SUA KIN— SINKAT— TOKAR. 



263 



Fig. 83. — Berber. 

 Scale 1 : 82,000. 



which all the produce of Upper Sudan will be exported, and the Nile will be the 

 commercial affluent of the Red Sea. 



The two caravan routes between Suakin and Berber traverse vast sandy tracts 

 where the water in the wells is brackish. The route lies over granite and porphyry- 

 heights, crossed by the pass of Haratri, the water-parting between the Nile basin 

 and that of the Red Sea, standing at a 

 height of 3,000 feet, between mountains 

 rising to twice that elevation. Before 

 the war 20,000 camels, laden with gum, 

 annually crossed the desert between the 

 two towns, which will probably soon be 

 connected by rail. 



Suakin — Sinkat — Tokar. 



Suakin, or Sawakin, is the safest port 

 on the Red Sea coast, and resembles that 

 of Massawah in its geographical posi- 

 tion. The riverain zone of coral banks 

 is pierced by a winding channel which 

 penetrates over 2 miles inland, termi- 

 nating in an oval- shaped basin about 

 1 mile from north to south. To the 

 west are sand-banks which contract the 

 sheet of water, and are continued by 

 shallows overgrown with reeds. Two 

 round islands, partially fringed with 

 rocks, exceed the level of the basin by 

 several feet. One of these islands, that 

 of Sheikh Abdallah, is used exclusively 

 as a cemetery ; the other, farther south, 

 comprises the town of Suakin, properly 

 so-called. The chief port lies between 

 these two islands, but vessels of the 

 heaviest tonnage can also anchor north 

 of the island of Sheikh Abdallah ; in 

 this species of lake, which seems to be 

 surrounded by land on all sides, vessels 

 are perfectly safe from the winds and surf. The port, opened in the midst of a 

 beach rendered very dangerous by the multitude of reefs, is well " worthy the name 

 of the " harbour of the protecting gods," which many authors believe to have been 

 given it during the time of the Ptolemies. 



Before the warlike events which have procured for Suakin a name famous in 

 contemporary history, the annual movement of the shipping was about 12 steamers 



2,200 Yards. 



