CLIMATE— FLOEA— FAUNA. 221 



or hhalah, in which the waters are lost, could hardly be utilised except as a pasture- 

 land. But there are many extensive tracts covered with baobabs, dum palms, 

 tamarinds, and mimosas, whence a gum is obtained known as talc, far inferior 

 to the gums of Kordofan. In Senaar, as in Kordofan and For, on the borders of 

 the reo-ions where water is scarce, the hollow baobab trunks, some of which are 86 

 feet in circumference, are frequently utilised as natural cisterns. They are filled 

 with water during the rainy season, some of the trunks containing a reserve of 

 some 2,800 to 3,000 cubic feet of water ; the natives climb up and draw off the 

 precious liquid from the tree by means of waterskins. In the northern part of 

 Sudan some of the plains are veritable deserts, the sandhills undulating all 

 around, wearing away the base of the rocks. On the route from Berber to Suakin, 

 Abu-Odfa, an isolated granite block, has thus been eaten away all round its base, 

 and sooner or later the heavy rock will snap its slender pedestal and fall on the 

 sand. All the cliffs and rocky slopes of this desert region of Upper Nubia are 

 uniformly covered with a kind of blackish varnish, whose origin is unknown. 

 These gloomy walls impart an aspect to the landscape more forbidding and solemn 

 than that of other regions whose mountains are higher and escarpments more 

 abrupt. 



The forests of the advanced chains, as well as the tall grass of the prairies, in 

 certain spots rising to from 13 to 16 feet after the rainy season, are inhabited by 

 monkeys, lions, leopards, buffaloes, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and elephants. Mostly 

 nomads, the huge pachyderms from one season to another roam over regions of many 

 hundreds of miles in extent. Like the Somali Gadibursi on the other side of the 

 Abyssinian Mountains, the himters of the Hamran tribes, in Taka, attack these 

 enormous animals in the boldest manner. Mounted on swift horses they fly before 

 the elephant ; then, suddenly wheeling round, they spring to the ground behind 

 the animal and hamstring it. The huge beast falls on the ground, and the hunter 

 awaits an opportunity to give the second and usually mortal blow. Since 1859, 

 Taka and the conterminous provinces have been regularly visited by hunters, 

 mainly Italians and Germans, not only for the sake of the ivory, consisting usually 

 of tusks much smaller than those of the Central African elephants, but also to 

 capture wild animals for the European menageries. One of these hunters recently 

 brought to the port of Hamburg thirty-three giraffes, ten elephants, eight 

 rhinoceroses, four lions, and several other animals of less value. At the time of 

 •the long siege which the Egyptian garrison had to sustain in Kassala, during the 

 years 1884-85, their provisions were drawn largely from parks of wild animals. 

 The Bejas and Abyssinians also hunt the large animals on the borderlands of their 

 respective territories, but when they meet they turn from the pursuit of the quarry 

 and attack each other as hereditary enemies. The poisonous doboan, or surreta fly, 

 swarms in the valley of the Mareb. Its bite, although it does not affect the wild 

 fauna, kills camels, donkeys, oxen, and other domestic animals in a few weeks. 

 Hmiting is therefore a dangerous pursuit in these infested regions, where the men 

 have to penetrate on foot into the gorges or high grass. The origin of this fly is 

 unknown ; it may be either the Central African tsetse or the tzatzalia, which Bruce 



