368 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



against the invasions of hostile neighbouring tribes. The ramparts 

 and battlements are built of unhewn stones, rudely piled one upon 

 the other, usually cemented only with Nile mud; the thick walls of 

 the superstructure, roofed with sun-dried mud-tiles, have for the 

 most part fallen or are still falling. These fortresses impress 

 one not so much by their architecture as by the boldness of their 

 position. A naked, deep-black, glistening rock rises from the midst 

 of the rushing waters, and bears on its summit one of these forts. 

 The waves beat wildly around its base, but it stands absolutely un- 

 shaken by any flood, and towers aloft, an impregnable refuge. On 

 the down-stream side, in the shelter of the rock, the life-giving 

 stream has added beauty to sublimity. For in the course of ages 

 the mud accumulated in the still-water, and an island gradually 

 rose above the flood. On this fertile island man planted palms and 

 laid out fields; and thus, among the rocks there arose a pleasing 

 scene of security and comfort, all the more impressive in its contrast 

 to the wilderness of restless water and barren rock. 



At the southern boundary of the third group of rapids begin the 

 steppes and forests of tropical Africa, in which rocks are found only 

 here and there on the banks of the main stream and its great tribu- 

 taries. For over 450 miles the Bahr-el-Abiad and Bahr-el-Azrek, the 

 White and the Blue Nile, flow through a fruitful and almost flat 

 country; thereafter there are again some rapids. But they do not 

 belong to the picture whose chief outlines I have been endeavouring 

 to sketch: Nubia alone is the land of the Nile cataracts. 



While it is difficult to tell to what degree the Nubian has been 

 influenced by his surroundings, or made by them the manner of 

 man he is, this at least may be safely said, that he is as markedly 

 differentiated from his neighbour, the modern Egyptian, as his 

 home is different from the land of Egypt. The truth is, they have 

 nothing in common, neither race nor speech, neither customs nor 

 habits, scarcely even religion, although both to-day repeat the creed, 

 " There is but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet ". 



The modern Egyptians are of mixed blood, being descended from 

 the ancient Egyptians and the immigrant Arabic hordes from 

 Yemen and Hedjaz, who amalgamated with the earlier inhabitants 



