Egyptian War Department for | | | | maintenance of Army in the Sudan | |186,757| |183,700 | +-------+ +------- TOTAL | |915,646| |848,885 ------------------------------------+-------+-------+--------+-------- COMMUNICATIONS. (_See_ Chapter X for details.) Communication in the Sudan is maintained by:—(I) Railways; (II) River; (III) Roads. (I) THE RAILWAY.—The Sudan Government Railway, a single line completed on the last day of 1899, runs from Halfa, crossing the Nubian desert, to Abu Hamed along the Nile bank to Khartoum North on the right bank of the Blue Nile opposite Khartoum (575 miles). Another branch, also single, 203 miles, runs from Halfa to Kerma (35 miles north of Dongola) following the Nile. This is to be abandoned after the 31st December, 1904. A line of railway joining Suakin on the Red Sea to the Nile near the mouth of the Atbara is now under construction; it will be of the greatest benefit to the trade and development of the Sudan. Other railway projects at present under consideration are:—Abu Hamed to Merowe, Thamiam (near Suakin) to Kassala, and Omdurman to El Obeid. The distance between Halfa and Aswan forms the only break in the railway communication between Khartoum and the Mediterranean Sea; a service of Sudan steamers plies on this reach. (II) RIVER.—North of Khartoum the river is navigable throughout except at the five cataracts; at certain times of the year most of these are navigable, with difficulty. South of Khartoum communication is maintained along the White and Blue Niles and their affluents. During low Nile—January to June—the Blue Nile is not navigable. The White Nile is navigable up to Gondokoro in Uganda, though there are some difficulties in the way of navigation (_vide_ p. 73). The Sobat and Baro are not navigable from January to beginning of May. (III) ROADS.—Roads are, and must be for some time to come, the principal means of communication in the Sudan. Transport is chiefly performed by camels, mules and donkeys. The greater part of the Sudan, being level, lends itself without much difficulty to the making of roads suitable for carriages, though draught transport has not been in use hitherto to any extent. Bullock wagons are in use in the Bahr El Ghazal. Some automobile carriages are now being tried in the different parts of the Sudan, and have so far given fairly good results. RESOURCES AND COMMERCE.