I had roused a herd of gazelles standing at my left, but permitted them to withdraw in peace; for I had just found two little hills consisting of stones of inconsiderable size, evidently thrown together here. Judging from the analogy of the stone hills I had seen in Kassela, and being fully persuaded that no violent rains from the mountains above, or flood from the Nile, could have so placed them, I took them to be ancient tombs, and searched for potsherds and other memorials of buildings that might have stood here, but in vain. Negro villages and cities disappear the moment they are not inhabited, like ignited bundles of straw, and the ashes do not remain on the ground. Yet it is not likely that there were manyinhabited places here, for the unprotected man of nature does not make his residence near the rocky encampments and cavities of wild beasts, and no fragments here indicated the contrary. The native of a civilised country must forget all analogies of his own land, if he wish to comprehend the meaning, custom, and possible conduct of a rude nation.
I ascended with ease the nearest fundament of the granite rock. The rain and distilling sun had produced several round holes, which appeared to have been chiselled by the hand of man, and which may frequently blow up these firm masses of stone, as if a mine were sprung underneath, when they happen to fall on a vein. I found these holes principally in those places where the rocks presented a flat, horizontal superfices, as I had remarked also previously in the granite mountains of the Land of the Troglodytes.
My huntsman—whom, however, I could not see—shot close to me, and a covey of guinea-fowls rose from behind the next block of stone, and induced me to mount in pursuit of them. I took off my shoes, and it was like walking on a red-hot oven, notwithstanding I kept on my stockings. As we ascend to the summit of this mountain-group, a dreadful destruction and piling of rocks one over the other is observed, similar to the scene on the rocks near Phile. Granite rocks, originally lying above the level of the waters, are rounded on the top into the form of pikes, cupolas, and horns. Periodical rains and a hot sun may split, rend, and break them, though only as an exception to the general rule, as Ibelieve from the analogy of the Alps, the mountains on the Nile, and in the desert and country of Taka; they throw off, therefore, perhaps, their decayed covering, and burst forth new like an egg from the shell; and, although the layers on the side of the wind, rain, and sun, admit of no regularity of form, yet they seldom display any ghastly splits or gaps. I would assume, therefore, that these rocks also stood at one time as crags above or beneath the water, in which opinion I am supported by the rounded gravel visible here and there on the layers of rocks. I cannot certainly determine in what manner the granite rocks, projecting here into the Nile, and extending into the river bed as far as the mountains of Kordofàn, and connected with the distant mountain visible on the other side, in N. and S.E. from the mountains here, may prevent at some future times the waters of the lake from being drawn off.
I was now on the summit, where I found a human skull, and felt myself very tired, whilst evening was coming on. In order to descend by another path, I slid down, disregardless of hurting myposteriora, laying my gun on my knees, and tying two guinea-fowls I had shot round my neck; and it was fortunate for me I did so, or else the back of my head would have been stove in. I met one of Suliman Kashef’s soldiers on the lower declivity, who pointed out to me wild buffaloes and elephants at a distance, close to whom he had been. We had seen already a very large quantity of elephants’ dung. I had lost my huntsman in the rocks: he brought fowls also, but trembled dreadfully, because, just as he was aiming atthe herds, a lion had presented himself at a short distance. The presence of lions was subsequently doubted; but this morning my two other servants took quite a young lion in their hands, to bring him to me; but they thought it more advisable afterwards to let him bask on in the sun. They, as well as several others, remarked also wild buffaloes and boars (Jalùff) in the neighbourhood; and they brought me, as a proof of the former animals being present here, a horn quite fresh, the owner of which, had become the prey of lions; for the marafill (the spotted hyæna), whose calcareous dung is visible in all parts of this region, never attacks buffaloes.
I repaired now to the foot of the next mountain-group, and was soon convinced that it was of the same species of stone; however, to be quite sure, I had pieces or specimens of stone brought me from the highest peak, and my servants have confirmed me in my opinion, that there are only two mountains, although Arnaud asserts that he has seen sixteen, without putting on magnifying glasses. Some of these specimens consist of pink feldspar, white albin, grey quartz, and black mica; others of dark red feldspar, but without albin, with white quartz and black mica.
I stumbled upon Suliman Kashef on my way back, who had collected his halberdiers around him, and was enthroned on a rock where he could be seen at a distance. He set out this afternoon to make observations, which he might have done yesterday evening. The heat is very great, and I bathe for the first time since a long while, having left it offfrom fear of catching fever. The Frenchmen think that they shew great courage by going into the water; but it is always full of men the whole day long, and no accident has happened from the crocodiles. My men had not shot any of the gazelles that appeared near the rocks, to take a hasty draught; the Baghàras, however, paid us a visit, and brought sheep; they thought that we were come to make war in their favour, yet no Dinkas dwell near here, but more up the river. Thermometer 27·30°; 32·31°.
14th April.—This morning we proceed at last with a favourable south-east wind to north, with easterly deviations; but we soon came to a flat in the Nile, formed by a granite shelf partly visible, which crosses the river. It is called Gisser—the same as wall or dam, analogous to Tschellal—and was once perhaps really a dam and breast-work, of which only the foundations remain. Who can estimate its future form, and its present ramifications! We scrape along it a little, but then all went right, and we passed in the afternoon, N. by W., the very dangerous Machada—el ans, and Machada Abu Seid mentioned in the ascent, where there was an eternal grating of the vessels, as if over a gravelly bank: first we, then the others stuck fast, and the sailors had very troublesome work. We halted at the left shore, where an incredible number of monkeys were sitting on the trees. I took my gun, and in searching through the forest, remarked a she-monkey, among numerous others, the young one sitting on the lower branches. As soon as she perceived us, she sprang quickly to her young, took it under her arm, and set herself on the highest boughof the tree. Who could shoot at the mother for the sake of getting the young? There was another monkey-like animal there which can only be taken at night; I forget the name of it.
