THE NUBIAN NILE. 65 



of the scenery. Nothing meets the gaze except water, rock, sand, and sky, until 

 it is arrested farther down by the bold headland of Mount Barkal. 



The " third " cataract, like the others, comprises several partial falls, below 

 an ancient island- studded lake, where the river expands to a width of some seven 

 miles between its two banks. At the first granite reef, that of Hannek, so called 

 from a Nubian castle on its left bank, the stream, divided into a thousand foaming 

 channels, presents a more decided fall. Here blackish rocks of hornblende and 

 feldspar project from twenty-four to twenty-six feet above low water. The river- 

 craft do not venture amid the openings of this irregular barrier ; but under the 

 right bank runs a channel broad enough to allow two boats to pass abreast. At 

 the entrance of the cataract a few trees festooned with creepers overhang, in dense 

 arches, reefs which are carefully avoided on account of the venomous snakes which 

 infest them. Lower down more islands are scattered in mid- stream, their verdure 

 contrasting vividly with the black rocks. The Hannek rapids have a total length 

 of 4 miles, and the difference of level between the two extreme points varies 

 from 18 feet at low water to 10 feet during the floods. It is thus evident 

 that the falL is here comparatively slight, as is the case in most of the other 

 cataracts. • 



Below Hannek the Nile trends sharply east and north towards the Kaibar or 

 Kajbar bank, which during the dry season seems to completely obstruct the stream. 

 It has the appearance of an artificial dyke, which by a peculiar optical illusion, due 

 to the contrast between the dark rock and the greyish water, seems to rise to a 

 considerable height. The rock must be approached quite closely to find the 

 tortuous outlets through which the foaming channels of the Nile escape. During 

 the floods the Kaibar barrier is entirely concealed, leaving free passage to the stream 

 between its banks. The Wadi-Halfa, or " second cataract," is the point where 

 most European and American travellers making the " tour of the Nile " bring their 

 journey to a close. The rock of Abu- Sir, which commands its tumidtuous waters 

 and affords a magnificent iminterrupted view of the southern horizon, is scrawled 

 all over with the names of adventurous tourists, proud of having penetrated so far 

 up the mysterious river. Although this cataract stretches over a space of more 

 than fifteen miles, it forms merely the lower portion of the series of rapids known 

 as the Batn-el-Hagar, which have a total length of about eighty miles. The river 

 presents everywhere the same aspect throughout the whole of this section. Its 

 broad bed is strewn with boulders, most of them rounded off like stones polished 

 by glacial action ; whilst others are disposed vertically like basalt columns, or else 

 cut up into jagged crests, bristling with sharp and needle-like spines. Between 

 these reefs rush the winding channels, each forming a separate cascade ; elsewhere 

 occur landlocked basins, in which the whirling waters seem completely arrested. 

 To these succeed other rapids, falls, and eddies, the cataract thus breaking up into 

 a thousand partial falls. But at low water these minute thread-like streams are 

 scarcely visible, being lost in the vast maze of shoals and channels. Excluding 

 the reefs, the archipelago consists of three hundred and fifty-three islands and 

 islets, each with its Nubian name, more than fifty of them being inhabited and 



