ii CATARACTS 169 



which it has to force its way. When at length it 

 has struggled through the obstructions, suddenly 

 deprived of support, it falls from a vast height with a 

 roar that resounds through all the surrounding 

 regions. The race planted in that savage place 

 was indeed unable to endure the din ; their ears 

 were deafened by the constant crash, and they were 

 therefore removed from the settlement. 



Among the wonderful sights of the river I have 

 been told of a feat of incredible daring performed by 

 the inhabitants. Two of them embark in a small 

 boat, one steering, the other baling out the water. 

 Forthwith they are violently buffeted from side to side 6 

 by the furious waves of the rapid river, and at length 

 reach the narrowest channels, through which they 

 thread their way till they escape from the craggy 

 gorge. Then they are carried down along with the 

 whole volume of the stream, guiding all the time by 

 hand the rushing craft. At one moment they seem 

 to stand right on their head ; the spectators are in 

 great alarm ; one gives them up for lost, and believes 

 they must be sunk and overwhelmed by such a 

 mass of water. But finally they are shot out like an 

 arrow, and are discovered afloat at a point far below 

 where they had entered the current. The waves in 

 their fall do not swamp them, but pass them on to 

 smooth water. 



The first rise of the Nile is observed near the 7 

 island Philae which I have just mentioned. A 

 short distance from it the river is divided by a 

 rock in the centre, which the Greeks call the 

 Inaccessible ("A/Saro?). No foot approaches it 

 save that of the priestly ministers. Those cliffs first 

 feel the increase of the river. Then a long distance 

 below that two crags project, called by the natives 



