Alexandria, about 840 geographical miles of latitude,
and, including the westerly bend of the Nile, its bed
will be about eleven hundred miles in length, from
the mouth of its last tributary the Atbara until it
meets the sea. Thus, eleven hundred miles of absorption
and evaporation through sandy deserts and the
delta must be sustained by the river between the
Atbara junction and the Mediterranean : accordingly
there is an immense loss of water ; and the grandest
volume of the Nile must be just below the Atbara
junction.
I t is not my intention in the present work to enter
into the details of my first year’s exploration on the
Abyssinian frontier; that being so extensive and so
completely isolated from the grand White Nile expedition,
that an amalgamation of the two would create
confusion. I shall therefore reserve the exploration of
the Abyssinian tributaries for a future publication, and
confine my present description of the Abyssinian rivers
to a general outline of the Atbara and Blue Nile,
showing the origin of their floods and their effect upon
the inundations in Lower Egypt.
I followed the banks of the Atbara to the junction
of the Settite or Taccazy river; I then followed the
latter grand stream into the Abyssinian mountains in
the Basé country. From thence 1 crossed over to the
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 “ Has el Feel.” Marching due west from that
point I arrived at the river Rahad 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 northwest,
and meeting the main Nile in two mouths; by
the Blue Nile at Khartoum, 15° 30', and by the Atbara,
in lat. 17° 37'. 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 beautifully
clear, and, reflecting the cloudless sky, its colour