The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 9 t 



flow its banks ; and Egypt thus deprived of the annual inundation, 

 would simply exist, and cultivation would be confined to the close 

 vicinity of the river. 



The inundation which, by its annual deposit of mud, has actually 

 created the Delta of lower Egypt, has its origin entirely separate 

 from the lake sources of Central Africa ; and the supply of water 

 has been now proved by Baker to be derived exclusively from 

 Abyssinia. 



The two grand affluents of Abyssinia, are the Blue Nile and the 

 Atbara, which join the main stream respectively, in north latitude 

 15° 30' and 17° 37'. These rivers, although streams of extreme 

 grandeur during the period of the Abyssinian rains, from the 

 middle of June until September, are reduced during the dry 

 months to utter insignificance : the Blue Nile becoming so shallow 

 as to be unnavigable, and the Atbara perfectly dry, except a few 

 isolated pools, like the water holes of the Australians, crowded 

 with all the life of land, air, and water, gathered for scores of miles 

 around ; and some of the rivers, like the Gash, never reaching the 

 Nile at all, but losing themselves in numberless ramifications in the 

 thirsty sands, facts which in themselves are conclusive against the 

 existence of glaciers or snowy mountains in any part of Abyssinia, 

 which would otherwise have furnished a more permanent supply. 

 In the dry months, the water supply of Abyssinia ceasing, Egypt 

 depends solely upon the equatorial lakes, and the affluents of the 

 White Nile, until the rainy season shall again have flooded the two 

 great Abyssinian arteries. That flood occurs suddenly about the 

 20th June; and the great rush of water pouring down the Blue Nile 

 and the Atbara into the parent channel, inundates Lower Egypt, 

 and is the cause of its extreme fertility. 



Sir Samuel was a witness, not only to the dried-up channels of 

 these Abyssinian rivers during the dry season, but also to their 

 flooding, having been encamped in the very bed of the Atbara, 

 when, like a thief in the night, it burst upon them. 



After a graphic description of the night's turmoil, and the change 

 wrought by the flood in a few hours, he says : — " Although this 

 was actually the beginning of my work, I felt that by the experi- 

 ence of this night, I had obtained a clue to one portion of the 

 Nile mystery ; and that, as ' coming events cast their shadows 

 before them,' this sudden creation of a river was but the shadow 

 of the great cause. The rains were pouring in Abyssinia ! these 



ivere sources of the Nile." 



G 2 



