CHAP. I.] 
ABYSSINIAN AFFLUENTS. 
7 
rivers Salaam and Angrab, at the foot of the magnificent 
range of mountains from which they flow direct into 
the Atbara. Having explored those rivers I passed 
through an extensive and beautiful tract of country 
forming a portion of Abyssinia on the south bank of 
the river Salaam; and again crossing the Atbara, I 
arrived at the frontier town of Gellabat; known by 
Bruce as “Bas el Feel” Marching due west from that 
point I arrived at the river Kahad in about lat. 12° 30'; 
descending its banks I crossed over a narrow strip of 
country to the west, arriving at the river Dinder, and 
following these streams to their junction with the Blue 
Nile, I descended that grand river to Khartoum, having 
been exactly twelve months from the day I had left 
Berber. 
The whole of the above-mentioned rivers, i.e. the 
Atbara, Settite, Salaam, Angrab, Rahad, Dinder, 
and Blue Nile, are the great drains of Abyssinia, all 
having a uniform course from south-east to north¬ 
west, and meeting the main Nile in two mouths; by 
the Blue Nile at Khartoum, 15° 30', and by the Atbara, 
in lat. 17° 3 7'. The Blue Nile during the dry season 
is so reduced that there is not sufficient water for the 
small vessels engaged in transporting produce from 
Sennaar to Khartoum ; at that time the water is beau- 
/ 
tifully clear, and, reflecting the cloudless sky, its colour 
