a large and celebrated river of Africa, to which the country of Egypt owes its fertility; and the exploring of the sources of which has, from the remotest ages, been accounted an impracticable undertaking. Of late this problem has been solved by James Bruce, Esq; of Kinnaird, in Scotland; who spent several years at the court of Abyssinia, and by the favour of the emperor and great people of the country was enabled to accomplish the arduous task.

In the account of his travels lately published, this gentleman has been at particular pains to show, that none of those who undertook this task ever succeeded in it but himself. The inquiry concerning its springs, he says, began before either history or tradition, and is by some supposed to be the origin of hieroglyphics. Though Egypt was the country which received the greatest benefit from this river, it was not there that the inquiries concerning its inundation began; it being probable that every thing relative to the extent and periodical time of that inundation would be accurately settled (which could not be done but by a long series of observations) before any person would venture to build houses within its reach.

The philosophers of Meroe, in our author's opinion, were the first who undertook to make a number of observations sufficient to determine these points; their country being so situated, that they could perceive every thing relative to the increase or decrease of the river without any danger from its overflowing. Being much addicted to astronomy, it could not long escape them, that the heliacal rising of the dog star was a signal for Egypt to prepare for the inundation; without which it was vain to expect any crop. The connection of this celestial sign with the annual rising of the river would undoubtedly soon become a matter of curiosity; and as this could not easily be discovered, it was natural for an ignorant and superstitious people to ascribe the whole to the action of the dog star as a deity. Still, however, by those who were more enlightened, the phenomenon would be ascribed to natural causes; and a great step towards the discovery of these, undoubtedly was that of the sources of the river itself. In the early ages, when travelling into foreign countries was impracticable by private persons, the inquiry into the sources of the Nile became an object to the greatest monarchs. Sesostris is said to have preferred the honour of discovering them almost to all the victories he obtained. Alexander the Great is well known to have had a great curiosity to discover these fountains. On his arrival at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, he is said to have made inquiry concerning the fountains of the Nile, even before he asked about his own descent from Jupiter. The priests are said to have given him proper directions for finding them; and Alexander took the most ready means of accomplishing his purpose, by employing natives of Ethiopia to make the search. These discoverers, in the opinion of Mr Bruce, missed their aim, by reason of the turn which the Nile takes to the east in the latitude of 9°, where it begins to surround the kingdom of Gojam; but which they might imagine to be only a winding of the river, soon to be compensated by an equal turn to the west. "They therefore (says he) continued their journey south till near the line, and never saw it more; as they could have no possible notion it had turned back behind them, and that they had left it as far north as latitude 9°." They reported then to Alexander what was truth, that they had ascended the Nile as far south as latitude 9°; where it unexpectedly took its course to the east, and was seen no more. The river was not known, nor to be heard of near the line, or farther southward, nor was it diminished in size, nor had it given any symptom that they were near its source; they had found the Nile calentem (warm), while they expected its rise among melting snows."

Mr Bruce is of opinion that this turn of the Nile to the eastward was the occasion of Alexander's extravagant mistake, in supposing that he had discovered the fountains of the Nile when he was near the source of the Indus; and which he wrote to his mother, though he afterwards caused it to be erased from his books.

Ptolemy Philadelphus succeeded Alexander in his attempts to discover the source of the Nile; but he likewise proving unsuccessful, the task was next undertaken by Ptolemy Energetes, the most powerful of the Greek princes who sat on the throne of Egypt. "In this (says Mr Bruce) he had probably succeeded, had he not mistaken the river itself. He supposed the Siris, now the Tacazze, to be the Nile; and ascending in the direction of its stream, he came to Axum, the capital of Sira and of Ethiopia. But the story he tells of the snow which he found knee-deep on the mountains of Samen, makes me question whether he ever crossed the Siris, or was himself an ocular witness of what he says he observed there?"

Cæsar had the same curiosity with other conquerors to visit the springs of the Nile, though his situation did not allow him to make any attempt for that purpose. Nero, however, was more active. He sent two centurions into Ethiopia, with orders to explore the unknown fountains of this river; but they returned without having accomplished their errand. They reported, that, after having gone a long way, they came to a king of Ethiopia, who furnished them with necessaries, and recommendations to some other kingdoms adjacent; passing which, they came to immense lakes, of which nobody knew the end, nor could they ever hope to find it. Their story, however, is by Mr Bruce supposed to be a fiction; as the Nile forms no lakes throughout its course, excepting that of Tzana or Dembea, the limits of which are easily perceived.

No other attempt was made by the ancients to discover the sources of this celebrated river; and the matter was looked upon to be an impossibility, insomuch that caput Nili quaere became a proverb, denoting the impossibility of any undertaking. The first who, in more modern ages, made any attempt of this kind kind was a monk sent into Abyssinia in the year 522, by Nonnus, ambassador from the Emperor Justinian. This monk is called Cosmas the Hermit, and likewise Indeployer, from his supposed travels into India. He proceeded as far as the city of Axum, but did not visit that part of the country where the head of the Nile lies; nor, in Mr Bruce's opinion, would it have been practicable for him to do so. The discovery, however, is said to have been made at last by Peter Paez the missionary. But the truth of this account is denied by Mr Bruce, for the following reasons:

1. "No relation of this kind (says he) was to be found in three copies of Peter Paez's history, to which I had access when in Italy, on my return home. One of these copies I saw at Milan; and, by the interest of friends, had an opportunity of perusing it at my leisure. The other two were at Bologna and Rome. I ran through them rapidly; attending only to the place where the description ought to have been, and where I did not find it; but having copied the first and last page of the Milan manuscript, and comparing them with the two last mentioned, I found that all the three were, word for word, the same, and none of them contained one syllable of the discovery of the source."

2. Alphonso Mendez came into Abyssinia about a year after Paez's death. New and desirable as that discovery must have been to himself, to the pope, king of Spain, and all his great patrons in Portugal and Italy; though he wrote the history of the country, and of the particulars concerning the mission in great detail and with good judgment, yet he never mentions this journey of Peter Paez, though it probably must have been conveyed to Rome and Portugal after his inspection and under his authority.

3. Balthazar Tellez, a learned Jesuit, has wrote two volumes in folio, with great candour and impartiality, considering the spirit of those times; and he declares his work to be compiled from those of Alphonso Mendez the patriarch, from the two volumes of Peter Paez, as well as from the regular reports made by the individuals of the company in some places, and by the provincial letters in others; to all which he had complete access, as also to the annual reports of Peter Paez, among the rest from 1598 to 1622; yet Tellez makes no mention of such a discovery, though he is very particular as to the merit of each missionary during the long reign of Facilidas, which occupies more than half the two volumes."

The first, and indeed the only account of the fountains of the Nile published before that of Mr Bruce, was Kircher's; who says that he took it from the writings of Peter Paez. The time when the discovery is said to have been made was the 21st of April 1618; at which season the rains are begun, and therefore very unwholesome; so that the Abyssinian armies are not without extreme necessity in the field; between September and February at farthest is the time they are abroad from the capital and in action.

