Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/321

 which all the produce of Upper Sudan will be exported, and the Nile will be the commercial affluent of the Red Sea.

The two caravan routes between Suakin and Berber traverse vast sandy tracts where the water in the wells is brackish. The route lies over granite and porphyry heights, crossed by the pass of Haratri, the water-parting between the Nile basin and that of the Red Sea, standing at a height of 3,000 feet, between mountains rising to twice that elevation. Before the war 20,000 camels, laden with gum, annually crossed the desert between the two towns, which will probably soon be connected by rail.

Suakin, or Sawakin, is the safest port on the Red Sea coast, and resembles that of Massawah in its geographical position. The riverain zone of coral banks is pierced by a winding channel which penetrates over 2 miles inland, terminating in an oval-shaped basin about 1 mile from north to south. To the west are sand-banks which contract the sheet of water, and are continued by shallows overgrown with reeds. Two round islands, partially fringed with rocks, exceed the level of the basin by several feet. One of these islands, that of Sheikh Abdallah, is used exclusively as a cemetery; the other, farther south, comprises the town of Suakin, properly so-called. The chief port lies between these two islands, but vessels of the heaviest tonnage can also anchor north of the island of Sheikh Abdallah; in this species of lake, which seems to be surrounded by land on all sides, vessels are perfectly safe from the winds and surf. The port, opened in the midst of a beach rendered very dangerous by the multitude of reefs, is well worthy the name of the "harbour of the protecting gods," which many authors believe to have been given it during the time of the Ptolemies.

Before the warlike events which have procured for Suakin a name famous in contemporary history, the annual movement of the shipping was about 12 steamers