ALONG THE NILE, THROUGH EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 



407 





Photograph from Maynard Owen Williams 



COLOSSI OF RAMESES II AT ABU SIMBEL I LOWER NUBIA 



The faqade of the rock temple of Abu Simbel faces the rising sun across the Nile, so that 

 the earliest rays penetrate to the inner sanctuary. On each side of the entrance are two colossi 

 of Rameses. The greatest of Egypt's rulers is here shown wearing the double crown of Upper 

 and Lower Egypt. 



narrow belts of sunt trees (another sort 

 of acacia) line the banks of rivers. This 

 sunt-wood is prized for boat-building, for 

 tanning purposes, and' is much used for 

 fuel. 



Farther south, on the White Nile, where 

 there is more rain, forest growths increase, 

 and over in the Blue Nile country the giant 

 baobabs (Adansonia digitata) and the 

 Sudan ebony (Dalnergia melanoxylon) 

 are found. Another Sudan tree known to 

 commerce is the African mahogany of the 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal province. Fires, lit by 

 natives on hunting trips or to clear land, 

 have destroyed much good timber in the 

 Sudan. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE SOURCES OF THE 

 NILE 



The Nile, of course, saves this region 

 also from becoming an empty waste. His- 

 toric and important as this river is, its 

 sources were for centuries shrouded in 

 mystery. Early geographers advanced 

 various odd theories ; some said the Nile 

 and the Ganges rose in the frozen moun- 

 tains of north Asia, and other imagina- 



tive folk declared it came from "the 

 Mountains of the Moon." 



It was not till 1862 that Speke and 

 Grant located the main source of the 

 White Nile in what is now called Victoria 

 Nyanza (Lake Victoria). 



On its course through the Sudan the 

 Nile is joined by the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the 

 Sobat, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. 

 The Bahr-el-Ghazal flows out of the vast, 

 mysterious sudd swamps of the west; 

 the other three streams run down from 

 the east, bringing the drainage from the 

 Abyssinian hills. 



In all Africa there is, perhaps, no 

 greater natural curiosity than this famous 

 sudd (Arabic for block), a sort of vast 

 floating island of reeds, papyrus, and 

 small plants in the marshes formed by the 

 lower reaches of the Bahr-el-Jebel and 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal. 



British scientists have estimated the 

 sudd area at 35,000 square miles. One 

 writer says : "To the eye the effect is one 

 of a vast extent of brilliant green papyrus, 

 feathery reeds, and sword-grass, five to 

 twelve feet above the water, broken by 