"The river (says Kircher) at this day, by the Ethiopians, is called Abay; it rises in the kingdom of Gojam, in a territory called Sabala, whose inhabitants are called Agowos. The source of the Nile is situated in the west part of Gojam, in the highest part of a valley which resembles a great plain on every side surrounded by high mountains. On the 21st of April 1618, being here, together with the king and his army, I ascended the place, and observed everything with great attention: I discovered first two round fountains each about four palms in diameter, and saw, with the greatest delight, what neither Cyrus the Persian, nor Cambyses, nor Alexander the Great, nor the famous Julius Caesar, could ever discover. The two openings of these fountains have no issue in the plain on the top of the mountain, but flow from the root of it. The second fountain lies about a stone's cast west from the former; the inhabitants say that this whole mountain is full of water; and add, that the whole plain about the fountain is floating and unsteady, a certain mark that there is water concealed under it; for which reason the water does not overflow at the fountain, but forces itself with great violence out at the foot of the mountain. The inhabitants, together with the emperor, who was then present with his army, maintain, that that year it trembled very little on account of the drought; but in other years, that it trembled and overflowed so that it could scarce be approached without danger. The breadth of the circumference may be about the cast of a sling: below the top of this mountain the people live about a league distant from the fountain to the west; and this place is called Geelb; and the fountain seems to be about a cannon-shot distant from Geelb; moreover the field where the fountain is, is on all sides difficult of access, except on the north side, where it may be ascended with ease."

On this relation Mr Bruce observes, that there is no such place as Sabala; it ought to have been named Sacala, signifying the highest ridge of land, where the water falls equally down on both sides, from east and west, or from north and south. So the sharp roofs of our houses, where the water runs down equally on the opposite sides, are called by the same name. Other objections are drawn from the situation of places, and from the number and situation of the fountains themselves, every one of which Mr Bruce found by actual mensuration to be different from Kircher's account. The following, however, he looks upon to be decisive that Paez never was on the spot.

"He says, the field in which the fountains of the Nile are, is of very difficult access; the ascent to it being very steep, excepting on the north, where it is plain and easy. Now, if we look at the beginning of this description, we should think it would be the descent, not the ascent, that would be troublesome; for the fountains were placed in a valley, and people rather descend into valleys than ascend into them; but supposing it was a valley in which there was a field upon which there was a mountain, and on the mountain these fountains; still, I say, that these mountains are nearly inaccessible on the three sides; but that the most difficult of them all is the north, the way we ascend from the plain of Goutto. From the east, by Sacala, the ascent is made from the valley of Litchambara, and from the plain of Assoa to the south you have the almost perpendicular craggy cliff of Geelb, covered with thorny bushes, trees, and bamboos, which cover the mouths of the caverns; and on the north you have the mountains of Asformasa, thick set with all sorts of thorny trees and shrubs, especially with the kantuffa: these thickets are, more... over, filled with wild beasts, especially huge, long-haired baboons, which we frequently met walking upright. Through these high and difficult mountains we have only narrow paths, like those of sheep, made by the goats, or the wild beasts we are speaking of, which, after we had walked on them for a long space, landed us frequently at the edge of some valley or precipice, and forced us to go back again to seek a new road. From towards Zeegam to the westward, and from the plain where the river winds so much, is the only easy access to the fountains of the Nile; and they that ascend to them by this way will not even think that approach too easy."

Peter Heyling, a protestant of Lubec, resided several years in the country of Gojam, and was even governor of it, but he never made any attempt to discover the source of the Nile; dedicating himself entirely to a studious and solitary life. The most extraordinary attempt, however, that ever was made to discover the source of this or any other river, was that of a German nobleman named Peter Joseph de Roux, comte de Defreval. He had been in the Danish navy from the year 1721; and, in 1739, was made rear-admiral. That same year he resigned his commission, and began his attempt to discover the source of the Nile in Egypt. To this country he took his wife along with him; and had no sooner reached Cairo, than he quarrelled with a Turkish mob on a point of etiquette; which instantly brought upon them the janizaries and guards of police, to take them into custody. The countess exerted herself in an extraordinary manner; and, armed only with a pair of scissors, put all the janizaries to flight, and even wounded several of them; so that her husband was left at liberty to pursue his plan of discovery. To accomplish this, he provided a barge with small cannon, and furnished with all necessary provisions for himself and his wife, who was still to accompany him. Before he set out; however, it was suggested to him, that, supposing government might protect him so far as to allow his barge to pass the confines of Egypt safely, and to the first cataract; supposing also that he was arrived at Ibrim, or Deir, the last garrisons depending on Cairo; yet still some days journey above the garrisons of Deir and Ibrim began the dreadful desarts of Nubia; and farther south, at the great cataract of Jan Adel, the Nile falls 20 feet down a perpendicular rock—so that here his voyage must undoubtedly end. The count, however, flattered himself with being able to obtain such assistance from the garrisons of Ibrim and Deir, as would enable him to take the vessel to pieces, and to carry it up above the cataract, where it could again be launched into the river. To facilitate this scheme he had even entered into a treaty with some of the barbarians named Kennoufs, who reside near the cataract, and employ themselves in gathering senna, which abounds in their country. These promised to assist him in this extraordinary adventure; but, luckily for the count, he suffered himself at last to be persuaded by some Venetian merchants at Cairo not to proceed in person on such a dangerous and unheard of navigation, but rather to depute Mr Norden, his lieutenant, who was likewise to serve as his draughtsman to reconnoitre the forts of Ibrim and Deir, as well as the cataract of Jan Adel, and renew his treaty with the Kennoufs. This gentleman accordingly embarked upon one of the vessels common on the Nile, but met with a great many difficulties and disasters before he could reach Syene and the first cataract; after which having with still greater difficulty reached Ibrim, instead of meeting with any encouragement for the count to proceed on his voyage, he was robbed of all he had by the governor of the fort, and narrowly escaped with his life; it having been for some time determined by him and his soldiers, that Mr Norden should be put to death. By these difficulties the count was so much disheartened, that he determined to make no more attempts on the Nubian side. He now resolved to enter Abyssinia by the island of Mafuah. With this view he undertook a voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, in order to reach the Red Sea by the straits of Babelmandel: but having begun to use his Spanish commission, and taken two English ships, he was met by commodore Barnett, who made prizes of all the vessels he had with him, and sent home the count himself passenger in a Portuguese ship to Lisbon.

Thus Mr Bruce considers himself as the first European who reached the sources of this river. He informs us that they are in the country of the Agows, as Kircher had said; so that the latter must either have visited them himself, or have had very good information concerning them. The name of the place thro' which is the passage to the territory of the the Agows, is Abala; a plain or rather valley, generally about half a mile, and never exceeding a whole mile, in breadth. The mountains which surround it are at first of an inconsiderable height, covered to the very top with herbage and acacia trees; but as they proceed to the southward they become more rugged and woody.—On the top of these mountains are delightful plains, producing excellent pasture. Those to the west join a mountain called Aformaska, where, from a direction nearly south-east, they turn south, and inclose the villages and territory of Sacala, which lie at the foot of them; and still lower, that is, more to the westward is the small village of Geesh, where the fountains of the Nile are situated. Here the mountains are in the form of a crescent; and along these the river takes its course. Those which inclose the east side of the plain run parallel to the former in their whole course, making part of the mountains of Lechtambara, or at least joining with them; and these two, when behind Aformaska, turn to the south, and then to the south-west, taking the same form as they do; only making a greater curve, and inclosing them likewise in the form of a crescent, the extremity of which terminates immediately above a small lake named Goodeero in the plain of Assoa, below Geesh, and directly at the fountains of the Nile.

