rious waters with a firm resolve to track them to their
distant fountain.
On arrival at Korosko in lat. 22° 44/ in twenty-six
days from Cairo we started across the Nubian desert,
thus cutting off the western bend of the Nile, and in
seven days’ forced camel march we again reached the
river at Aboh Hamed. The journey through that desert
is most fatiguing, as the march averages fifteen hours
a day through a wilderness of scorching sand and
glowing basalt rocks.. The simoom was in full force
at that season (May), and the thermometer, placed in
the shade by the water skins, stood at 114° Fahr.
No drinkable water was procurable on the ro u te :
thus our supply was nearly expended upon reaching
the welcome Nile. After eight days’ march on the
margin of the river from Aboh Hamed through desert,
but in view, of the palm trees that, bordered the
river, we arrived at Berber, a considerable town in
lat. 17“ 58' on the banks of the Nile.
Berber is eight days’ camel march from Khartoum
(at the junction of the White and Blue: Niles, in lat.
15° 30), and is the regular caravan route between
that town and Cairo,
From the slight experience I had gained in the
journey to Berbhr, I felt convinced that success in my
Nile expedition Would be impossible without a knowledge
of Arabic. My dragoman had me completely
in his power, and I resolved to become independent
of all interpreters as soon as possible. I therefore
arranged a plan of exploration for the first year to
embrace the affluents to the Nile from the Abyssinian
range of mountains, intending to follow up the Atbara
river from its junction with the Nile in lat. 17° 37'
(twenty miles south of Berber), and to examine all
the Nile tributaries from the south-east as far as
the Blue Nile, which river I hoped ultimately to
descend to Khartoum. I imagined that twelve months
would be sufficient to complete such an exploration,
by which time I should have gained a sufficient knowledge
of Arabic to enable me to start from Khartoum
for my White Nile expedition. Accordingly I left
Berber on the 11th June, 1861, and arrived at the
Atbara junction with the Nile on the 13th.
There is no portion of the Nile so great in its
volume as that part situated at the Atbara junction.
The river Atbara is about 450 yards in average width,
and from twenty-five to thirty feet deep during the
rainy season. I t brings down the entire drainage of
Eastern Abyssinia, receiving as affluents into its main
stream the great rivers Taccazy (or Settite), in addition
to the Salaam and Angrab, The junction of the
Atbara in lat. 17° 37' N. is thus, in a direct line from