32 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



should perhaps descend over five degrees to the south of the equator and two to 

 the east of the emissary from the great lake. The winding of its bed lengthens 

 its whole course by over three-fourths. 



In superficial area the Nile basin is inferior both to the Amazon and the Mis- 

 sissippi, and apparently about equal to the Congo.* Except in its middle course, 

 between the Makrara territory and Abyssinia, the lateral river valleys are of slight 

 extent, and owing to the arid character of most of its basin, it cannot compare in 

 volume to any of the other great rivers of the world. Accordjjig to recent esti- 

 mates, the Atrato, which falls into the Carribean Sea near the Isthmus of Panama, 

 has a greater discharge, although its basin is nearly a hundred times smaller than 

 that of the Nile. 



The general tilt of the land from the central plateaux to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean coincides with the Nile Valley. Nevertheless to its main fluvial 

 arteries the whole of this region is exclusively indebted for its geographical unity. 

 The lacustrine uplands of the interior, the marshy tracts where its chief affluents 

 join the White Nile from the south-west, the isolated Abyssinian highlands, the 

 Kordofan uplands encircled by solitudes, the Nubian deserts, the narrow winding 

 valley of Upper Egypt, lastly the smiling plains through which the main stream 

 ramifies as it approaches the Mediterranean, are all so many distinct geographical 

 domains, which must have had a purely local development but for the unity 

 imparted to them by the hydrographie system of the Nile. Thanks to the facilities 

 for communication afforded by this great water highway, its lower reaches were 

 peopled by Nubian colonies from remote times; the old Egyptian culture 

 advanced up to Meroe, and even farther south ; frequent wars were waged between 

 the Ethiopians and the lowlanders for the command of the stream; and for centuries 

 Egyptian viceroys have made incessant efforts to extend their possessions to the 

 whole of the Upper Nile basin as far as the equatorial lakes and the " Great Divide." 

 Alono- this main highway of North-East Africa the natural divisions between the 

 riverain populations are marked by the obstructing cataracts and the confluences of 

 the great affluents. Hence the study of the stream to which the surrounding lands 

 owe their historic evolution claims our first attention. 



The ancients asserted that the Nile had its source in the " Mountains of the 

 Moon," and it is noteworthy that the southernmost affluents of the lacustrine 

 system whence it escapes were met by Speke in the " Land of the Moon." But 

 amongst these affluents is there one copious and large enough to be regarded as the 

 main upper stream? This " head of the Nile " is still being sought, and as in the 

 time of Lucan, no one can yet boast of having seen the farthest source of the Nile. 

 According to the maps prepared from the itineraries of Stanley, Smith, Pearson, and 

 the French missionaries, the Mwaru (Liwumba, Luwambe), which rises beyond 

 the fifth degree of southern latitude, and flows north and north-west towards the 



* Approxima'e area of the f^reat river basins: — 



Amazon 2,800,000 square miles. 



Mississippi 1,390,000 ,. 



Nile 1,340,000 ., „ 



Coneo 1,280,000 „ 