Having passed several considerable streams, all of which empty themselves into the Nile, our traveller found himself at last obliged to ascend a very steep and rugged mountain, where no other path was to be found but a very narrow one made by the sheep or goats, and which in some places was broken, and full of holes; in others, he was obstructed with large stones, which seemed to have remained there since the creation. The whole was covered with thick wood; and he was every where flopped by the kantuffa, as well as by several other thorn plant plants, almost as troublesome as that. Having at last, however, reached the top, he had a sight of the Nile immediately below him; but so diminished in size, that it now appeared only a brook scarce sufficient to turn a mill. The village of Geeth is not within sight of the fountains of the river, though not more than 600 yards distant from them. The country about that place terminates in a cliff of about 300 yards high, which reaches down to the plain of Assoa, continuing in the same degree of elevation till it meets the Nile again about 17 miles to the southward, after having made the circuit of the provinces of Gojam and Damot. In the middle of this cliff is a vast cave running straight northward, with many bye-paths forming a natural labyrinth, of sufficient bigness to contain the inhabitants of the whole village with their cattle. Into this Mr Bruce advanced about 100 yards; but he did not choose to go farther, as the candle he carried with him seemed ready to go out; and the people assured him that there was nothing remarkable to be seen at the end. The face of this cliff, fronting the south, affords a very picturesque view from the plain of Assoa below; parts of the houses appearing at every stage through the bushes and thickets of trees. The mouths of the cavern above-mentioned, as well as of several others which Mr Bruce did not see, are hid by almost impenetrable fences of the worst kind of thorn; nor is there any other communication betwixt the upper part and the houses but by narrow winding sheep-paths, very difficult to be discovered; all of them being allowed to be overgrown, as a part of the natural defence of the people. The edge of the cliff is covered with lofty and hightrees, which seem to form a natural fence to prevent people from falling down; and the beauty of the flowers which the Abyssinian thorns bear, seems to make some amends for their bad qualities. From the edge of the cliff of Geeth, above where the village is situated, the ground slopes with a descent due north, till we come to a triangular marsh upwards of 80 yards broad, and 286 from the edge of the cliff, and from a priest's house where Mr Bruce resided. On the east, the ground descends with a very gentle slope from the large village of Sacala, which gives its name to the territory, and is about six miles distant from the source, though to appearance not above two. About the middle of this marsh, and not quite 40 yards from the foot of the mountain of Geeth, rises a circular hillock about three feet from the surface of the marsh itself, though founded apparently much deeper in it. The diameter of this hillock is not quite 12 feet, and it is surrounded by a shallow trench which collects the water, and sends it off to the eastward. This is firmly built of sod brought from the sides, and kept constantly in repair by the Agows, who worship the river, and perform their religious ceremonies upon this as an altar. In the midst of it is a circular hole, in the formation or enlargement of which the work of art is evidently discernible. It is always kept clear of grass and aquatic plants, and the water in it is perfectly pure and limpid, but without any ebullition or motion discernible on its surface. The mouth is some parts of an inch less than three feet diameter, and at the time our author first visited it (Nov. 5, 1770), the water stood about two inches from the brim, nor did it either increase or diminish during all the time of his residence at Geeth. On putting down the shaft of a lance, he found a very feeble resistance at six feet four inches, as if from weak rushes and grass; and, about six inches deeper, he found his lance had entered into soft earth, but met with no obstruction from stones or gravel: and the same was confirmed by using a heavy plummet, with a line besmeared with soap.—This is the first fountain of the Nile.

The second fountain is situated at about ten feet distant from the former, a little to the west of south; and is only 11 inches in diameter, but eight feet three inches deep. The third is about 20 feet SSW from the first; the mouth being somewhat more than two feet in diameter, and five feet eight inches in depth. These fountains are made use of as altars, and from the foot of each issues a brisk running rill, which, uniting with the water of the first trench, goes off at the east side in a stream which, our author conjectures, would fill a pipe about two inches diameter. The water of these fountains is extremely light and good, and intensely cold, though exposed to the scorching heat of the sun without any shelter; there being no trees nearer than the cliff of Geeth. The longitude of the principal fountain was found by Mr Bruce to be 36° 55' 30" E. from Greenwich. The elevation of the ground, according to his account, must be very great, as the barometer stood only at 22 English inches. "Neither (says he) did it vary sensibly from that height any of the following days I stood at Geeth; and thence I inferred, that at the sources of the Nile I was then more than two miles above the level of the sea; a prodigious height, to enjoy a sky perpetually clear, as also a hot sun never overcast for a moment with clouds from rising to setting." In the morning of Nov. 6, the thermometer stood at 44°, at noon 96°, and at sunset 46°. It was sensibly cold at night, and still more so about an hour before sunrise.

The Nile thus formed by the union of streams from these three fountains runs eastward through the marsh for about 30 yards, with very little increase of its water, but still distinctly visible, till it is met by the grassy brink of the land descending from Sacala. By this it is turned gradually NE, and then due north; and in the two miles in which it flows in that direction it receives many small streams from springs on each side; so that about this distance from the fountains it becomes a stream capable of turning a common mill. Our traveller was much taken with the beauty of this spot. "The small rising hills about us (says he) were all thick covered with verdure, especially with clover; the largest and finest I ever saw; the tops of the heights covered with trees of a prodigious size; the stream, at the banks of which we were sitting, was limpid, and pure as the finest crystal; the sod covered thick with a kind of bushy tree, that seemed to affect to grow to no height, but, thick with foliage and young branches, rather to affix the surface of the water; whilst it bore, in prodigious quantities, a beautiful yellow flower, not unlike a single rose of that colour, but without thorns; and indeed, upon examination, we found that it was not a species of the rose, but of the hypericum."

Here Mr Bruce exults greatly in his success; as having Nile, having not only seen the fountains of the Nile, but the river itself running in a small stream; so that the ancient saying of the poet,

Nec licuit populis parcum te Nile videre,

could not be applied to him. Here he stepped over it; he says, more than 50 times, though he had told us, in the preceding page, that it was three yards over.

From this ford, however, the Nile turns to the westward; and, after running over loose stones occasionally in that direction about four miles farther, there is a small cataract of about six feet in height; after which it leaves the mountainous country, and takes its course through the plains of Goutto. Here it flows so gently that its motion is scarcely to be perceived, but turns and winds in its direction more than any river he ever saw; forming more than 20 sharp angular peninsulas in the space of five miles. Here the soil is composed of a marshy clay, quite destitute of trees, and very difficult to travel through; and where its stream receives no considerable addition. Illuing out from thence, however, it is joined by several rivulets which fall from the mountains on each side, so that it becomes a considerable stream, with high and broken banks covered with old timber trees for three miles. In its course it inclines to the north-east, and winds very much, till it receives first a small river named Diwa, and then another named Dee-oba, or the river Dee. Turning then sharply to the east, it falls down another cataract, and about three miles below receives the Jemma, a pure and limpid stream, not inferior in size to itself. Proceeding still to the northward, it receives a number of other streams, and at last crosses the southern part of the lake Tzana or Dembea, preserving the colour of its stream during its passage, and issuing out at the west side of it in the territory of Dara.