An arm of the Nile, the ends of which are now closed, appeared to be a favourite pond of the gazelles, though not one of them fell to our lot.
The inundation rises through the entire forest, the earth is cracked far and wide, and not a spike of grass is to be seen under the sunt, of which the forest of the Shilluks consists, with few exceptions. But there lay a number of broken off branches and dead trees, that had not attained their proper age, because, when there is too much water, the trees stand too thickly, and their tops get lashed together, and these sunts, especially, spreading from top to bottom with short boughs, leave no draught, so that the centre of them is deprived of the necessary air. We remark, however, where the forest is sufficiently thin, a number of trees thrown down and withered, especially where the shores lie lower, and where, therefore, the ground can be scarcely dry at any time of the year. This may proceed perhaps from wind, for though the latter is not so violent as to tear up trees from the root, like our northern storms, yet the tender nourishing fibres are injured or torn off by the continual motion of the trees, which must be followed by a stretching and straining of the roots. The tree stands, pines away, and falls, as we have remarked previously in the country of Taka.
Suliman Kashef related, with an important air, that he shot quite close to a large hippopotamus severaltimes yesterday evening, without the beast moving, until, at last, it slowly walked into the river. This Nile buffalo was said to be a Scheïtan, and Selim Capitan believed the very same thing. I threw in a hint that Mohammed Ali might have assumed this form, in order to see what good the expedition was doing—whereupon there wasaltum silentium! Thermometer, 22° 32° to 33°.
15th April.—Between N. and N.W. The nearest shores are low, and even where the forest extends to them, they are but slightly elevated, and the overthrown trees present a melancholy appearance here instead of the cheerful underwood. The old shores of the river are visible right and left through the downs of the forest, and are really high shores, without any deception, for the vessel goes considerably lower during our present return voyage, and no illusion takes place, as is the case with the slight elevation in the extensive plain, which always appears to the eye to be ascending. We navigate on the broad stream as if in the forest, woody islands on the right, the same on the left, but sunt, always sunt, with its melancholy foliage,—my heart longs for beeches and oaks and their shady halls! It is only on the shore where winds and water take effect above and below, that we see trees completely uprooted. The high water has no power towards the interior of the shore, but another evil spirit, the Habùb (storm), throws down and scatters boughs and trees.
The north-west wind is against us; we go therefore over N. easterly to N.E. These windings depend principally on how we sail round the islands. Themain direction of the stream is, and remains from the present, N., with slight deviations to E. and W. The shores encompassing the long island-sound, are generally invisible; an accurate map, therefore, could be only drawn up by a longer stay here.
In the afternoon we halt for a moment at the right shore, and near the large island of Aba, and hear from the Hassaniës and people of El Aes that a large hippopotamus had been struck by three harpoons close at hand. We navigate, therefore, to the left, at the island of El Gamùss, which has its name partly from the number of Nile buffaloes taking up their abode in their neighbourhood; and we see, at its head, the mighty snorting beast half out of water; but he soon, however, drew back, and swam into the Nile arm, between the island and the left shore. The sàndal was towed near him, and after the sürtuk had twice upset, yet without confounding the experienced swimmers, and the beast had tried in vain to escape, it occurred to our men, as the hippopotamus was obliged from want of breath to come up constantly to the surface, to fasten the towing-rope to the three harpoon, and thus to drag him ashore like a vessel. Before, however, they got so far, the beast collected his last strength, and shortly before arriving at the shore, sprung up with such force that several of the heroes jumped back. I thought that I should see a national hunt, and the hippopotamus killed with the spear; but the Turks did not wait for him to gainterra firma, but shot at him where he was, half out of water, and certainly, had he landed, he might have trod several men under his feet, and torn them with his respectable tusks.
Nine shots were fired one after the other, Suliman Kashef’s was the last, and it hit the animal behind the ear: the blood spouted up, and the monster fell, slain by man’s art, not by his courage. We had him dragged by the tow-rope of the sàndal to our landing-place, and I then found that the balls had pierced his neck and back, which might well happen, when we consider that the distance was only fifteen paces and that the beast had a fat hide, with no other shield than the yielding rumples, extending crossways over the back. The inside of the holes perforated by the bullets, felt like the body of a fat hog. The monster might be even compared in his clumsy form to a small elephant, and both correspond just as little as the crocodile, to our usual ideas of beauty in animals, which are generally reduced to the standard of the noble horse. The skin of the hippopotamus displays a dirty pink hue, from the back to the belly, and the dark green of the upper part of the body runs into this other colour. The skin, in drying, changes to a dark grey.
The soil of the island, excellent in other respects, is torn up by the inundation, ascending several feet over it; but many trees are lying withered and parched up on the ground. I took a specimen of the seeds of a dwarf acacia, with barbs: I observed also guinea-fowls and monkeys: the last are said to swim.
Sabatier, who compares the shores of the Nile here to those of the Mississippi, only that on the latter the trees are higher, is going to accompany me, in Thibaut’s bark to the Aes, whilst M. Arnaud decides upon preparing to-morrow the skin of the hippopotamus,which he has bought for two hundred and fifty piasters.
