402 
THE BLUE AND WHITE NILES. 
where irrigated, the country everywhere presents an 
arid, uninteresting aspect ; drifting sands cover the 
land ; there are no trees or anything green to relieve 
the eye from the glare. In the distance to the north, 
about seven miles off, there are a few bare hills — those 
of Dongola, and a small range to the left. It is truly 
a land of banishment, cut off by deserts and a river of 
cataracts from the civilised portions of the world. To 
this Soudan, or country of the blacks, many whose 
conduct is questioned by their government are sent to 
pine without hope of release, unless their shortcomings 
should be forgiven, or a change of rulers take place, 
when they might hope for pardon, and permission to 
return to their homes in Egypt proper. 
In April the Blue Nile was twenty feet lower than 
it is during the months of July and August ; the 
snows in the mountains of Abyssinia bring it up to 
this height; and I suspect this flood has more to do 
with the inundations of Lower Egypt than the more 
constant flow of water from the White Nile. The 
latter river we saw at its maximum height in Novem- 
ber, and it has another flooding season in April. 
"Where do these waters go ? A great portion is lost 
in overrunning a space of perhaps 1000 square miles 
of lowland ; and the White Nile thus robbed, as it 
were, never displays those sudden changes in height 
that the Blue Nile, more confined to its bed, presents. 
The waters of the two rivers are very different in 
taste and appearance. Neither is considered first-class 
drinking water by residents at • Khartoom ; but after 
their waters are mingled well together, the mixture 
is esteemed excellent. Opposite the town the Blue 
Nile is two hundred and fifty yards across, and of a 