There is a ford, though very deep and dangerous, at the place where the Nile first assumes the name of a river, after emerging from the lake Dembea; but the stream in other places is exceedingly rapid: the banks in the course of a few miles become very high, and are covered with the most beautiful and variegated verdure that can be conceived. It is now confined by the mountains of Begemder till it reaches Alata, where is the third cataract. This, we are informed by Mr Bruce, is the most magnificent sight he ever beheld; but he thinks that the height has rather been exaggerated by the missionaries, who make it 50 feet; and after many attempts to measure it, he is of opinion that it is nearly 40 feet high. At the time he visited it, the river had been pretty much swelled by rains, and fell in one sheet of water, without any interval, for the space of half an English mile in breadth, with such a noise as stunned and made him giddy for some time. The river, for some space both above and below the fall, was covered with a thick mist, owing to the small particles of the water dashed up into the air by the violence of the shock. The river, though swelled beyond its usual size, retained its clearness, and fell into a natural basin of rock; the stream appearing to run back against the foot of the precipice over which it falls with great violence; forming innumerable eddies, waves, and being in excessive commotion, as may easily be imagined. Jerome Lobo pretends that he was able to reach the foot of the rock, and fit under

the prodigious arch of water spouting over it; but Mr Bruce does not hesitate to pronounce this to be an absolute falsehood. The noise of the cataract, which, he says, is like the loudest thunder, could not to confound and destroy his sense of hearing; while the rapid motion of the water before his eyes would dazzle the sight, make him giddy, and utterly deprive him of all his intellectual powers. "It was a most magnificent sight (says Mr Bruce), that ages, added to the greatest length of human life, would not deface or eradicate from my memory: it struck me with a kind of stupor, and a total oblivion of where I was, and of every other sublunary concern."

About half a mile below the cataract, the Nile is confined between two rocks, where it runs in a narrow channel with impetuous velocity and great noise. At the village of Alata there is a bridge over it, consisting of one arch, and that no more than 25 feet wide. This bridge is strongly fixed into the solid rock on both sides, and some part of the parapets still remain. No crocodiles ever come to Alata, nor are any ever seen beyond the cataract.

Below this tremendous water-fall the Nile takes a south-east direction, along the western side of Begemder and Amhara on the right, including the province of Gojam. It receives a great number of streams from both sides, and after several turns takes at last a direction almost due north, and approaches within 62 miles of its source. Notwithstanding the vast increase of its waters, however, it is still fordable at some seasons of the year; and the Galla cross it at all times without any difficulty, either by swimming, or on goatskins blown up like bladders. It is likewise crossed on small rafts, placed on two skids filled with wind; or by twisting their hands round the tails of the horses who swim over; a method always used by the women who follow the Abyssinian armies, and are obliged to cross unfordable rivers. In this part of the river crocodiles are met with in great numbers; but the superstitious people pretend they have charms sufficiently powerful to defend themselves against their voracity.—The Nile now seems to have forced its passage through a gap in some very high mountains which bound the country of the Ganges, and falls down a cataract of 280 feet high; and immediately below this are two others, both of very considerable height. These mountains run a great way to the westward, where they are called Dyre or Tegla, the eastern end of them joining the mountains of Kuira, where they have the name of Fazulo. These mountains, our author informs us, are all inhabited by Pagan nations; but the country is less known than any other on the African continent. There is plenty of gold washed down from the mountains by the torrents in the rainy season; which is the fine gold of Sennan named Tibbar.

The Nile, now running close by Sennaar in a direction nearly north and south, makes afterwards a sharp turn to the east; affording a pleasant view in the fair season, when it is brim-full, and indeed the only ornament of that bare and inhospitable country. Leaving Sennaar, it passes by many large towns inhabited by Arabs, all of them of a white complection; then passing Gerri, and turning to the north-east, it joins the Tacazze, passing, during its course through this country, try a large and populous town named Chendi, probably the Candace of the ancients. Here Mr Bruce supposes the ancient island or peninsula of Meroe to have been situated. Having at length received the great river Athara, the Astaboras of the ancients, it turns directly north for about two degrees; then making a very unexpected turn west by south for more than two degrees in longitude, and winding very little, it arrives at Korti, the first town in Barabra, or kingdom of Dongola. From Korti it runs almost southwest till it passes Dongola, called also Beja, the capital of Barabra; after which it comes to Mocho, a considerable town and place of refreshment to the caravans when they were allowed to pass from Egypt to Ethiopia. From thence turning to the north east it meets with a chain of mountains in about $22^\circ 15'$ N. latitude, where is the seventh cataract named Jan Adel. This is likewise very tremendous, though not above half as high as that of Alata. This course is now continued till it falls into the Mediterranean; there being only one other cataract in the whole space, which is much inferior to any of those already described.

