--------------+--------------------+---------------------------------- | Miles. | Place. +-------------+------+ Description. |Intermediate.|Total.| --------------+-------------+------+---------------------------------- Khartoum North| — | — |Starting E. from the Artillery | | |Lines at Khartoum N., a well | | |marked track is soon struck, which | | |continues up the Blue Nile cutting | | |off corners where it bends. It | | |passes the village of Kuku (whence | | |a track leads to Sheikh El Amin | | |and afterwards rejoins this | | |route), the two villages of | | |Gereif, where there is some | | |cultivation, and at about 12 miles | | |the village of Um Dom. At about 19 | | |miles, after passing some low | | |mounds covered with frequent | | |fragments of stone and brick, said _Old Soba_ | 19 | 19 |to be the remains of Old Soba, the | | |road bifurcates and the branch to | | |the left is taken, a clearly | | |marked track. For the first few | | |miles the path passes through | | |thinly scattered trees, which | | |gradually get thicker, till at 23 | | |miles they restrict the view in | | |any direction to 200 or 300 yards. | | |At 25½ miles a well is passed on | | |the right of the road, and at 27 _Um Dibban_ | 8 | 27 |miles Um Dibban is reached. This | | |is a scattered but well-built mud | | |village on perfectly flat ground, | | |from which all vegetation has been | | |removed for a radius of 1,000 to | | |1,500 yards. | | | | | |It was formed by a holy man named | | |Sheikh El Obeid, who established a | | |school and caused a tank to be | | |dug.