238 Dr Beke on the Sources of the Nile 



bute to the Nile neai'ly a moiety of its waters. This river was 

 called by the various names of Sobat, Telfi, Ta, and Babr el Ma- 

 kddah or River of Habesh ;* and M. Russegger, when recently 

 in the country to the south of SennAr, became acquainted with 

 it under the name even of Bahr el Abyad.-)- From the infor- 

 mation obtained by myself in the province of Godjam in 

 Southern Abessinia, compared with that collected by MM. 

 Russegger, Blondeel vanCuelebrook, and Antoine d'Abbadie,| 

 this river is the lower course of the Bako (Bago), Bakka, or 

 Uma ; which again is the channel that receives the united 

 waters of the Godjeb, the Gibbe, and the numerous other 

 rivers flowing through the countries of Kaffa, Enarea, Djan- 

 djaro (Gingiro), Guragie, and others lying to the south of 

 Abessinia. The eastern sources of these rivers extend along 

 the water-parting, from about 8° N. lat. and 39° E. long, to 

 about 5° N. lat. and 38° E. long. ; a space which comprehends 

 the spot already fixed on as the position of the head of 

 Ptolemy's second arm of the Nile. 



Which of the various head streams of this great " River 

 of Habesh" is, by virtue of its magnitude, the directness of 

 its course, or any other cause, entitled to be regarded as the 

 principal one, cannot be determined without a far more inti- 

 mate acquaintance with them than we at present possess. 

 When in Southern Abessinia, in 1842, T was given to under- 

 stand that the Godjeb is the head stream of this branch of the 

 Nile; II and M. d'Abbadie, when he wrote to Europe in 1844, 

 announcing that he had been to Entirea and Kaffa, was of 

 the same opinion ; or, it should rather be said, he even consi- 

 dered the Godjeb to be the upper course of the Bahr el Abyad, 

 or the direct stream of the Nile itself § That traveller then 

 stated that he had crossed the Godjeb within 30 miles of the 

 spot where it issues fi'om the foot of a large tree between 

 two high hills, called Boshi and Doshi, in the country of 

 Gimira, Gtimaro, or Gamru; and he was led to derive the 



* See Journ. Rop. Ccogr. S^oc, vol. xvii., p. 39. 



t Reise in Europa, Asien und Afrika, vol. ii., part ii., p. 88. 



I See Bulletin de la Societe de Qeographie de Paris, 3d Ser., vol. viii., p. 359. 



U See Journ. Roy. Geogr. Sac, vol. xvii., p. 44, et seq. 



9 JbiU., pp. 48, 51 ; Bulletin de la Soc. de Qeogr., 3d Ser., vol, iii., pp. 313, 318. 