16th April.—Thibaut has started without us—asleep, as he afterwards said. We remain under Arnaud’s jurisdiction till the afternoon, then go libàhn against the north wind, and halt late in the evening, at the right shore. Thermometer 24°, 34°, to 35°.
17th April.—The wind is against us in our course; forest, islands, downs, mostly with a gentle ascent and shallows, alternate with my impatience, until at last we reach El Aes in the afternoon.
El Aes, lying on a sandy down, which ascends and descends with intermission, is said to be a new place, and is called after a former sheikh of this name. The present sheikh is denominated Achmet, and the people appear to be a mixed breed. They do not wish to have much acquaintance with the Turks, although they are subject to taxation, which a soldier collects there as Kaimakan. Thermometer, noon, 33°.
18th April.—Long before daybreak we proceeded on our voyage, without any oxen having been brought to us. At first we passed by several islands, and then left the island of Gùbescha at our right; several Sagiën fallen to ruin, and some chains of buckets being visible on the left shore. The village of Hedjasi lies in the neighbourhood, but not a person was to be seen, although we remained there the afternoon; even onions were not to be got. Suliman Kashef thinks that he is not much beloved here, which I can very readily believe. Thousands ofcamels were being led to water on the left shore, by the Kabbabish Arabs who come from the interior, and are said to possess more of these animals than all the other Arabs put together. This occurs every eight or ten days, and the tribe take back with them what water they need. Suliman Kashef wanted to make friends with them, because he saw that they had some cows and goats; but they trotted off as if a storm were coming on, keeping themselves in troops like an army, whilst they are said to have shouted “Abu Daoud!”
The colony of Hedjasi lies in a good situation, and might become a granary for Kordofàn. The soil is somewhat light; the ground formerly ascended, which declination might have been gradually lost, when the terraces were in the act of formation; at present it is all fallen away.
19th April.—After we had navigated the whole night, we found ourselves this morning in the country called Tura, from whence various roads lead to Kordofàn. The flat shores are sandy, and rise, having a bad and meagre growth of trees. On the right and left are some hills of downs, on which we find reddish pieces of granite, such as I met with near the Sagiën. Whence this poverty of humus, for Nature ought to be more fertilizing, as she washes away sand from the ground first, and then brings the lighter humus just as we see at the Delta? We saw nothing of the mountain group of Araskòll, for the vessels go now too low. Suliman Kashef continues his voyage, whilst Selim Capitan and Arnaud have landed on the left shore, the latter to seek for gold in theAraskòll. The shores continue in sandy downs, especially on the right side, but an immeasurable level plain extends on the left, of which we have an extensive view, by reason of the shores being scarcely elevated above the water. This character of the country passes also subsequently to the right side. The entirely flat margin of the broader part of the stream, which we sail through with a favourable east wind, following Suliman Kashef, is not pure sand; yet we observe upon it thin tracts of underwood standing back a little, and dwarf mimosas.
This part is, as it were, the mouth of the river, and formed, in ancient times, a shallow lake by the conflux of the White and Blue streams, as the downs on the right prove, which are in connection with those at Khartùm, and formed the very same embankment; for the more violent pressure of the Blue river clearly opposes the broad stream of the White one, as we see plainly near the island of Tuti, and perhaps only subsequently broke through the angle of land at the right side of this island; if it made previously, as the Arabs believe, a bend from the city of Soba to the west into the White river, and thus surrounded, with the latter, the desert rocks of Omdurman lying at the side. An investigation, however, would be necessary to ascertain this point. The Downs continue again afterwards at the right shore, alternating even with downs of earth.
If a shallow lake of such dimensions existed here at one time, the north wind drove its waves and billows to this side, and piled up these irregular heights, which are not arranged in a row like a chain, butsometimes advance, sometimes retreat. The lake withdrew, and the river levelled, took and gave, so that in many places long tracts of continuous sandy shores existed, having, however, a fertile substratum, because otherwise there could not be the vegetation that there is. This subjacent soil is also frequently visible as humus or morass, and under it an adhesive blue clay is found, as I ascertain plainly by the sailors’ poles, which are continually being pushed into the deep. Thermometer 22° 29° to 30° 28°.
20th April.—We halted yesterday at sunset, near the mandjeras of Khurdshid Basha on the right shore. These docks (there is a similar one on the blue river at Kamlin) are still used, and two new ships have just been built, whilst ten barks are in dock for repairs. The workmen live in the village immediately behind the high shore of the downs, and I saw, in my excursion there, several fowls walking cheerfully with a number of turtle-doves in the shade of the sunt trees, although the people would not sell me a fowl. There is also a corn magazine here, with overseers and soldiers.
The neighbouring sheikh and Arabs came to kiss Suliman Kashef’s hand: he never once looked at them, but went on speaking with the other Turks. Such conduct, with many other things of the same kind, is practised deliberately; although it may seem to the inexperienced only to arise from forgetfulness. In short, the Turks do everything to make themselves disliked. It is most advisable for a person who is not dependent on them, to treat them with a certain kind of indifference, to seat himself immediatelyclose to them, stretch his legs here and there in all possible ways, and ask for a pipe, without waiting for this favour from the swaggering fools; otherwise the Jaur or Kaffr will always be neglected and despised by the Musselmen.
