The hippopotamus and crocodile abound in the swamp regions,
which also shelter many kinds of water-fowl. The lion, leopard,
giraffe and various kinds of antelope are found in the prairies and
in the open woods. In the forests are numerous bright-plumaged
birds and many species of monkeys, mostly ground monkeys—the
trees being too prickly for climbing. Snakes are also plentiful,
many poisonous kinds being found. In the steppe regions of Kordofan,
Darfur, &c., and in the Nubian Desert ostriches are fairly
plentiful. Insect life is very abundant, especially south of 12° N.,
the northern limit of the tsetse fly. The chief pests are mosquitoes,
termites and the serut, a brown fly about the size of a wasp,
with a sharp stab, which chiefly attacks cattle. Locusts are less
common, but, especially in the eastern districts, occasionally cause
great destruction. For domestic animals see § Agriculture.
Inhabitants.—The population, always sparse in the desert and steppe regions, was never dense even in the more fertile southern districts. During the Mahdia the country suffered severely from war and disease. Excluding Darfur the population before the Mahdist rule was estimated at 8,500,000. In 1905 an estimate made by the Sudan government put the population at 1,853,000 only, including 11,000 foreigners, of whom 2800 were Europeans. Since that year there has been a considerable natural increase and in 1910 the population was officially estimated at 2,400,000. There has also been a slight immigration of Abyssinians, Egyptians, Syrians and Europeans—the last named chiefly Greeks.
The term “Bilad-es-Sudan” (“country of the blacks”) is not altogether applicable to the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, the northern portion being occupied by Hamitic and Semitic tribes, chiefly nomads, and classed as Arabs. In the Nile valley north of Khartum the inhabitants are of very mixed origin. This applies particularly to the so-called Nubians who inhabit the Dongola mudiria (see Nubia). Elsewhere the inhabitants north of 12° N. are of mixed Arab descent. In the Nubian Desert the chief tribes are the Ababda and Bisharin, the last named grazing their camels in the mountainous districts towards the Red Sea. In the region south of Berber and Suakin are the Hadendoa. The Jaalin, Hassania and Shukria inhabit the country between the Atbara and Blue Nile; the Hassania and Hassanat are found chiefly in the Gezira. The Kabbabish occupy the desert country north of Kordofan, which is the home of the Baggara tribes. In Darfur the inhabitants are of mixed Arab and negro blood.
Of negro Nilotic tribes there are three or four main divisions. The Shilluks occupy the country along the west side of the Nile northward from about Lake No. The country east of the Nile is divided between the Bari, Nuer and Dinka tribes. The Dinkas are also widely spread over the Bahr-el-Ghazal province. South of Kordofan and west of the Shilluk territory are the Nubas, apparently the original stock of the Nubians. In the south-west of the Bahr-el-Ghazal are the Bongos and other tribes, and along the Nile-Congo water-parting are the A-Zande or Niam-Niam, a comparatively light-coloured race. (All the tribes mentioned are separately noticed.)
Social Conditions.—In contrast with the Egyptians, a most industrious race, the Sudanese tribes, both Arab and negro, are as a general rule indolent. Where wants are few and simple, where houses need not be built nor clothes worn to keep out the cold, there is little stimulus to exertion. Many Arabs “clothed in rags, with only a mat for a house, prefer to lead the life of the free-born sons of the desert, no matter how large their herds or how numerous their followings” (Egypt, No. 1 [1904], p. 147). Following the establishment of British control slave-raiding and the slave trade were stopped, but domestic slavery continues. A genuine desire for education is manifest among the Arabic-speaking peoples and slow but distinct moral improvement is visible among them. Among the riverain “Arabs” some were found to supply labour for public works, and with the money thus obtained cattle were bought and farms started. The Dongolese are the keenest traders in the country. The Arab tribes are all Mahommedans, credulous and singularly liable to fits of religious excitement. Most of the negro tribes are pagan, but some of them who live in the northern regions have embraced Islam.
Divisions and Chief Towns.—Darfur is under native rule. The rest of the Sudan is divided into mudirias (provinces) and these are subdivided into mamuria. The mudirias are Halfa, Red Sea, Dongola and Berber in the north (these include practically all the region known as Nubia); Khartum, Blue Nile and White Nile in the centre; Kassala and Sennar in the east; Kordofan in the west; and Bahr-el-Ghazal, Upper Nile (formerly Fashoda) and Mongalla in the south. The mudirias vary considerably in size.
