The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-07
Between Berber and Khartoum.

New York Herald.
The British agent at Berber telegraphed
that the position Of the town was desperate, and
left Berber and started for Korosko, below the
great bend in the Nile. Berber is a character
istic Egyptian town. which stretches along the
right bank of the Nile for several miles. Most
of the houses are merely mud huts, and from the
river the town presents a very unattractive view.
The place, however, has a more attractive aspect
when approached by land. Its bright gardens
and foliage peeping out from among the mud
huts and white houses of its richer inhabitants
give it a welcome look of contrast in the sur
rounding sterility. In peaceful times Berber is
a place of considerable Importance, and has
a population of about eight thousand souls.
1t is about two hundred miles north of
Khartoum and 900 miles-s onth of Abu
Fan2IJoosst at which point begins the route ac Nnss
VN let to Korosko. The principal import
anee of Berber lies in the fact that it is in the
western terminus of the desert route from
Suakim, the Red sea port which was the center
of General Graham's recent military operations.
The distance from Berber to Suakim is two hun
dred and eighty miles, but the route is a very
difficult one in its physical aspects, and has been
closed to the British and loyal Egyptians alike
since the fall of Sinkat. the halfway station in
the hands of the so-called rebels. This route
across the desert will never be available at all
seasons for military operations until q railway
has been built over the distance, and hat pro-
ject has of late been seriously agitated in the
English press, but has not, apparently, received
much attention from either the British or
Egyptian government.
About twenty miles above Berber the Nile
receives the waters of the Atbara, the most
northerly of the tributary rivers from Abys-
sinia. From this point northward for 1,5OO
miles not a rivulet swells the stream. n,,;lno
that long course it is exposed to me evaporation
of a burning sun, drawn Cf into a thousand
canals absorbed oy porous banks and thirsty
ssSn's, uIuHh "a by every living thing. yet the
Nlie poufs into the sea a larger apparent volume
than y displays between the cataraets a thou
Sid miles away. After passing Berber on the
way up the river the scenery along its banks
grows fiat and uninteresting. and its breadth
much broken and interspersed with sandbanks
and mud flats. On many of these islets may be
seen swarms of aquatic birds dressed in their
bright Eastern p~lUmage, which at the 'nuggas"
too near approach break up their meditatlve
parliament with a Babel of noise and wings.
Crocodiles and hippopotami, too, which have
hitherto been more or less rare, become
quite common. For more than a hundred
miles this low-lying scenery continues, until one
reaches the bank of Shendy, through which
pass all the caravans of SEMINAR, Darfour and
Kordofan, on their road to Suakim and the Red
sea. Forty miles beyond Shendy commences
the sixth cataract, which, however, does not in
terrupt the traffic, ard steamers of light draught
can always freely pass from BerOer TO hhar-
toum. One more striking bit of scenery presents
itself to the voyager. where the river forces its
way through the bold range of hills called Gebel
Gerri, but this, too. soon tames down into an
other stretch of fat and monotonous country
till broken at last by the palms and minarets of
Khartoum, standing OUT against the clear sky.
As one approaches it the White Nile spreads its
broad shadows like some vast lake before the
nugga's path, while a sudden turn carries the
boat into the Blue Nile, on the left bank of which
ctoDdc cop,a two miIac fuptbar III Khaptorrn
the capital of the Soudan, where General Cor
don is hemmed in by the rebels.