Considerable plantations of acacias and doms are found in the neighbourhood of the village, which is also remarkable for the numerous “dunes” or sand hills collected by the winds from the surrounding desert. It is a small village, utterly destitute of supplies. The sterile desert extends to the very margin of the Nile. Altitude 1,040 feet above sea level. Desert perfectly flat. Deep sand. Major-General Hunter attacked and took the place from the Dervishes on the 7th August, 1897. (_Vide_ p. 254.) The railway reached this point from Wadi Halfa on 31st October, 1897. It is now a watering station for trains, with modern bathrooms for tourists, etc. It is the residence of the Mamur and inspector of the Monasir and Robatab Districts. It is also proposed as the junction of a branch line to Merowe. SUB-SECTION (B).—ABU HAMED TO KHARTOUM. Little has been recorded of the actual navigation of the river and the description of its banks between Abu Hamed and Khartoum, and especially of the stretch between Abu Hamed and Berber. Between these two latter places the desert is broken by numerous ravines and studded with acacias and “dom” palms; the river channel is full of reefs and rapids, and navigation is at all times difficult and somewhat dangerous; cultivation only exists in scanty patches, and the inhabitants are poor and few in number. The inhabitants and cultivation are, however, increasing on both banks. [Sidenote: Mograt Rapid.] A couple of miles above Abu Hamed is the Mograt Rapid, consisting of a few miles of bad passages (at low Nile). After clearing the Mograt Rapid, the navigation of the river is unimpeded for about 32 miles, until Mero Island, opposite Abu Hashim, is reached. [Sidenote: Bagara Rapid.] As an obstacle to navigation the Abu Hashim Rapid is unimportant, and from the Mograt Rapid there exists a reach of about 50 miles of practically open water to the rapid of Bagara. The Nile here takes a bend to the west, and for the space of 2 or 3 miles the bed of the river is filled with masses of black rocks, in some places forming dams, over which the river roars in its swift descent (December). This rapid is passable at high Nile, but impracticable at low or even mean Nile. The cataract of Bagara is not long, but during low or even medium water it is rather rapid. The banks of the river present no features of interest, and the country on the eastern shore is an almost uninhabited desert, the usual “doms,” which fringe the shore being the only vegetation to be seen, with here and there a scanty patch of cultivation; but, as the Bagara Rapid is approached, an improvement takes place on the western shore. [Sidenote: 5th Cataract.]