SENNAAR is a country situated in the north-eastern parts of Africa, on the banks of the Nile, and at the junction of its two great branches, the Bahr-el-Azrek (Blue River) and the Bahr-el-Abiad (White River). It was formerly an independent state, and one of the most powerful iu that part of Africa; but it now constitutes a part of the Egyptian province called Bel6d-es-Sudan (or country of the blacks). This province comprehends all the countries which lie on both sides of the Nile south of Wadi Halfah, or the second cataract (near 22° N. let.), with the exception of Abyssinia, and consequently comprises those countries which are knowp by the collective name of Nubia and Sennaar, to which must be added Kordofan. The most important part of Beled-es-S6dan is Sennaar, and the seat of the provincial government has been fixed at Khart6m, a town built in modern times at the confluence of the Bahr-el-Abiad and Bahr-el Azrek. The boundary lines of Seunaar are imperfectly known ; and they have varied considerably at different times. The present area is estimated at about 60,000 square miles. On the north is Dar Shendy, a part of Nubia, on the east some wandering tribes, on the eouth-cast Abyssinia, on the south the mountain tribe's of the Nuba, and on the west is Kordofan.
Surface and Soil.—The most fertile portion of this country is that part which lies between the two great branches of the Nile, and is called the Island of .Sennaar. At its southern extremity, between 11° and 12° N. lat., is a mountain region- called Jebel Fungi. This regiou seems to constitute a link of that great chain which appears to traverse Africa in its whole width from east to west, near 10° N. lat., and which is called by Abulfeda and Edriei Jebel-al-Komri, or the Mountains of the Moon. The informa tion collected from the natives assigns to this range rich mines of gold and iron, both of which are worked. This part of Sennaar is a plain, on which only a few isolated hills rise. The greater part of this plain appears to be formed by the alluvial deposit of the rivers.
It is nearly a dead level, and the Bahr-el-Azrek rises during the floods to within two and three feet of the summit of its banks, and the Bahr-el-Abiad in most parts spreads over a large tract of country.
The soil is in general very good, and in some parts of excellent quality, though there are also tracts which are nearly sterile. Dhurra is sown at the end of the rainy season, but in general only so much is grown as is necessary for the maintenance of the populatiou. Tho most northern part of the peninsula has little wood, and is less fertile than the southern. The bottom along the banks of the Bahrol-Azrek is narrow, and similar to that in Egypt, being hardly more than two miles wide on an average. During the inundations it is annually covered with a deposit of rich earth, and ie exceedingly fertile. But the valley of the Bahr-el-Abiad is of a different description. Tho low flat along its banks is of greater extent, generally measuring four miles across, but it is chiefly sandy and sterile, and after tho inunda tion grass springs up, a production nearly unknown in the valley of the Bahr-el-Azrek and Nile. The flat country which lies at the back of these banks of the Bahr-el-Abiad is also inundated to a considerable extent. The woods which cover this tract contain many timbentrees of large size, especially on the western side of the river.
The country west of the Bahr-el-Abiad belongs principally to Kordofan [Konnorari); south of it is a mountain region, whose general appellation seems to be Jebel Nuba, from a nation which inhabits its fastnesses ; this mountain region is said to be rich in gold and iron. The most northern offsets of this region are called Jebel Daf r and Jebel Minmin, and approach within 25 miles of Obeid, the capital of Kordofan. The tribes inhabiting these mountains have not yet been subjected to the away of the Pasha of Egypt, though the level country forms a part of Be16d-es-S6dan. That part of this country which belongs to Sennaar is not equal in fertility to the island of Sennaar, part of the soil being light and too sandy.