106 REPORT — 1866. 



or Abai ; but^ ou tlie contrary, the Takkazye or Setit, of -which the lower portion is 

 the Atbara or Astaboras. This is established by the Ethiopian rersion of the 

 Scriptiu-eSj and by the Adulitic inscription of Cosnias Indicopleustes, in which 

 the two names are synouynioiis ; so that the Atbara or Takkazye was ^/ieriyer, — the 

 Nile of the tradition. 



From the description given of this river by several modern travellers, especially 

 M. Linant, it appears that the Atbara is called Bahr el Aswad, or Black River, 

 from the quantity of black earth brought dowai by it during the rains, which is 

 so gi'eat as to discolour the main stream of the Nile ; it is this branch which is the 

 best source of irrigation, as it contributes most of the slime that manures the lands 

 in Egypt ; that it might easily be tm'ned into the Red Sea near Suwakia ; and that, 

 in fact, the remains of a bed or canal, already traced by human hands, exist from the 

 Atbara to the Red Sea. 



The paper of which the foregoing is an abstract was written by Dr. Beke for the 

 Meeting of the British Association at Ipswich, in 1851. But, reflecting on the 

 importance of the subject, he decided on first suljmitting it to the late Viscount 

 Palmerston, by whom it was not returned till tliat Meeting was over ; and the 

 author had not cared to avail himself of any other opportiinit}' until now, when he 

 possessed the means of establishing the correctness of his former opinions. 



In 1856, when preparing for the press his work, ' The Sources of the Nile,' 

 published in 1800, Dr. Beke identified the position of the city of Ptolemais Theron, 

 founded on the western coast of the Red Sea in the reign of JPtolemy Philadelphus, 

 the identification having been made by the simple comparison of two descriptions 

 of the spot gi\-en at an interval of 2000 years, the one by the Greek geogTapher 

 Artemidorus, and the other by Captains Moresby and Elwon, of the Indian Navy. 

 This identification led to the appreciation of the truth of the further statement of 

 Artemidorus, tliat, in the neighbom'hood of Ptolemais, a branch of the Astaboras 

 discharged itself into the Red Sea, which branch had its source in a lake, and emp- 

 tied part of its waters here, but the larger portion went to the Nile. 



This " branch of the Astaboras " Dr. Beke identified with the Khor el Gash, the 

 lower course of the river Mareb of Abessinia, whose waters in the rainy season 

 spread themselves over the district of Taka, which then resembles a lake, and thence 

 discharge themselves by two outlets, the one going towards the Atbara, and the 

 other towards the Red Sea, near Suwakin. 



That this is the case as regards the latter outlet is now established as a fact by 

 the investigations of Dr. Schweinfiirth, who in April 18(35 ti'avelled from Suwakin to 

 Taka, and states that the Gash is a tributary to, or synonymous with, the Wady 

 Langeb, which is laid down by him as running northwards to Tokar, near Suwakin, 

 where Dr. Beke had approximatively laid do-wn this " branch of the Astaboras " on 

 the authority of Artemidorus. 



To show how the waters of the Atbara or Astaboras might be turned into the 

 Khorel Gash, and so made to flow towards the Red Sea instead of dov.Ti the main 

 stream of the Nile to Egypt, the author cited M. Ferdinand Weme's narrati^-e of 

 an attempt made in 1840 by Ahmed Pasha, governor of Sennar, to turn the waters 

 of the Gash into the Atbara ; and though the attempt was frustrated by the natives, 

 the particulars recorded prove the practicability of the undertaking. But if the 

 Gash may be turned into the Atbara by means of a mere dam and canal, the con- 

 verse must in like manner be practicable ; that is to say, the waters of the Atbara 

 might, by similar means, be tiu-ned into the Gash, and so made to run towards the 

 Red Sea, to which the fall is 1200 feet or more. 



Thus the main stream of the Nile being deprived of so great a bulk of its waters, 

 and especially of that portion of them which contains the fertilizing principle, the 

 dire results recorded in history could not fail to ensue. 



In conclusion, the author adverted to the not improbable rise of a great Etlii- 

 opian empire, having the power to subject Eg^^t by the possession of the country 

 through which the Ethiopian Nile flows, even more readily than by the force of 

 arms ; and he pointed out the important relation which the solution of this geo- 

 graphical question of the diverting of the waters of this river bears, not merely to 

 the material prosperity, but also to the political and even the social existence of a 

 coimtiy, which plays so important a part both in ancient and modern history, and 