This very particular and elaborate account of the sources of the Nile and of the course of the river given by Mr Bruce, hath not escaped criticism. We find him accused by the reviewers, not only of having brought nothing to light that was not previously known to the learned, but even of having revealed nothing which was not previously published in Guthrie's Geographical Grammar. This, however, seems by no means a fair and candid criticism. If the sources of the Nile, as described by Mr Bruce, were known to the author of Guthrie's Grammar, they must likewise have been so to every retailer of geography since the time of the missionaries; which, as the reviewers have particularized that book, would not seem to have been the case. If anything new was published there previous to the appearance of Mr Bruce's work, it must probably have been derived indirectly from himself, of which clandestine method of proceeding that gentleman has had frequent occasion to complain in other cases. It is alleged, however, that he has given the name of Nile to a stream which does not deserve it. This, like all other large rivers, is composed of innumerable branches; to visit the top of every one of which would be indeed an Herculean task. The source of the largest branch therefore, and that which has the longest course, is undoubtedly to be accounted the source of the river; but here it is denied that Mr Bruce had sufficient information. "Of the innumerable streams (say they) that feed the lake of Tzana, there is one that ends in a bog, to which Mr Bruce was conducted by Woldo, a lying guide, who told him it was the source of the Nile. Mr Bruce, in a matter of far less importance, would not have taken Woldo's word; but he is persuaded, that in this case he spoke truth; because the credulous barbarians of the neighbouring district paid something like worship to this brook, which, at the distance of 14 miles from its source, is not 20 feet broad, and nowhere one foot deep. Now it is almost unnecessary to observe, that the natives of that country being, according to Mr Bruce's report, pagans, might be expected to worship the pure and salutary stream; to which, with other extraordinary qualities, their superstition ascribed the power of curing the bite of a mad dog. Had he traced to its source any of the other rivulets which run into the lake Tzana, it is not unlikely that he might have met with similar instances of credulity among the ignorant inhabitants of its banks. Yet this would not prove any one of them in particular to be the head of the Nile. It would be trifling with the patience of our readers to say one word more on the question, whether the Portuguese Jesuits or Mr Bruce discovered what they erroneously call the head of the Nile. Before either they or he had indulged themselves in a vain triumph over the labours of antiquity, they ought to have been sure that they had effected what antiquity was unable to accomplish. Now the river described by the Jesuit Kircher, who collected the information of his brethren, as well as by Mr Bruce, is not the Nile of which the ancients were in quest. This is amply proved by the prince of modern geographers, the incomparable D'Anville (at least till our own Renial appeared), in a copious Memoir published in the 26th volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, p. 45. To this learned dissertation we refer our readers; adding only what seems probable from the writings of Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus, that the ancients had two meanings when they spoke of the head or source of the Nile: First, Literally, the head or source of that great western stream now called the White River; which contains a much greater weight of waters, and has a much longer course than the river described by the Jesuits and by Mr Bruce; and, adly, Metaphorically, the cause of the Nile's inundation. This cause they had discovered to be the tropical rains, which fall in the extent of 16 degrees on each side of the line; which made the Sacrifices of Minerva's temple of Sais in Egypt tell that inquisitive traveller Herodotus, that the waters of the Nile run in two opposite directions from its source; the one north into Egypt, the other south into Ethiopia; and the reports of all travellers into Africa serve to explain and confirm this observation. The tropical rains, they acknowledge, give rise to the Nile and all its tributary streams which flow northward into the kingdom of Senaar, as well as to the Zeboe, and to many large rivers which flow south into Ethiopia; and then, according to the inclination of the ground, fall into the Indian or Atlantic Ocean. Such then, according to the Egyptian priests, is the true and philosophical source of the Nile; a source discovered above 3000 years ago, and not, as Mr Bruce and the Jesuits have supposed, the head of a paltry rivulet, one of the innumerable streams that feed the lake Tzana."

On this severe criticism, however, it is obvious to remark, that if the source of the Nile had been discovered so many years ago, there is not the least probability that the finding of it should have been deemed an impossible undertaking, which it most certainly was, by the ancients.—That the finding out the fountains of the river itself was an object of their inquiry, cannot be doubted; and from the accounts given by Mr Bruce, it appears very evident that none of the ancients had equal success with himself; though indeed the Jesuits, as has already been observed, seem to have a right to dispute it with him. From the correspondence of his accounts with that of the Jesuits, it appears certain that the most considerable stream which flows into the lake Tzana takes its rise from the fountains at Geesh already described; and that it is the most considerable plainly appears from its stream being visible through the whole breadth of the lake, which is not the case with any of the rest. The preference given to this stream by the Agows, who worship it, seems also an incontestible proof that they look upon it to be the great river which passes through Ethiopia and Egypt; nor will the argument of the Reviewers hold good in supposing that other streams are worshipped, unless they could prove that they are so. As little can it be any objection or disparagement to Mr Bruce's labours, that he did not discover the sources of the western branch of the Nile called the White River. Had he done so, it might next have been objected that he did not visit the springs of the Tacazze, or any other branch. That the origin of the White River was unknown to the ancients may readily be allowed; but so were the fountains of Geesh, as evidently appears from the erroneous position of the sources of the eastern branch of the Nile laid down by Ptolemy. Our traveller, therefore, certainly has the merit, if not of discovering the sources, at least of confirming the accounts which the Jesuits have given of the sources of the river called the Nile; and of which the White River, whether greater or smaller, seems to be accounted only a branch. The superior veneration paid to the eastern branch of this celebrated river will also appear from the variety of names given to it, as well as from the import of these names; of which Mr Bruce gives the following account.

By the Agows it is named Gzeir, Gee/a, or Seir; the first of which terms signifies a god. It is likewise named Ab, father; and has many other names, all of them implying the most profound veneration. Having descended into Gojam it is named Abay; which, according to Mr Bruce, signifies the river that suddenly swells and overflows periodically with rain. By the Gongas on the south side of the mountains Dyre and Tagla, it is called Dabli, and by those on the north side Kowas; both which names signify a watching dog, the latralor anulie, or dog-flar. In the plain country between Fazuro and Sennaar it is called Nile, which signifies blue; and the Arabs interpret this name by the word Azergue; which name it retains till it reaches Halfaia, where it receives the White River.

Formerly the Nile had the name of Siris, both before and after it enters Beja, which the Greeks imagined was given to it on account of its black colour during the inundation; but Mr Bruce assures us that the river has no such colour. He affirms, with great probability, that this name in the country of Beja imports the river of the dog-flar, on whose vertical appearance this river overflows; "and this idolatrous worship (says he) was probably part of the reason of the question the prophet Jeremiah asks: And what shalt thou do in Egypt to drink the water of Seir, or the water profaned by idolatrous rites?" As for the first, it is only the translation of the word babar applied to the Nile. The inhabitants of the Barabra to this day call it Babar el Nil, or the sea of the Nile, in contradiction to the Red Sea, for which they have no other name than Bahar el Malech, or the Salt Sea. The junction of the three great rivers, the Nile flowing on the west side of Meroe; the Tacazze, which washes the east side, and joins the Nile at Mugirgan in N. Lat. 17°; and the Mareb, which falls into this last something above the junction, gives the name of Triton to the Nile.

The name Egyptus, which it has in Homer, and which our author supposes to have been a very ancient name even in Ethiopia, is more difficult to account for. This has been almost universally supposed to be derived from the black colour of the inundation; but Mr Bruce, for the reasons already given, will not admit of this. "Egypt (says he) in the Ethiopic is called y Gipt, Agar; and an inhabitant of the country, Cypt, for precisely so it is pronounced; which means the country of ditches or canals, drawn from the Nile on both sides at right angles with the river: nothing surely is more obvious than to write y Gipt, so pronounced, Egypt; and, with its termination us or os, Egyptus. The Nile is also called Kronides, Jupiter; and has had several other appellations bestowed upon it by the poets; though these are rather of a transitory nature than to be ranked among the ancient names of the river. By some of the ancient fathers it has been named Geon; and by a strange train of miracles they would have it to be one of the rivers of the terrestrial paradise; the same which is said to have encompassed the whole land of Cuth or Ethiopia. To effect this, they are obliged to bring the river a great number of miles, not only under the earth, but under the sea also; but such reveries need no refutation."

Under the article Egypt we have so fully explained the cause of the annual inundation of the Nile, that, with regard to the phenomena itself, nothing farther seems necessary to be added. We shall therefore only extract from Mr Bruce's work what he has said concerning the mode of natural operation by which the tropical rains are produced; which are now universally allowed to be the cause of the annual overflowing of this and other rivers.