The capital, Khartum (q.v.), pop. with suburbs about 70,000, is built in the fork formed by the junction of the White and Blue Niles. Opposite Khartum, on the west bank of the White Nile, is Omdurman (q.v.), pop. about 43,000, the capital of the Sudan during the Mahdia. On the Nile north of Khartum at the towns of Berber, Abu Hamed, Merawi (Merowe), Dongola and Wadi Halfa. On the Red Sea are Port Sudan and Suakin. Kassala is on the river Gash east of the Atbara and near the Eritrean frontier. (These towns are separately noticed.) On the Blue Nile are Kamlin, Sennar, Wad Medani (q.v.), pop. about 20,000, a thriving business centre and capital of the Blue Nile mudiria, and Roseires, which marks the limit of navigability by steamers of the river. Gallabat is a town in the Kassala mudiria close to the Abyssinian frontier, and Gedaref lies between the Blue Nile and Atbara a little north of 14° N. El Obeid, the chief town of Kordofan, is 230 m. south-west by south of Khartum. Duiem, capital of the White Nile mudiria, is the river port for Kordofan. El Fasher, the capital of Darfur, is 500 m. W.S.W. of Khartum. All the towns named, except Roseires, are situated north of 13° N. In the south of the Sudan there are no towns properly so called. The native villages are composed of straw or palm huts; the places occupied by Europeans or Egyptians are merely “posts” where the administrative business of the district is carried on. Fashoda (q.v.), renamed Kodok, is the headquarters of the Upper Nile mudiria.
Communications.—North of Khartum the chief means of communication is by railway; south of that city by steamer. There are two trunk railways, one connecting the Sudan with Egypt, the other affording access to the Red Sea. The first line runs from the Nile at Wadi Halfa across the desert in a direct line to Abu Hamed, and from that point follows more or less closely the right (east) bank of the Nile to Khartum. At Khartum the Blue Nile is bridged and the railway is continued south through the Gezira to Sennar. Thence it turns west, crosses the White Nile near Abba Island, and is continued to El Obeid. The length of the line from Halfa to Khartum is 575 m.; from Khartum to Obeid 350 m. The railway from the Nile to the Red Sea starts from the Halfa-Khartum line at Atbara junction, a mile north of the Atbara confluence. It runs somewhat south of the Berber-Suakin caravan route. At Sallom, 278 m. from Atbara Junction, the line divides, one branch going north to Port Sudan, the other south to Suakin. The total distance to Port Sudan from Khartum is 493 m., the line to Suakin being 4 m. longer. Besides these main lines a railway, 138 m. long, runs from Abu Hamed on the right bank of the Nile to Kareima (opposite Merawi) in the Dongola mudiria below the Fourth Cataract. (The railway which started from Halfa and followed the right bank of the Nile to Kerma, 201 m. from Halfa, was abandoned in 1903.) The railways are owned and worked by the state.
In connexion with the Khartum-Halfa railway steamers ply on the Nile between Halfa and Shellal (Assuan) where the railway from Alexandria ends. The distance by rail and steamer between Khartum and Alexandria is about 1490 m. Steamers run on the Nile between Kerma and Kareima, and above Khartum the government maintains a regular service of steamers as far south as Gondokoro in the Uganda Protectorate. During flood season there is also a steamship service on the Blue Nile. Powerful dredgers and sudd-cutting machines are used to keep open communications in the upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazal.
The ancient caravan routes Korosko-Abu Hamed and Berber-Suakin have been superseded by the railways, but elsewhere wells and rest-houses are maintained along the main routes between the towns and the Nile. On some of these roads a motor car service is maintained.
From Port Sudan and Suakin there is a regular steamship service to Europe via the Suez Canal. There are also services to Alexandria, the Red Sea ports of Arabia, Aden and India.
There is an extensive telegraphic system. Khartum is connected by land lines with Egypt and Uganda, thus affording direct telegraphic connexion between Alexandria and Mombasa (2500 m.). From Khartum other lines go to Kassala and the Red Sea ports. In some places the telegraph wires are placed 16 ft. 6 in. above the ground to protect them from damage by giraffes.
Agriculture and other Industries.—North of Khartum agricultural land is confined to a narrow strip on either side of the Nile and to the few oases in the Libyan Desert. In the Gezira and in the plains of Gedaref between the Blue Nile and the Atbara there are wide areas of arable land, as also in the neighbourhood of Kassala along the banks of the Gash. In Kordofan and Darfur cultivation is confined to the khors or valleys. The chief grain crop is durra, the staple food of the Sudanese. Two crops are obtained yearly in several districts. On lands near the rivers the durra is sown after the flood has gone down and also at the beginning of the rainy season. Considerable quantities of wheat and barley are also