I examined this morning the nature of the downs, and found that they are rather deposited earthen walls or dikes, fruitful humus strongly impregnated with shingle or rubbish, (dissolved particles of stone) and sand. A covering of sand overlays these hills of earth, being thick, and accumulated by water and wind towards that part of the river-side which is more broken and washed away. The hills lose themselves towards the land side, gently descending in a wide plain (galla) covered with scanty mimosas, which still remain tolerably elevated above the river and the left shore. We observe here far beyond the lower trees, a second dam of downs, which may surpass the former one in height, and perhaps is the old border of the right side of the Nile.
Now, when I see from these heights of downs, which are sufficiently elevated to enable me to look over a low surface of earth, the left shore lying level with the water-line itself, I am no longer surprised at not having found any limits for the border of the Nile, on our ascent. But it is exactly on this account that I take it to be impossible, with the present state of the Nile, that those morass hills (for the constituent parts are and remain nothing else but morass, mixed and rolled on by other powers than the present), could be formed, even at the highest water-mark, under present circumstances. Yet the latter have been alwaysthe same since the land became dry, and the left shore was still lower than it is at present. But now the river has full play, and it cannot therefore rise high, as the appearance of the hills of earth teach us themselves. If there lay here, however, a shallow lake, through which the current of the Nile flowed, then morass-hills might have been formed to the height of the highest water-mark. And this is what I believe. The Downs still continue for a good tract, and are lost imperceptibly, again to emerge under the very same appearance.
Arnaud wants to have the hippopotamus-skin dressed again; it is extended on the sand, but it diffuses a very bad smell, and he retains therefore only its head. We must remain here till noon for the sake of this important business, and because Arnaudwillmake observations. Then a somewhat favourable but faint wind gets up: we navigate henceforth almost N. and N.W. In the afternoon the piles of earth, thrown up by the waters of the lake, are visible on the right side of the Nile, similar to those I have seen in the lake-caldron of Taka.
At dusk reefs are seen in the river: they appear to me to be limestones, and extend from the granite bank of Syene across the river from E. to W. At one time they might have carried on their backs beautiful islands, as the granite reefs also previously seen, which took the road of the lake, and perhaps settled themselves again at the Delta. We see that the White River finds opposition also here, and has found still more, from which its slow current is confined by itself. We navigate till late at night as far as MountMussa or Brane, from which I procure specimens of stones of the chert species, and remain there. Thermometer, 22°, 30° to 33°, 21°.
21st April.—We come again before noon to a reef of rocks running through the river, although the passage remains wide and broad enough:—then to sluices. The favourable wind does not last long to day; but the men row diligently, for every one is hoping to see something dear to him again, like myself, who am impatient and ardently longing for my beloved brother. Our course goes mostly between N. and N.N.E., and in the evening, we land near the trees of Moha Bey, where the last downs appear, whilst the shore extending flat on the left, supports its old character. I am thinking of making an excursion afterwards from Khartùm, because by the direction of the downs I hope to be able to determine something with respect to the shallow lake of the city.
22nd April.—Thibaut wanted to go yesterday evening to Khartùm, to take the first intelligence of our return, but that was not allowed. I am obliged also to remain, because I have fallen among robbers, and have eyes like Argus. The intelligence just arrives that Soliman Effendi is dead. I am sorry for his family, as I was for that of Vaissière, intelligence of whose death was brought to us seven days ago, by an Arabian officer. Soliman Effendi is said, as I hear now, to have poisoned the young lions I possessed: but let him rest in peace! The society of Europeans must and will now take another and better form.
A number of people came from Khartùm to pay their respects to our little Basha, Suliman Kashef, who is lying under the trees on the extended carpet. I am tired, and almost worn out, for I have not slept the whole night, because I am expecting every instant to see my brother, and have been looking, since sunrise, in the direction of the spires of Khartùm. Thermometer 22° at sunrise.
At first we navigate N. by E., then N.N.E. Oh, for the happy meeting! a former servant of ours has just come to his brother, Fadl, and gives me good, but not sufficient, intelligence. We wind north, near Omdurman, shortly before the mouth of the White river, where an arm of the Nile runs round the little island on the left, and rocks in the water on the right lie opposite to those at the right shore. Here, therefore, the White stream had to break the last dam, and its current was doubtless under the small chain of downs of Omdurman. At last we bear up near the rocks from whence the White river, which was unquestionably pressed through them and has but a slight breadth here, takes the direction to north for this short tract. The other vessels are already sailing up the Blue river, and we navigate very slowly behind with our heavy vessel, the wind being contrary.
The thunder of cannon rolled down from the vessels—joy and pleasure. I wished to describe our return, but I did not see my brother. Black thoughts suddenly shook me as if a fit of ague had attacked me. When I saw even the window-shutters of our divan closed, where he might wait for me so comfortablyin the shade, I trembled violently, and my knees tottered so that they laid me on the bed. I soon, however, got up, and sat before the cabin; and just at the moment when our vessel touched the land, some one pointed him out standing on the shore. I jumped ashore from the deck, and fell down: my brother raised me up. Eleven days after this happy meeting he died in my arms, completely broken by the effects of the climate.
Muchhas been written, advised, and spoken, concerning the important question of the Geographical position of the sources of the White Nile, since this voyage of mine; many ridiculous as well as arrogant conjectures, and bold assertions, have been laid before the learned world, without any loss of time, respecting this historical subject. Among the pretenders to the discovery of the sources, Antoine D’Abbadie stands out the boldest of the bold. (Videhis letters from Omokullu in Ethiopia, 5th, 6th, and 7th Aug., 1847, in the Athenæum, Nos.MXLI. andMXLII. and those to Jomard and Arago, in Paris, in the “Journal des Débats,” 5th Oct., and in the “Comptes rendus Hebdomadaires des séances de l’Academie,” 4th Oct. 1847, No.XIV., T.XXV. p. 485-487).