According to this gentleman, the air is so much rarified by the sun during the time that he remains almost stationary over the tropic of Capricorn, that the other winds loaded with vapours rush in upon the land from the Atlantic ocean on the west, the Indian ocean on the east, and the cold Southern ocean beyond the Cape. Thus a great quantity of vapour is gathered, as it were, into a focus; and as the same causes continue to operate during the progress of the sun northward, a vast train of clouds proceed from south to north, which, Mr Bruce informs us, are sometimes extended much farther than at other times. Thus he tells us, that for two years some white dappled clouds were seen at Gondar on the 7th of January; the sun being then 34° distant from the zenith, and not the least cloudy speck having been seen for several months before. About the first of March, however, it begins to rain at Gondar, but only for a few minutes at a time, in large drops; the sun being then about 5° distant from the zenith. The rainy season commences with violence at every place when the sun comes directly over it; and before it commences at Gondar, green boughs and leaves appear floating in the Bahar el Abiad, or or White River, which, according to the accounts given by the Galla, our author supposes to take its rise in about 5° north latitude.

The rains therefore precede the sun only about 5°; but they continue and increase after he has passed it. In April all the rivers in the southern parts of Abyssinia begin to swell, and greatly augment the Nile, which is now also farther augmented by the vast quantity of water poured into the lake Tzana. On the first days of May, the sun passes the village of Gerri, which is the limit of the tropical rains; and it is very remarkable, that, though the sun still continues to operate with unabated vigour, all his influence cannot bring the clouds farther northward than this village; the reason of which Mr Bruce, with great reason, supposes to be the want of mountains to the northward. In confirmation of this opinion, he observes, that the tropical rains stop at the latitude of 14° instead of 16° in the western part of the continent. All this time, however, they continue violent in Abyssinia; and in the beginning of June the rivers are all full, and continue so while the sun remains stationary in the tropic of Cancer.

This excessive rain, which would sweep off the whole soil of Egypt into the sea were it to continue without intermission, begins to abate as the sun turns southward; and on his arrival at the zenith of each place, on his passage towards that quarter, they cease entirely: the reason of which is no less difficult to be discovered than that of their coming on when he arrives at the zenith in his passage northward. Be the reason what it will, however, the fact is certain; and not only so, but the time of the rains ceasing is exact to a single day; inasmuch, that on the 25th of September the Nile is generally found to be at its highest at Cairo, and begins to diminish every day after. Immediately after the sun has passed the line, he begins the rainy season to the southward; the rains constantly coming on with violence as he approaches the zenith of each place; but the inundation is now promoted in a different manner, according to the difference of circumstances in the situation of the places. From about 6° S. Lat. a chain of high mountains runs all the way along the middle of the continent towards the Cape of Good Hope, and intersects the southern part of the peninsula nearly in the same manner that the Nile does the northern. A strong wind from the south, stopping the progress of the condensed vapours, dashes them against the cold summits of this ridge of mountains, and forms many rivers, which escape in the direction either of east or west as the level presents itself. If this is towards the west, they fall down the sides of the mountains into the Atlantic, and if on the east into the Indian ocean.—"The clouds (says Mr Bruce), drawn by the violent action of the sun, are condensed, then broken, and fall as rain on the top of this high ridge, and swell every river; while a wind from the ocean on the east blows like a monsoon up each of these streams, in a direction contrary to their current, during the whole time of the inundation; and this enables boats to ascend into the western parts of Sofala, and the interior country to the mountains, where lies the gold. The same effect, from the same cause, is produced on the western side towards the Atlantic; the high ridge of mountains being placed between the different countries west and east, is at once the source of their riches, and of those rivers which conduct to the treasures, which would be otherwise inaccessible, in the eastern parts of the kingdoms of Benin, Congo, and Angola.

"There are three remarkable appearances attending the inundation of the Nile. Every morning in Abyssinia is clear, and the sun shines. About nine, a small cloud, not above four feet broad, appears in the east, whirling violently round as if upon an axis; but, arrived near the zenith, it first shades its motion, then loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to call up vapours from all the opposite quarters. These clouds having attained nearly the same height, rush against each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of Elioth foretelling rain on mount Carmel. The air impelled before the heaviest mass, or swiftest mover, makes an impression of its form on the collection of clouds opposite; and the moment it has taken possession of the space made to receive it, the most violent thunder possible to be conceived instantly follows, with rain; after some hours the sky again clears, with a wind at north; and it is always disagreeably cold when the thermometer is below 63°.

"The second thing remarkable is the variation of the thermometer. When the sun is in the southern tropic, 30° distant from the zenith of Gondar, it is seldom lower than 72°; but it falls to 66°, and 63°, when the sun is immediately vertical; so happily does the approach of rain compensate the heat of a too scorching sun.

"The third is that remarkable stop in the extent of the rain northward, when the sun, that has conducted the vapours from the line, and should seem now more than ever to be in possession of them, is here overruled suddenly; till, on its return to Gorri, again it resumes the absolute command over the rain, and reconducts it to the Line, to furnish distant deluges to the southward."

With regard to the Nile itself, it has been said that the quantity of earth brought down by it from Abyssinia is so great, that the whole land of Egypt is produced from it. This question, however, is discussed under the article Egypt, where it is shown that this cannot possibly be the case.—Among other authorities there quoted was that of Mr Volney, who strenuously argues against the opinion of Mr Savary and others, who have maintained that Egypt is the gift of the Nile. Notwithstanding this, however, we find him affirming that the soil of Egypt has undoubtedly been augmented by the Nile; in which case it is not unreasonable to suppose that it has been produced by it altogether.—"The reader (says he) will conclude, doubtless, from what I have said, that writers have flattered themselves too much in supposing they could fix the precise limits of the enlargement and rise of the Delta. But, though I would reject all illusory circumstances, I am far from denying the fact to be well founded; it is too plain from reason, and an examination of the country. The rise of the ground appears to me demonstrated by an observation on which little stress has been laid. In going from Rosetta to Cairo, when the waters are low, as in the month of March, we may remark, as we go up the river, that the shores rises gradually above the water; so that if it overflowed two feet at Rosetta, it overflows from three to four at Faona, and upwards of twelve at Cairo (a). Now by reasoning from this fact, we may deduce the proof of an increase by sediment; for the layer of mud being in proportion to the thickness of the sheets of water by which it is deposited, must be more or less considerable as these are of a greater or less depth; and we have seen that the like gradation is observable from Asouan to the sea.

"On the other hand, the increase of the Delta manifests itself in a striking manner, by the form of Egypt along the Mediterranean. When we consider its figure on the map, we perceive that the country which is in the line of the river, and evidently formed of foreign materials, has assumed a semicircular shape, and that the shores of Arabia and Africa, on each side, have a direction towards the bottom of the Delta; which manifestly discovers that this country was formerly a gulf, that in time has been filled up.

