The peninsula between the Bahr-el-Azrek and the Atbara, or Asta bores of the ancients, the largest of its confluents, is also a flat country. The plain extends southward to the country of the Shangallas, which belongs to Abyssinia, where it terminates at the mountain region of Habesh. In this plain are several isolated mountains which are the retreat of the nomadic tribes of the Shukeriebs and Bisharies, who cannot be dislodged from them, and wander about in the plains with their herds as long as they fiud pasture, retiring towards the end of the dry season to the uncultivated banks of the Atbara, where they still find grass when the vegetation of the plain has withered, and where they wait for the setting in of the rains. In general the soil of the plain is tolerably good, and after the rains will produce dhurra. The Shukerieh Arabs also cultivate some patches.
Rirm—The more important rivers, the Bahr-el-Azrek and Bahrel Abiad, with their chief tributaries, are mentioned under Nits.
Climate.—In spring the thermometer at noon rises to 100' and 11S'; but it is said that it attains a greeter height about the summer solstice.
The regular rainy season generally begins in the middle of 31ay, or the beginning of June, and continues to the end of September. But some rains occur even in the beginning of April, which are generally attended by hard gales from the north or north-east. Before the rains regularly set in, two or three times in the spring hurricanes occur. The wind comes from the south-east. After blowing tremendously for ten or twenty minutes, the atmosphere assumes a blood-red colour, which is soon succeeded by total darkness, which lasts about a quarter of an hour. The hurricane usually subsides at the end of two boars from its commencement ; but the air is loaded with sand for two or three days afterwards.
Prod ski ioni.—The grain most cultivated is dhurra, or millet, and it is an article of great inland trade. Wheat is also cultivated. The cultivation of the sugar-cane seems to be confined to a few places. In the kitchen-gardens there are grown onions, red-pepper, bahmiyeh, a mucilaginous vegetable, chick-peas, kidney-beans, cucumbers, and some plaota which are not found in Europe ; cotton and tobacco are grown as objects of commerce ; near the town of Sommer there are lemon trees. The timber on the banks of Bahr-el-Abiad is used for boat.
building. The boats are built of acacia. In the desert between Sennser and Kordofan there is a thorny shrub, called askanit, the fruit of which is used as food. The fruit of the allob6-tree is considered a dainty, and constitutes an article of trade. The fruits of the monkey
bread (Adansossia digdata), the doum-tree, and nebeck-tree are consi dered as very good.
Horses are more numerous in Sennaar than in the countries farther north on the banks of the Nile. The chief wealth of the numerous nomadic tribes which inhabit the uncultivated districts of the country, consists in their camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. The camel* are killed for food. The cattle are of good size. The sheep and goats are without wool or hair. Fowls are plentiful in some places. Wild animals are very numerous. The elephant is found as far north as 14' 30' N. lat., and in some parts in great numbers. The giraffe is abundant in Atbara. The animals whose flesh is used as food, and which are very plentiful, are mountain-goats, antelopes, wild cattle, wild asses, and hares. There are several kinds of hysmaa and monkeys.
The rivers are inhabited by the hippopotamus and the crocodile. From the skin of the hippopotarnna Whips are made, which are a consider able article of trade. The flesh of the crocodile is eaten. Birds are numerous. Water-fowl are plentiful on the banks of the Bahr-el Abiad. Ostriches are abundant In the desert, especially in that tract which separates Sennaar from Kordofan; their feathers are a consider able article of trade. Wild Guinea-fowls are numerous. An immense quantity of honey is collected in these countries, especially on the islands of the Bahr-el-Abiad, and it is a considerable article of trade.
Gold and iron exist in the Jebel Fungi, and iron is also found in the desert which divides &unser from Kordofan. There are some salt works on the Bahr-el-Abiad, but most of the salt used in Sennaar by the rich is brought from I3oeydha in Nubia. The poor use a brine as a substitute, which they procure by dissolving in hot water Inmps of a reddish-coloured saline earth, which they obtain from the nomadic" tribes of the Atbara.
laabitants.—The inhabitants of Serener are either free cultivators or mooched.' The latter are a peculiar race ; they are descendants of slave; who from generation to generation live at large, and pay their masters monthly a part of their gains. If the slaves of two masters marry, their children become the joint property of their masters. In appearance there is no difference between the slaves and the free population. The slaves have usually a darker complexion, but some of them are light-coloured and handsome. The language spoken by the natives is the Arabic.