20 ANNUAL ADDRESS : 



but generally sluggish. When seen from the north as one 

 approaches Khartoum, it looks like a great lake. It may be 

 regarded as the real and permanent source of the River of 

 Egypt. Its volume is always great, winter and summer, and 

 during the equatorial rains it does not rise more than a few 

 feet. Were its current diverted in any way above Khar- 

 toum, the other tributaries would not supply a. sufficient 

 volume of water during the dry season to reach Lower Egypt. 

 The White Nile supplies the permanent river ; the other 

 tributaries produce the inundation. 



The second great tributary of the Nile flows past the east 

 side of Khartoum, and is called Bahr-el-Azrak, " The Blue 

 River,^^ or more properly " Black,^^ for the Arabic word has 

 also this meaning. The colour during the inundation is deep 

 purple, approaching black. Its chief sources are high up in 

 the mountains of Abyssinia. When the equatorial rains set 

 in, which they do regularly about the first week of June, the 

 Black Nile, before that time low and sluggish, suddenly swells 

 into a furious torrent, tearing away the soft soil of the banks, 

 and carrying it in solution down to the lowlands, to be deposited 

 on the surface of the plains. The width of this tributary at 

 Khartoum is about 300 yards, and when in flood its depth is 

 30 feet. 



About 170 miles below Khartoum another tributary, the 

 Atbara, falls into the Nile. Its sources are also in the 

 mountains of Abyssinia; and it produces, perhaps, even a 

 greater influence on the fertilising qualities of the waters of 

 the Nile than either of the others. Its course and current are 

 thus in substance described in Sir Samuel Baker's valuable 

 work. The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. In the beginning 

 of the year, and during the spring months, the bed of the 

 Atbara is in part dry, and in part filled with stagnant pools, 

 swarming with crocodiles, hippopotami, huge turtles, fish, and 

 reptiles of various kinds. The banks, throughout a long reach 

 of country near the base of the mountains, are formed for the 

 most part of dark alluvial soil. It has numerous tributaries of 

 a like kind. Immediately on the outburst of the summer 

 rains the channel of the Atbara is filled to overflowing, and 

 the mad torrent foams along with terrific force, undermining 

 and tearing down the soft banks, and carrying the dissolved 

 soil into the Nile. 



The annual .rise of the Nile is first observed at Khartoum 

 early in June, but it is three weeks later ere it begins to be 

 seen at Cairo. That is a time of great rejoicing, and the daily 

 rise is proclaimed through the city by special criers, with 

 characteristic expressions of praise to God and the Prophet. 



