ON THE COURSE OF THE NILE. 387 



On the COURSE of the NILE. 



TTHE Nile, which the Abyjfmians know by the names 

 "*■ of Abev, and Alawy, or the Giant, gullies from 

 feveral fprings at a place called Sucut, lying on the 

 higheft part of Dengald, near Gojjdm, to the weft of 

 Bajemdir, and the lake of Dara or Wed, into which it 

 runs with fo ftrong and rapid a current, that it mixes 

 not with the other waters, but rides or fwims, as it 

 were, above them. 



All the rains that fall in Abyjfinia, and defcend in 

 torrents from the hills, all dreams and rivers, fmall and 

 great, except the Handzo, which wafhes the plains of 

 Hengot, and the Haw dpi, which flows by Dewdr and 

 Fetgdr, are collected by this king of waters, and, like 

 vaflals, attend his march. Thus enforced, he rufhes, 

 like a hero exulting in his ftrength, and haftens to fer- 

 tilize the land of Egypt, on which no ram falls. We 

 muft except alfo thole Eihiopian rivers which rife in 

 countries bordering on the ocean, as the kingdoms of 

 Cambdt, Gurdjy, Wdfy, Ndriyah, Gdfy, Wej, and Zin- 

 jiro, whofe waters are difembogued into the fea. 



When the Alawy has pafTed the Lake, it proceeds 

 between Gojjdm and Bajemdir, and leaving them to the 

 weft and ealt, purfues a dire 8; courfe towards Amhdrd, 

 the (kirts of which it bathes, and then turns again to 

 the weft, touching the borders of Walaka ; whence it 

 rolls along Mugdr and Shawai, and palling Bazdzvd 

 and Gongd, defcends into the low lands of Shankila, the 

 country of the Blacks : thus it forms a fort of fpiral 

 round the province of Gojjdm, which it keeps for the 

 molt part on its right. 



Here 



