 10,000 feet, although their mean height is said to be scarcely 5,000 

 feet, stretch southwards towards the sources of the Sobat affluents, rejoining the 

 Kaifa plateau by intermediary ranges which have not yet been explored by 

 European travellers. But to the north the heights gradually lessen ; the inter- 

 mediary plains broaden out and unite, and the ranges are merely indicated by 

 isolated rocks cropping out above the lowlands in continually decreasing numbers. 

 West of the Fazogl country one of these isolated heights, the lofty Jebel-Tabi, 

 partly covered with forests, attains a height of over 4,330 feet. Still farther on 

 the red granite cone of Jebel-Guleh, that is to say, " Mount of Woods," or " Mount 

 of Grhouls," according to Marno, which the Funj designate as the cradle of their 

 race, attains a height of 2,820 feet. Still more to the west is a chain of rocks in 

 the midst of the steppes which border the right bank of the White Nile, The 

 highest is that of Defafang, which was till recently an ethnical limit between the 

 country of the Denka Negroes and that of the Abu-Rof Arabs. The two riverain 

 zones of the White and Blue Nile, on each side of the Mesopotamia of Senaar, are 

 extremely fertile, thanks to the rainfall and the alluvia brought down by these 

 rivers. But the intermediary region, which forms the base of the scattered rocks, 

 presents in many places the appearance of a steppe. The land is covered with tall 

 grasses, from the midst of which spring mimosas with their slight and delicate 

 foliage. The populations, sedentary on the river bank, are nearly all nomad in the 

 grassy plains surrounding the mountains of the peninsula. 



East of the lower valley of the Blue Nile the plains are analogous in character. 

 Wooded and fertile along the river banks, they become bleak and barren away from 

 the watercourses. In the level region of Gedaref, between the Rahad and the 

 Atbara, trees are rarely seen. The most remarkable of the isolated masses 

 scattered amongst the steppes east of the Blue Nile is that of Abu-Ramleh, or 

 " Father of the Sands," scarcely 1,660 feet high, but flanked by superb towers 

 piled up in enormous masses. From the interstices of these rocks spring baobabs, 

 their branches waving over the abyss, whilst here and there some hut, to which 

 distance gives the appearance of a bee-hive, nestles between the cliffs at the base of 

 the gigantic tower. In the northern steppe, Jebel-Arang, the most advanced 

 mountain, which attains an absolute height of but 2,000 feet not far from the right 

 bank of the lower Rahad, is mainly covered by forests containing baobabs, which 

 here reach their northern limit. On the eastern side the Jebel-Arang is followed 

 by the Jebel- Abash ; then to the south the plain is studded with other heights, 

 solitary or grouped, some of granite but nearly all of volcanic origin ; some are 

 even topped by basalt columns affecting the divers forms of peristyles, pyres, or 

 diverging facets. These heights in the midst of the steppes receive considerably 

 more rain than the plains, and the water running rapidly over the slopes is absorbed 

 by the sand and gravel surrounding the rocky escarpment. In order to obtain 

 water during the dry season, the natives pierce the earth at the mouth of the 

 ravines, and the pools thus formed, usually surrounded by trees, are named kharif 

 from the rainy season which fills them. In the dried-up river beds the crocodiles 