The principal thing of importance for a traveller who starts on expeditions of this kind, is to see with hisown eyes, and to verify by personal inspection or mental contemplation what he hears from the Natives; for thesolitarytraveller may haveeverythingrelated to him that he wishes, and, in fact, seeks to obtain. There are no European companions, and still less eye-witnesses of the soil of happy Ethiopia, to tax him with false statements; and how easy is it to find natives who have no conception of the great importance of their expressions, and are ready, without any qualm of conscience, to assent to the preconceived notions of the traveller, when they think by that means to please him!
M. Antoine D’Abbadie, even previously, haddiscoveredthe sources of the White Nile,—as he wrote in a letter, dated 17th October, 1844, from Adoa (Adwa), in Habesh, addressed to us in Kàhira. (Preussiche Zeitung, 21st February, 1845, and others.) That glorious fountain-head was said to liethenin the land of Gmura, or Gamru, near the mountains of Bochi, or Dochi. The latitude and longitude of it were not given. He does not seem to have planted thedrapeau tricolorethere, any more than my French companions did at the final point of our expedition; because, had they done so, both the Turks and myself would have set up our national standard. For my part I did not let the opportunity slip of denying the claims of D’Abbadie to raise a shout of victory at having solved the question of the sources of the Nile, and to contradict his absurd etymology of the Mountains of the Moon, upon which the whole discovery was said to be based. (Monthly Report of the Geographical Society in Berlin, 7th Annual Vol., p. 20.) He thought that the name of “Gmura,” or “Gamru,” being analogous in sound to that of the Arabic language, had induced the Arabian Geographers to adopt this word, and to form it into the present Kamar (Moon). Mr. Ayrton, to whom I will afterwards advert, takes the opposite side, and is of opinion that the former denomination is a corruption of the Arabic word “Kamar.”
This Nile source of 1844 appears, however, to have been dried up again, or discarded by M. D’Abbadie, for he suddenly transplanted thetrue sourcesof the White Stream into another country; the forest of Babia, between Inarya (Enarea,) and Jumma Kaka (Djimma Kaka); and,to be sure,—between 7° 49′ N. Lat., and 34° 48′ E. Long., from Paris. (See his reports and letters of 1847).
I must, however, entirely controvert this second discovery, notwithstanding it is declared in the most positive manner. Error, indeed, is natural to man, but truth must assert itsclaims; besides, I do not deny that M. Antoine D’Abbadie would have liked to have made such a discovery, or to become an historical discoverer. Far be it from me, who know what travelling is in Africa,—who suffered the tortures of its deserts and its scorching heat, and struggled several times with fever and death, to consider the Tricolour which he fastened to the trees of the Babia forest as a vane or weathercock. No: I greet it rather with friendly interest as a cheerful sign to science and a way-mark to geographical progress, and as an agreeable surprise to succeeding travellers.
Now D’Abbadie makeshissource of the Nile bubble up about theeighthdegree of north latitude; whereas, I have navigated up the river with this Expedition, which has advanced further than any other, as far as thefourthdegree north latitude, where, as already mentioned, the sources of the Nile were expressly pointed out to us as lying still farther to theSouth. It appears to me, therefore, a desperate and daring attempt, on the part of our discoverer, to claim for himself “primo occupanti,” that water which he saw, or even waded through, as beinga priori, thereal and truesource of the White Stream. The pretensions topriorityof discovery,—claims that were to be kept up on any terms,—may perhaps be what he has fixed his eyes upon, and which he has pursued too eagerly, without any forbearance, as is plainly perceived by his passionate letter to Mr. Ayrton, against Dr. Beke, who inclined to the opinion expressed by me concerning the source. The degree of latitude stated by him, in complete opposition to the direction of all the stream territory we visited, is no stumbling-block to him any more than the diametrically opposite opinion of the natives of Bari.
Antoine D’Abbadie specifies three points which appear to him to decide the only true source of every river; it is therefore surprising that thefirstof these rules laid down by him,viz. to determine the course of a river by theopinion of the people, is exactly inapplicable to the White Nile; forthatis completely in opposition to his favourite idea. He tells us expressly that the aborigines dwelling at the sources ofhisWhite Nile, makethese very same sourcesflow collectively into the Abbay (Blue Nile). It required, therefore, more than courage to throw aside the popular opinion, and to give a contrary direction to the sources, without having convinced himselfpersonallyof the fact, by a corresponding examination of these supposed tributaries. This statement of the people of Damot ought to be more valued and credited, because, according to him, they derived their origin from Gojam (Godjam), and Bagemidr; therefore from a northern country on the Abbay.
