Dr. Beke o« the Sources of the Nile. 101 



which rise along the extreme limits of the basin of that river, 

 at the waterpartiiig between it and the conterminous basins of 

 other African rivers flowing towards the Red Sea, the Indian 

 Ocean, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean respectively, or 

 possessing (as is the case with some rivers of Asia and America, 

 and even of Africa) separate inland hydrographical systems 

 unconnected with the ocean. It is in this sense that I propose 

 to treat of the sources of the Nile. 



Commencing at the isthmus of Suez, and proceeding south- 

 wards to about the 1 6th parallel of north latitude, we find a 

 tract of desert country lying between the Nile and the Red 

 Sea, and presenting no point of very great elevation. As, 

 however, we approach the parallel of 16° N. lat., the land 

 rises considerably, and forms the plateau or table-land of 

 Abessinia. It is only of late years that the true character of 

 this elevated region has been determined. Formerly it was 

 generally considered that Abessinia consisted of a succession 

 of terraces rising one above the other, the lowest being toward 

 the Red Sea and the highest being in Enarea, where the water- 

 parting between the Nile and the rivers having their courses 

 towards the Indian Ocean was supposed to exist. Recent 

 explorations have, however, determined that this opinion is 

 erroneous. Instead of the country's rising in terraces as it 

 recedes from the coast, its summit or culminating line is toward 

 the coast itself, whence the land falls gradually towards the 

 interior. This is best shown in the two sections of Abessinia, 

 the one being from north to south and the other from east to 

 west, published in the fourteenth volume of the Journal of 

 the Royal Geographical Society of London. 



In the beginning of the year 1841 I explored the water- 

 parting from Ankobar, the capital of Shoa, northwards about 

 forty miles, as far as Gedem; and in the printed account of 

 this excursion* I remarked, that "as the longitude of the 

 waterparting in that direction [about 40° E. long.] corresponds 

 very nearly with that of the waterparting in Northern Abes- 

 sinia, it may perhaps be not unreasonable to infer that they 

 are both formed by a continuation of the same central high 

 land." This was before I was aware of the results of Dr. 

 Riippell's labours, and before I had carried my own series of 

 levels further across the country to the west of Ankobar. The 

 comparison of these has not only proved the correctness of 

 my surmise, but, combined with the personal explorations of 

 Dr. Krapf and M. Lefebvre along the waterparting between 

 Shoa and Tigre, and with what we know, though only more 

 indefinitely, of its continuation to the south of Abessinia, it 

 • Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xii. p. 99. 



