Camels, cattle, and donkeys are also exposed for sale. The
average price for a baggage camel is twelve dollars; a hygeen,
from thirty to sixty dollars; a fat ox, from six to ten dollars
(the dollar at four shillings).
Katariff is on the direct merchants' route from Cassala to
Khartoum. The charge for transport is accordingly low; a camel
loaded with six cantars (600 lbs.) from this spot to Cassala, can
be hired for one dollar, and from thence to Souakim, on the Red
Sea, for five dollars; thus all produce is delivered from
Katariff to the shipping port, at a charge of four shillings per
hundred pounds. Cotton might be grown to any extent on this
magnificent soil, and would pay the planter a large profit, were
regular steam communication established at a reasonable rate
between Souakimn and Suez.
There is a fine grey limestone in the neighbourhood of Katariff.
The collection of people is exceedingly interesting upon a market
day, as Arabs of all tribes, Tokrooris, and some few Abyssinians,
concentrate from distant points. Many of the Arab women would be
exceedingly pretty were their beauty not destroyed by their
custom of gashing the cheeks in three wounds upon either side;
this is inflicted during infancy.
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