A nation connecteddirectlywith another by water-roads, as must be the case between the inhabitants of Kafa, Enarea, and Bari, according to the hypothetical river of D’Abbadie, ought to havedomesticanimals, and customs in common, if only partly so, being under anexactly similar climatic situation. Enarea and Kafa have coffee, horses, and asses; but these are entirely unknown in Bari, as I stated in the year 1844 (Allgemeine Preussiche Zeitung, 24th July, 1844). Sheep, poultry, and leather are said by D’Abbadienotto be in Kafa; whereas we have found them in Bari. He relates that dollars are very well known in Kafa, and that the merchants are very eager after them; but in Bari money is not known, as we convinced ourselves by enquiry. From this argument, then, the sources of D’Abbadie and the pretended countries they flow through are not connected with Bari. Besides, the names of these countries werenevermentioned to us. That the mountain-land, however, lying to the east of Berri, in the neighbourhood of which the water-shed might be found, is a principal emporium for these regions, and that they are connected with the rivers discharging themselvesinto the Indian Ocean, follows from the facts previously specified, and even from the indications of the things found there. A slave-market does not seem, however, to exist; and, in order to attest this fact, commercial reports alone could prove whether copper also was brought from the interior of Africa. We may boldly affirm, without any self-persuasion, that thesoutherlydirection of the stream can be determined, within a few degrees, from the island of Tshanker, by the plastic formation of the mountainous region, through the cleft valleys of which the true White Nile breaks.
The eye may, as it were, follow what we hear from the natives, who only point towards the south, and assert that they do not know of any water flowing towards E., where they are, however, in commercial relation with the country of Berri, ten days’ journey off; but they only speak ofspringsfound there, which were translated to us by the Arabic word, “Birr.” We were given to understand, also, that this land, so rich in copper, was mountainous; from which I conjectured that there might be brooks there, especially at the rainy season, but that not one of them could stand even a remote comparison with their Tubirih (White Stream at Bari).
So, also, the beautiful fine-grained salt, brought from thence to Bari, is not the rock-salt of the desert, but is extracted from the brackish water and slime, according to the form of the vessels in which it has been boiled. I have seen, however, in the great tract of country between the lower Atbara and the Red Sea, that a land subject to tropical rains—although, as in Africa, without rivers and streams—can provide, even in the dry season, men and animals with water from its earthly womb—that is, from the torrents and water-tanks. The Anthropophagi, also living on the mountain-chain by Logojà, in the neighbourhood of Bari, have not any runningwater; but they take it from the ground: namely, from natural cisterns or cavities.
We had all believed that the White Stream must come from theEast; therefore our enquiries about that side were more careful: but not all our signs towards the East could bring back the Natives from the South, the true source of the Stream. I remember still quite well that I wrote this down immediately, and laid it before the Geographical Society, in Berlin, some years before there was any talk of the various sources described by D’Abbadie. Moreover, it seems to follow from the whole configuration of the line of mountains, that Nature has fixed here a water-shed to the East as well as to the West; for the mountain chains of Logojà and Kùgelu stretch from East and West to South, probably as branches of a mighty mountain-stock under the Equator, from which the streams of the Bach’r-el-Abiad issue.
Although M. d’Arnaud, my companion during the voyage on the White Stream, says that the latter is navigable for a “cinquante de milles” from the island of Tshànker, and arbitrarily makes themain armof the smaller rivulet of the Nile spring from the east; yet this is either only the remnant of our old affection for theeasterlydescent of the river; or it may be the result of a want of truthfulness. I challenge Thibaut and Sabatier, his own countrymen, to come forward and state whether there was ever any talk about such a main-arm as he describes. According to Làkono, who had been there, and called the land wherein the source lies by the name of Anjan, the water in thefourbrooks, by the conflux of which the White Nile is formed, reachedonly up to the ankles. This land, however, lay to the south, as my travelling companions must remember, and which Arnaud also allows, as I will afterwards prove.
Now if we would follow for at least 5° towards the north such a Nile brook, from this county of Anjan to the Forest ofBabia, in order to be extraordinarily complaisant to M. d’Abbadie, who might rely upon Arnaud, we should not find, even with a microscope, the silver threads of his sources.
Now if I wished to discard the opinion of the people of Bari, as being contrary to my conviction, like d’Abbadie has done with respect to the views of the natives, because they were opposite to his theory, I would not say anything of the rashness of the “Knight of the Source,” nor envy him the fame which is due to him as an indefatigable traveller, and thecroix d’honneurawarded to him for this presumed discovery; that is, supposing that the stream we had before us on the island of Tshanker wound to theeastfrom the south under the rocks of Lugi and Kalleri (evidently harbingers of a high mountainous region), and then flowed humbly under the mountain-chain of Logoja, to seek its origin from the fourth to about the eighth degree of north latitude. The river, however, does not accommodate itself to this course, but steps forth boldly from its rocky gates, as a mountain-stream. The ascending ground, and the rocks scattered in the river above the island, shew that the fall must increase considerably in the mountainous region—as even the rocky wall of Kàlleri forms a vast waterfall at the rainy season—which might make us conclude that there is a lake lying high, in which an extensive mountain plateau pours its waters, or perhaps even serves as a periodical channel far above the Nile. The greater gradation of the river-bed, necessarily following its entrance into the rocky territory, must at last make the Forest of Babia an enormous height, in a progressive ratio; and the latter, though at a distance of four to five degrees, must be connected with mountain-ridges, to lead the stream into a high longitudinal valley lying to the south, as if into an aqueduct, so that it may not pour into the vast basin to the west, to which the Sobàt also is hastening. Without entering point by point into Antoine d’Abbadie’saccounts, which are not always clear, and the hypothesis of his defenders, I must assume that he abode not only in Inarya, the field of his study on the sources, but also in Kafa and Bonga, for he expressly says so. I can readily believe also, that the complication of rivers in the Forest of Babia cost him considerable pains to find out thetruesource of the White Nile, against thegeneral and prevailing opinion there; likewise, that he tried to discover, by means of verbal expressions, the relative quantity of water of the five tributaries, because otherwise he must have resided there three or four years, &c.
