THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 2 r 



j 



down about lat. 21 25'), I never did believe that any fuch 

 river exifted. 



In facT:, we know no river, north of the fources of the 

 Nile, that does not fall into the Nile. Nay, I may fay, that 

 not one river, in all Abymnia, empties itfelf into the Red 

 Sea. The tropical rains are bounded, and finifli,in lat. 16 , 

 and there is no river, from the mountains, that falls into 

 the defert of Nubia ; nor do we know of any river which 

 is tributary to the Nile, but what has its rife under the tro- 

 pical rains. It would be a very fingular circumflance, then, 

 that the Frat fhould rife in one of the dryeft places in the 

 globe, that it fhould be a river at leaft equal to the Nile ; 

 and fhould maintain itfelf full in all feafons, which the Nile 

 does not ; laft of all, in a country where water is fo fcarce 

 and precious, that it mould not have a town or fettlement 

 upon it, either ancient or modern, nor that it fhould be re- 

 torted to by any encampment of Arabs, who might crofs 

 over and traffic with Jidda, which place is immediately op- 

 pofite.. 



On the 1 8th, at day-break, I was alarmed at feeing no 

 land, as I had no fort of confidence in the fkill of my pilot, 

 however fure I was of my latitude. About an hour after 

 fun-fet, I obferved a high rugged rock, which the pilot told 

 me, upon inquiry, was Jibbel, (viz. a Rock), and this was all 

 the fatisfadion I could get. We bore down upon it with a. 

 wind, fcant enough ; and, about four, we came to an an- 

 chor. As we had no name for that ifland, and I did not 

 know that any traveller had been there before me, I ufed 

 the privilege by giving it my own, in memory of haying 

 been there. The fouth of this ifland feems to be high and 



rocky. 



