THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. S 53 



alarmed him fo much, that he ordered his gallies to keep a 



confiderable offing. 



After the fire has confirmed all the dry grafs on the 

 plain, and, from it, done the fame up to the top of the high- 

 eft mountain, the large ravines, or gullies, made by the tor- 

 rents falling from the higher ground, being fhaded by their 

 depth, and their being in pofTemon of the laft water that 

 runs, are the lateft to take fire, though full of every fort of 

 herbage. The large bamboos, hollow canes, and fuch like 

 plants, growing as thickas they can ftand, retain their green- 

 nefs, and are not dried enough for burning till the fire has 

 cleared the grafs from all the reft of the country. At laft, 

 when no other fuel remains, the herdfmen on the top of the 

 mountains fet fire to thefe, and the fire runs down in the 

 very path in which, fome months before, the water ran, fill- 

 ing the whole gully with flame, which does not end till it 

 is checked by the ocean below where the torrent of water 

 entered, and where the fuel of courfe ceafes. This I have 

 often feen myfelf, and been often nearly inclofed in it, and 

 can bear witnefs, that, at a diflance, and by a ftranger igno- 

 rant of the caufe, it would very hardly be diftinguifhed 

 from a river of fire. 



"The Shangalla go all naked'; they have feveral wives, and 

 thefe very prolific. They bring forth children with the 

 utmoft eafe, and never reft or confine themfelves after deli- 

 very, but wafhing themfelves and the child with cold wa- 

 ter, they wrap it up in a foft cloth made of -the bark of trees, 

 and hang it upon a branch, that the large ants, with which 

 they are infefted, and the ferpents, may not devour it. After 

 a few days, when it has gathered ftrength, the mother carries 



Vol. II. 4 A it 