"This accumulation is common to all rivers, and is accounted for in the same manner in all: the rain water and the snow descending from the mountains into the valleys, hurry incessantly along with them the earth they wash away in their descent. The heavier parts, such as pebbles and sands, soon stop, unless forced along by a rapid current. But when the waters meet only with a fine and light earth, they carry away large quantities with the greatest facility. The Nile, meeting with such a kind of earth in Abyssinia and the interior parts of Africa, its waters are loaded and its bed filled with it; nay, it is frequently so embarrassed with this sediment as to be straitened in its course. But when the inundation returns to it its natural energy, it drives the mud that has accumulated toward the sea, at the same time that it brings down more for the ensuing season; and this, arrived at its mouth, heaps up, and forms shoals, where the declivity does not allow sufficient action to the current, and where the sea produces an equilibrium of resistance. The stagnation which follows occasions the groarser particles, which till then had floated, to sink; and this takes place more particularly in those places where there is least motion, as towards the shores, till the sides become gradually enriched by the spoils of the upper country and of the Delta itself; for if the Nile takes from Abyssinia to give to the Thebais, it likewise takes from the Thebais to give to the Delta, and from the Delta to carry to the sea. Wherever its waters have a current, it depopulates the same territory that it enriches. As we ascend towards Cairo, when the river is low, we may observe the banks worn steep on each side and crumbling in large flakes. The Nile, which undermines them, depriving their light earth of support, it falls into the bed of the river; for when the water is high, the earth imbites it; and when the sun and drought return, it cracks and moulders away in great flakes, which are hurried along by the Nile."

Thus does Mr Volney argue for the increase of the Delta in the very same manner that others have argued for the production of the whole country of Egypt; an opinion which he is at great pains to refute. Under the article Egypt, however, it is shown that the Nile does not bring down any quantity of mud sufficient for the purposes assigned; and with regard to the argument drawn from the shallowness of the inundation when near the sea, this does not prove any rise of the land; but, as Mr Rennei has judiciously observed in his remarks on the inundation of the Ganges, arises from the nature of the fluid itself. The reason, in short, is this: The surface of the sea is the lowest point to which the waters of every inundation have a tendency; and when they arrive there, they spread themselves over it with more ease than anywhere else, because they meet with less resistance. Their motion, however, by reason of the small declivity, is less swift than that of the waters farther up the river, where the declivity is greater; and consequently the latter being somewhat impeded in their motion, are in some degree accumulated. The surface of the inundation, therefore, does not form a perfectly level plain, but one gradually sloping from the interior parts of the country towards the sea; so that at the greatest distance from the ocean the water will always be deepest, even if we should suppose the whole country to be perfectly smooth, and composed of the most solid materials.—This theory is easily understood from observing a quantity of water running along a wooden spout, which is always more shallow at the end of the spout where it runs off than at the other.—With regard to Mr Volney's other arguments, they are without doubt contradictory; for if, as he says, the river takes from Abyssinia to give to the Thebais, from the Thebais to give to the Delta, and from Delta to the sea, it undoubtedly follows, that it gives nothing to any part of the land whatever, but that altogether is swept into the Mediterranean sea; which, indeed, some very trifling quantities excepted, is most probably the case.

It has been remarked by Mr Pococke, a very judicious traveller, that, in the beginning of the inundation, the waters of the Nile turn red, and sometimes green; and while they remain of that colour, they are unwholesome. He explains this phenomenon by supposing, that the inundation at first brings away that red or green filth which may be about the lakes where it takes its rise; or about the sources of the small rivers which flow into it, near its principal source; "for," says he, though there is so little water in the Nile when at lowest, that there is hardly any current in many parts of it, yet it cannot be supposed that the water should stagnate in the bed of the Nile so as to become green. Afterwards the water begins to be red and still more turbid, and then it begins to be wholesome."—This circumstance is explained by Mr Bruce in the following manner. The country about Narea and Caffa, where the river Abiad takes its rise, is full of immense marshes, where, during the dry season, the water stagnates, and becomes impregnated with every kind of corrupted matter. There, on the commencement of the rains, overflow into the river Abiad, which takes its rise there. The overflowing

(a) "It would be curious to ascertain in what proportion it continues up to Asouan. Some Copts, whom I have interrogated on the subject, assured me that it was much higher through all the Said than at Cairo." of these vast marshes first carry the discoloured water into Egypt; after which follows that of the great lake Tzana, through which the Nile passes; which, having been stagnated, and without rain, under a scorching sun for six months, joins its putrid waters to the former. In Abyssinia also, there are very few rivers that run after November, but all of them stand in prodigious pools, which, by the heat of the sun, likewise turn putrid, and on the commencement of the rains throw off their stagnant water into the Nile; but at last, the rains becoming constant, all this putrid matter is carried off, and the sources of the inundation become sweet and wholesome. The river then passing thro' the kingdom of Sennaar, the soil of which is a red soil, becomes coloured with that earth; and this mixture, along with the moving sands of the deserts, of which it receives a great quantity when raised by the wind, precipitates all the viscous and putrid matters which float in the waters; whence Mr Pocock judiciously observes, that the Nile is not wholesome when the water is clear and green, but when too red and turbid that it stains the water of the Mediterranean.

The rains in Abyssinia, which cease about the 8th of September, generally leave a fickle season in the low country; but the diseases produced by these rains are removed by others which come on about the end of October, and cease about the 8th of November. On these rains depend the latter crops of the Abyssinians; and for these the Agows pray to the river, or the genius or spirit residing in it. In Egypt, however, the effect of them is seldom perceived; but in some years they prove excessive: and it has been observed that the Nile, after it has fallen, has again risen in such a manner as to alarm the whole country. This is said to have happened in the time of Cleopatra, when it was supposed to prefigure the extinction of the government of the Ptolemies; and in 1737 it was likewise imagined to portend some dreadful calamity.

The quantity of rain, by which all this inundation is occasioned, varies considerably in different years; at least at Gondar, where Mr Bruce had an opportunity of measuring it. In 1770 it amounted to $35\frac{1}{2}$ inches; but in 1771 it amounted to no less than $41,355$ inches from the vernal equinox to the 8th of September.—What our author adds concerning the variation of the rainy months seems totally irreconcilable with what he had before advanced concerning the extreme regularity of the natural causes by which the tropical rains are produced. "In 1770 (says he) August was the rainy month; in 1771, July.—When July is the rainy month, the rains generally cease for some days in the beginning of August, and then a prodigious deal falls in the latter end of that month and first week of September. In other years July and August are the violent rainy months, while June is fair. And lastly, in others, May, June, July, August, and the first week of September."—If this is the case, what becomes of the regular attraction of the clouds by the sun as he advances northward; of the coming on of the rains when he arrives at the zenith of any place, in his passage to the tropic of Cancer; and of their ceasing when he comes to the same point in his return southward?

Under the article Ethiopia we have mentioned a threat of one of the Abyssinian monarchs, that he would direct the course of the Nile and prevent it from fertilizing the land of Egypt; and it has likewise been related, that considerable progress was made in this undertaking by another emperor. Mr Bruce has bestowed an entire chapter on the subject; and is of opinion, that "there seems to be no doubt that it is possible to diminish or divert the course of the Nile, that it should be insufficient to fertilize the country of Egypt; because the Nile, and all the rivers that run into it, and all the rains that swell these rivers, fall in a country two miles above the level of the sea; therefore it cannot be denied, that there is level enough to divert many of the rivers into the Red Sea, or perhaps still easier by turning the course of the river Abiad till it meets the level of the Niger, or pass through the desert into the Mediterranean."—Alphonso Albuquerque is said to have written frequently to the king of Portugal to send him pioneers from Madeira, with people accustomed to level grounds, and prepare them for sugar canes; by whose assistance he meant to turn the Nile into the Red Sea. This undertaking, however, if it really had been projected, was never accomplished; nor indeed is there any probability that ever such a mad attempt was proposed. Indeed, though we cannot deny that there is a possibility in nature of accomplishing it, yet the vast difficulty of turning the course of so many large rivers may justly dignify it as impracticable; not to mention the obstructions which must naturally be suggested from the apparent inutility of the undertaking, and which would arise from the opposition of the Egyptians.

