THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 623 



meafure from the brink of the precipice to the center of 

 the altar, in which the principal fountain ftands, and found 

 it 1760 feet or 506 yards 2 feet, and this is the diftance Paez 

 calls a league, or the largeft range of a fliell (hot from a 

 mortar; this I do aver is an error that is abfolutely impofli- 

 ble for any travellers to commit upon the fpot, or elfe his 

 narrative in general fhould have very little weight in point 

 of precifion. 



I shall clofe thefe obfervations with one which I think 



muft clearly evince Paez had never been upon the fpot. 



He fays the field, in which the fountains of the Nile are, 



is of very difficult accefs, the afcent to it being very fteep, 



excepting on the north, where it is plain and eafy. Now, if 



we look at the beginning of this description, we fhould 



think it would be the defcent, not the afcent that would be 



troublefome ; for the fountains were placed in a valley, and 



people rather defcend into valleys than afcend into them ; 



but fuppofing it a valley in which there was a field, upon 



■which there was a mountain, and on the mountain thefe 



fountains, flill I fay that thefe mountains are nearly inac- 



ceflible on the three fides, but that the molt difficult of them 



all is the north, the way we afcend from the plain of Gout- 



to. From the eaft, by Sacala, the afcent is made from the 



valley of Litchambara, and from the plain of Affba, to the 



fouth, you have the almofl perpendicular craggy cliff of 



Geefh, covered with thorny bufhes, trees, and bamboos, 



which conceal the mouths of the caverns; and, on the 



north, you have the mountains of Aformafha, thick- fet with 



all forts of thorny fhrubs and trees, efpecially with the 



kantuffa i thefe thickets are, moreover, full of wild beads, 



efpecially 



