1866. ] Geography and Ethnology. 553 
Nile receives in its course towards the Mediterranean. From its 
junction the great river flows through upwards of 14 degrees of 
latitude, or, allowing for the winding of the bed, about 1,100 miles, 
through deserts of burning sand, where evaporation and absorption 
dissipate a large proportion of the water it receives from the upper 
part of its course. At the junction of the Atbara, the volume of 
the Nile water is at its maximum. When Baker travelled along 
the lower part of the course of this important tributary it presented 
a dry sandy bed, fringed with a few Doum palms and mimosa 
bushes; not one drop of water flowed from it to the Nile. He 
proceeded for about 180 miles, and then, on the 23rd of June, 
witnessed the sudden change which transforms this desert bed into 
a vast river. The deluging rainfall had commenced in Abyssinia, 
and the flood came down so rapidly that in a few hours the Atbara, 
here 500 yards wide, had become a noble stream 20 feet deep. 
When he had reached the Settite, the principal affluent of the Atbara, 
which, being situated in a more humid climate, never becomes wholly 
dry, he discovered the source whence the fertilizing deposit is de- 
rived which the Atbara carries down towards the Nile Delta. The 
country is table-land, covered with rich mould, and the rains sweep 
this into the streams in such quantity that in the height of the 
flood the waters of the Atbara become of the consistency of soup. 
When sailing up the White or main Nile en route to the Equa- 
torial lakes, Sir Samuel observed the great contrast which the river 
presented to the tributaries he had just visited. He gave a brief 
outline of his journey from Khartum to the shores of the Albert 
Lake, and showed that whilst in Abyssinia the rainy season lasts 
only three months, from June to September, the region of the great 
lakes has a ten months’ rainfall. The outflow from the Albert 
Nyanza is therefore perennial; it keeps up the supply to Egypt 
when the Abyssinian inundation has ceased, and prevents the lower 
Nile from becoming a desert; the supply, moreover, is sufficiently 
great to overcome the great absorption and evaporation which 
intervene in flowing through the Nubian deserts. It does not 
however carry any considerable quantity of fertilizing deposit towards 
the Delta. Sir Samuel might have here quoted, in support of his 
views, the authority of Dr. Peney, who made careful measurements 
of the fluctuations in the Nile-level at Gondokoro, and discovered 
that there was no regular annual flood and subsidence, but numerous 
minor fluctuations at intervals of a few days. 
Sir Samuel also communicated his ethnological observations to 
the Section on the last day of the meeting, Wednesday the 29th. 
It was again an unwritten discourse, and given with a graphic 
power and humour which delighted the audience. The title given 
in the programme was “Observations on the Negro Character ;” 
but this gave an inadequate idea of the theme, which was “The 