It has already been observed in a quotation from the Reviewers, that Herodotus was informed by the satirist or secretary of the treasury of Minerva, that one half of the waters of the Nile ran north and the other south. This is also taken notice of by Mr Bruce; who gives the following explanation of it. "The secretary was probably of that country himself, and seems by his observation to have known more of it than all the ancients together. In fact we have seen, that between $13^\circ$ and $14^\circ$ north latitude, the Nile, with all its tributary streams, which have their rise and course within the tropical rains, falls down into the flat country (the kingdom of Sennaar), which is more than a mile lower than the high country in Abyssinia; and thence, with a little inclination, it runs into Egypt. Again, in latitude $9^\circ$, in the kingdom of Gingiro, the Zebce runs south or south-east, into the Inner Ethiopia, as do also many other rivers, and, as I have heard from the natives of that country, empty themselves into a lake, as those on the north side of the line do into the lake Tzana, thence distributing their waters to the east and west. These become the heads of great rivers, that run through the interior countries of Ethiopia (corresponding to the sea-coast of Melinda and Momboza) into the Indian Ocean; whilst, on the westward, they are the origin of the vast streams that fall into the Atlantic, passing through Benin and Congo, southward of the river Gambia and the Sierra-leona. In short, the periodical rains from the tropic of Capricorn to the line, being in equal quantity with those that fall between the line and the tropic of Cancer, it is plain, that if the land of Ethiopia sloped equally from the line southward and northward, the rains that fall would... go, the one half north and the other half south; but as the ground from 5° north declines all southward, it follows, that the rivers which run to the southward must be equal to those that run northward, plus the rain that falls in the 5° north latitude, where the ground begins to slope to the southward; and there can be little doubt that this is at least one of the reasons why there are in the southern continent so many rivers larger than the Nile, that run both into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans."

From this account given to Herodotus, it has been supposed, by some writers on geography, that the Nile divides itself into two branches, one of which runs northward into Egypt, and one through the country of the negroes westward into the Atlantic ocean. This opinion was first broached by Pliny. It has been adopted by the Nubian geographer, who urges in support of it, that if the Nile carried down all the rains which fall into it from Abyssinia, the people of Egypt would not be safe in their houses. But to this Mr Bruce answers, that the waste of water in the burning deserts through which the Nile passes is so great, that unless it was supplied by another stream, the White river, equal in magnitude to itself, and which, rising in a country of perpetual rains, is thus always kept full, it never could reach Egypt at all, but would be lost in the sands, as is the case with many other very considerable rivers in Africa. "The rains (says he) are collected by the four great rivers in Abyssinia; the Mareb, the Bowiha, the Tacazze, and the Nile. All these principal, and their tributary streams, would, however, be absorbed, nor be able to pass the burning deserts, or find their way into Egypt, were it not for the White river, which having its source in a country of almost perpetual rains, joins to it a never-failing stream equal to the Nile itself."

We shall conclude this article with some account of the Agows who inhabit the country about the sources of the Nile. These, according to Mr Bruce, are one of the most considerable nations in Abyssinia, and can bring into the field about 4000 horse and a great number of foot; but were once much more powerful than they are now, having been greatly reduced by the invasions of the Galla. Their province is nowhere more than 60 miles in length, or than 30 in breadth; notwithstanding which they supply the capital and all the neighbouring country with cattle, honey, butter, wax, hides, and a number of other necessary articles; whence it has been customary for the Abyssinian princes to exact a tribute rather than military service from them. The butter is kept from putrefaction during the long carriage, by mixing it with a small quantity of a root somewhat like a carrot, which they call mormose. It is of a yellow colour, and answers the purpose perfectly well; which in that climate it is very doubtful if salt could do. The latter is besides used as money; being circulated instead of silver coin, and used as change for gold. Brides paint their feet, hands, and nails, with this root. A large quantity of the seed of the plant was brought into Europe by Mr Bruce.

The Agows carry on a considerable trade with the Shangalla and other black savages in the neighbourhood; exchanging the produce of their country for gold, ivory, horns of the rhinoceros, and some fine cotton. The barbarity and thievish disposition of both nations, however, render this trade much inferior to what it might be.

In their religion the Agows are gross idolaters, paying divine honours to the Nile, as has already been observed. Mr Bruce, who lodged in the house of the priest of the river, had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with many particulars of their devotion. He heard him address a prayer to the Nile, in which he styled it the "Most High God, the Saviour of the world." In this prayer he petitioned for seasonable rain, plenty of grass, and the preservation of a kind of serpents; deprecating thunder also very pathetically. The most sublime and lofty titles are given by them to the spirit which they suppose to reside in the river Nile; calling it everlasting God, Light of the world, Eye of the World, God of Peace, their Saviour, and Father of the Universe.

The Agows are all clothed in hides, which they manufacture in a manner peculiar to themselves. These hides are made in the form of a shirt reaching down to their feet, and tied about the middle with a kind of girdle. The lower part of it resembles a large double petticoat; one fold of which they turn back over their shoulders, fastening it with a broach or skewer across their breast before, and the married women carry their children in it behind. The younger sort generally go naked. The women are marriageable at nine years of age, though they commonly do not marry till eleven; and they continue to bear children till 30, and sometimes longer. They are generally thin, and below the middle size, as well as the men. Barrenness is quite unknown among them.

The country of the Agows has a very elevated situation, and is of course to temperate that the heat may easily be borne, though little more than 10° from the equator. The people, however, are but short-lived; which may in part be owing to the oppression they labour under. This, according to Mr Bruce, is excessive. "Though their country (says he) abounds with all the necessaries of life, their taxes, tributes, and services, especially at present, are so multiplied upon them, whilst their distresses of late have been so great and frequent, that they are only the manufacturers of the commodities they sell, to satisfy these constant exorbitant demands, and cannot enjoy any part of their own produce themselves, but live in penury and misery scarce to be conceived. We saw a number of women wrinkled and sun-burnt as scarce to appear human, wandering about under a burning sun, with one and sometimes two children upon their backs; gathering the seeds of bent grass to make a kind of bread."

Nileometer, or Niloscope, an instrument used among the ancients to measure the height of the water of the river Nile in its overflows.

The word comes from Νείλος, Nile (and that from νεῖλος, "new mud," or, as some others will have it, from νεῦρον, "I flow," and μέτωπον, "mud"), and μέτρον, "measure." The Greeks more ordinarily call it Νείλομετρον.

The nilometer is said, by several Arabian writers, to have been first set up, for this purpose, by Joseph during his regency in Egypt; the measure of it was