In this vast area, some 1,200 miles in length and 1,000 in breadth at the broadest part, there is naturally an immense variety of country. The Northern Soudan is, with the exception of a strip of land along the Nile, almost a desert; it is, in fact, a lesser Egypt. Up to Shendi it is a rainless country. From Shendi to Khartoum, and some way south, there is a regular but not extraordinary rainfall during the months of July, August, and September. Further south, about parallel 13°, tropical rains begin, becoming heavier and longer towards the Abyssinian hills on the one side and the Upper White Nile and the Bahr el Ghazal on the other. With the rainfall the character of the country changes. To the west of the White Nile, between parallels 15° and 11°—that is, nearly as far south as Fashoda—the country of Kordofan and Darfur stretches in vast plains or steppes, covered with low thorny trees, mimosa and gum trees, and prickly-grass. Water is scarce, and stored in wells and the trunks of baobab-trees. There are occasional hills, which become greater and more numerous towards the west and the south. In Southern Kordofan the plains and valleys between the hills are rich in vegetation and huge trees. They are impassable during the rains, and also after them, until the long grass has been cleared by burning. The Bahr el Ghazal is a real land of waters, the Punjab of the Soudan, for it has five principal rivers, all affluents of the Bahr el Ghazal. Part of the country consists of little but the most dismal swamps; but nearer to the watershed there is much rolling country between the rivers. The soil is fertile, and there is an abundance of forests and parklands. To the east, along the course of the Atbara, and between the Blue and White Niles, there are vast level plains of alluvial soil, very fertile when flooded or after the rains. The country gradually rises towards the Abyssinian frontier. At wide intervals great masses of rock protrude, some consisting of excellent granite, better than that in the Assouan quarries. As the country rises it becomes more and more wooded, until there is dense jungle, especially near the Blue Nile. The scenery all along the Abyssinian frontier is described as very beautiful and mountainous; but most of it is very unhealthy, especially during and after the rains, when the climate is fearfully hot and oppressive, and malarial fevers of several kinds are common even among the natives themselves. The country south of the Sobat near the Nile belongs to the swamp districts. Further inland is the least explored and most uninhabited part of the Soudan; it is not likely to attract much attention at present.