in the Mountains of the Moon. 243 



The Sultan of Patta, an island situate about 100 miles to 

 the south of the Gowin (Govind), Juba, or Rogues' River, in- 

 formed Captain Smee, that this stream was " of immense 

 extent, and that its sources were far beyond his knowledge, 

 and commonly believed to be in Europe, or (as he expressed 

 it) in our country."* Such vague generalities and palpable 

 exaggerations give way, however, before the positive infor- 

 mation furnished by Mr Arcangelo, an officer in the service 

 of the Imam of Maskat, who, in February 1844, ascended this 

 river in a small boat to a distance of about 220 or 240 miles, 

 the furthest point reached by him being apparently in about 

 3° 20'N. lat. and 41° 20' E. long. Here Mr Arcangelo says,t— 

 " The current after this became stronger every mile ; there 

 was, however, plenty of water, the river being rather narrow. 

 . . . Sometimes in the day the current would be so strong, 

 that it was impossible to get 300 yards in four hours. . . . 

 Some considerable distance up there are several falls, one of 

 which was said to be a very high one." From these pai'ticu- 

 lars it is clear, that Mr Arcangelo was approaching the edge 

 of the table-land, at which the Juba River, like all the rivers 

 of Eastern Africa, has its origin ; only, as he does not allude 

 to any mountains being actually in sight, it is not less evi- 

 dent that he was still at a considerable distance from them: 

 according to the limits which I attribute to the table-land, 

 there would exist an interval of about 150 miles between the 

 explorer's furthest point and the extreme upper edge of the 

 plateau in the same parallel of latitude. Mr Arcangelo does 

 not state in what direction the further course of the river 

 lies ; but if we hypothetically continue it upwards in the same 

 general direction, in which it appears to have been ascended 

 by him, namely, to the NNW., we shall find that it strikes 

 the 39th meridian in about 7° N. lat. This is precisely the 

 spot where we have placed the source of 'Omar's river from 

 Shoa, or M. d'Abbadie's Wabbi (AVebi), which we have as- 

 sumed to be the head of Ptolemy's second arm of the Nile ; 

 and thus we have a direct confirmation of the statement made 



* Trans, of Bomb. Qeogr. Sue., p. 35. 



t See Journ. Roy. Oeotjr. fioc, vol. xvii., p. 46. 