Now if it be true that the people of Damot have emigrated from Gojam, the Abbay must be well known to them, because Gros-Damot lies between water, which partly encompasses Gojam, the Gojab, and the Didesa. I do not altogether understand how he can reject the testimony of the people of Damot, on the futile ground that they descended from Gojam. If this nation now extends up to the summit of the sources, so must they also know from their primeval acquaintance with the Abbay, whether their waters pour into the Abbay or not. Though the exploration of the mouth of the Niger has also cost much labour and time; and though Dutch simplicity or craft still makes the Rhine flow into the Waal, yet it is more natural for a nation dwelling on a river to know in what direction it flows, than to be able to give the direction of the curves and windings of its tributaries towards the sources. And is it likely, that a people whom he calls aborigines, and who must therefore be acquainted with their home, should not know whether the river runs towards the south or to the north, in a stream territory with which they are well acquainted?
The second decision of D’Abbadie, that the larger mass of water decides a source or a tributary, overthrows entirely his third and most essential one, viz. that one ought to lookat the direction of the river; because, in truth, he has neither followed the latter as far as the White Nile, nor to the Sobàt, whose sources appear to him a mere bagatelle. It almost seems as if he chivalrously cut asunder the Gordian knot of that entanglement of rivers during his hermitage in Iaka, and has tried to force on us a vague hypothesis as being the real matter of fact.
There is a strange controversy in the relation of his journey of discovery, which ought to be sifted closely. He hadlongpassed over the mountain-chain of Nare, when he took up his abode in the Forest of Babia, having arrived, as he expressly declares, from the basin of the Abbay (Blue Nile) into that of the White Nile; and yet he had, on his right, the sources of the Didesa, a tributary of theBlueNile. According to this statement, he has never issued from the combination of streams of the Blue Nile, or he has come to a point to which rivers flow, as in Paradise, from all four corners of the world. All this is not exactly adapted to make us believe that the river Gojab, or Uma (Omo), which springs from those sources, is identical with theWhite Nile.
Mr. Charles Johnston has conceived the strange belief that he participates in the views of D’Abbadie; but the good man makes his Gibbee (Durr, Omo) the Gibe and Gojàm of D’Abbadie,receiveat last the waters of the Abi (Abbay), in the environs of Fàzogl; consequently he has claims with D’Abbadie to the discovery of the main source of theBlue Nile.
Mr. Ayrton also (in the Athenæum, No.MLXI.), steps into the lists for M. D’Abbadie. Notwithstanding his learned attempt to fix etymologically the situation of the source-territory of the Nile by a fortuitous coincidence of words according to a previous plan of D’Abbadie, I cannot assent to his views.
If the inhabitants of the coast of the Red Sea first navigatedthis Stream, as naturally would be the case, and the Sabæans, from Arabia, conquered Habesh in the time of Solomon, the latter colony might still have remained their principal commercial settlement on the coast, and even have been planted long before their immigrations from Asia. The dialect of the Ethiopians, which we still recognise to belong to the Semitic languages, announces that there was a communication with these maritime countries before the period of history: yet, commerce on the coast of Habesh might perhaps only have remained a coasting-trade; for history hands down to posterity merely the fact, that the Arabs made journeys to China, and that the Nabathæans brought Indian goods and asphalt on their camels to the Egyptian market at the time of Alexander the Great,—the latter article being fished up from the Red Sea. It is improbable that the Sabæans, who were very well known under the successors of Alexander, extended into the Ethiopian highlands their colonies in Habesh, where even now the Arabic language only prevails on parts of the coast, in commercial intercourse. It is very unlikely, also, that they have given the name of “Mountains of the Moon” to a region; because such a change of a local name, which was certainly imposed upon that country beforehand, pre-supposes a regular Sabæan colony on the spot, whose idiom might perhaps be discovered in a different way than by the solitary word “Gamarö,” or “Gimirö;” for we might derive this as well from “Gimri,” or “Gumri,” (turtle-doves), as I have heard also somewhere in the Desert the name of “Gebel Gimri.” It seems to me, therefore, that it is rather too daring to wish to identify this expression,—according to Abbadie, “Gamru,” or “Gmura,” with the Arabic “Kamar.” But if these parts, so remarkable on account of the sources of the Nile, had been known in the ancient times, the Egyptian priests and Herodotus, or most certainly the later Greeks, would have learned something of them.
The argument that the illustrious Claudius Ptolemy derived his σεληνης ορος from the Arabs, appears to me completely untenable. There is no record existing beyond the time of this geographer that I know of, which mentions “Gebl Kamar;” if there were, it would be convincing. There can be no doubt that Ptolemy acquired his information from Egyptian elephant-hunters, otherwise he would not have transferred the origin of the sources to the neighbourhood of the Equator. These elephant-hunts were fitted out like military expeditions by the kings of Egypt, and penetrated, according to Pliny, far into the Ethiopian provinces, beyond the Lybian deserts.
I cannot either participate in the views of Mr. Ayrton respecting the points of culmination of the Ethiopian highlands, but I assume that there are three independent mountain-chains in the interior of Africa:—the eastern one in Habesh, the western in Darfûr, and the southern being the Mountains of the Moon, in Anjan, near the equator; which place I have mentioned several times in this discourse. These form also partly the watersheds, as I will explain more clearly. I also will allow myself here a play upon words. According to D’Abbadie, the moon is called in Kafa “Agane” and “Agina,” and the name of my moon-country is “Anjan.” What more therefore do my African etymologists require? The two countries cannot lie very far asunder, and the analogy of their languages is certainly possible, without even consulting Mezzofanti,[7]but the pronunciation is always difficult to reach. “Angan,” however, is not the word for moon in Bari. If we wish to retain the expression of “Mountains of the Moon,” we must go back to a primitive word of the language of the place, as Dr. Beke thinks with regard to his “Mono Moezi.”
Once more I must return to Freind Arnaud, and his insipid account, for we could not expect anything else from him, as he did not keep any descriptive diary wherein he could note down his dreams about Làkono’s body-guard of women, and things of the same kind; but he has filled up his journal with lion and elephant hunts, and other fabulous circumstances, like a pictorial newspaper. He says (VideBulletin de la Société de Géographie deuxième série, t. xviii. p. 376) that the Nile is navigable from Bari for thirty hours further, but forms here different arms, the most important of which comes from the east, and flows past the great country of Berri, which is fifteen days’ journey towards the east, from the mountain-chain of Bellenia (Pelenjà). I also am of opinion that the river, one arm of which, where we lay near the island of Tshànker, was three hundred metres broad, and afforded only a shallow stream of about three feet in depth to the vessels, which had become light by reason of the provisions being consumed, notwithstanding it had two miles’ rapidity, may be navigable for a considerable distance further when the high water covers the rocks, provided no cataracts of consequence oppose the course. Therefore he gives thirty hours for the southern direction of the river before he makes an arm go to the east. We could only have settled how far the river was navigated, by proceeding on our course, if that had been possible at the time.
However, there has never been any talk of these thirty hours; and Arnaud has, of his own will, reduced the distance of thirty days, repeatedly given to us by the king of Bari and his attendants, as the time required for navigating the different arms, in order to pretend that he wascloserto the sources. But the division of time intohoursmust be known on the White Nile first, before such a flippant substitution can take place. It seemed also incredible to me that Anjan should be a month distant, but thirty days were plainly representedto us. If we reckon only eight hours to be a day’s journey, the distance would beeightdegrees, half of which we should have to deduct naturally for local impediments, to bring the geographical position of Anjan under the equator. That we had not misunderstood the word “month” was proved besides by Làkono clenching his fist three times, to denote thirty days, and also by the expression that aftertwo months(therefore at the end of March or beginning of April) the rains commenced. Lastly, the circumstance that several other tribes were said to dwell on the shores towards the south, bespeaks a considerable distance. It is, however, still a question, whether the country of Berri is ten or thirty days’ journey off. Làkono, in whose eyes the copper so abundant there has an extraordinary value, might have feared, at the commencement of our acquaintance, that we wanted to spoil his trade with Berri, and to enrich ourselves with its treasures: from this supposition he increased the distance threefold.
But when Arnaud arbitrarily reduces that first statement to fifteen days’ journey, it shews a thoughtless disposition; for he was not only present at the conversation with the king, but we have spoken of it among ourselves. He has, therefore, either entirely forgotten it, and his recollection has not been assisted by any notes written down at the time, which is quite necessary in these countries, notwithstanding the illness to which we are constantly liable; or he wanted to give a greater air of probability to his account by fiction, namely, by substituting thirty hours for thirty days.
When I find marked on his map above Bari, “Country of the Pulunchs,” it recalls clearly to my recollection how he believed every thing without investigation, and noted down what Thibaut told him. I was sitting one day sketching on the rocks of the island: some natives stood by, who understood very well what I was doing, and I still see them—howthey extended their arms horizontally, and made undulating movements, which was meant to denote a continuation of the mountains lying before us to the south, and then mentioning several names, held up their hands together, and by the thumb indicated to me that there wasonemountain exceeding all the others in height, whilst they looked contemptuously at the other chain of mountains. At the same time they bawled in my ears, because I did not speak, and still less could answer, so that I was nearly deaf, under which affliction they probably thought I was labouring. I got up and went down to the shore, where I saw Thibaut standing. He stretched his hand towards the south, with an enquiring look, and the people said “Pulunch,” whereupon he burst out into an Homeric laugh, and said, “that is something for Arnaud.” The latter has made a country out of this observation, and perhaps with justice.
With regard to the time of the winds and rains in Central Africa, I have tried several times, but find myself incapable of explaining these magnificent natural phenomena. It appears certain, that the monsoons of the Indian, the trade-winds of the Atlantic Oceans, and the north winds from the Mediterranean, are subject to different natural laws in the interior of Africa, where it is comparatively cooler than on the sea-shore; for the winds were never constant during our course: they changed continually from side to side, and all the observations and calculations of our sailors, accurate as they are in other places, failed in ascertaining the tide and quarters of the moon. As to the mutual swelling of the two Niles near Khartùm (called by the Turks Khàrdùm), the sources have nothing to do with the first rising of the water, but the succeeding ones give a quantity of water to the countries subject to tropical rains, together with their gohrs and tributaries, among which the Sobàt is the mostconsiderable for the White Stream. This mass of water immediately becomes imperceptibly level, excepting certain disproportions, with the head of Sennaar, conformably to hydrostatic laws.
It would be an idle attempt to endeavour to speak out clearer and more strikingly touching the formation of the soil of Central Africa; for a master like Professor Carl Ritter has already done this in his “Glance at the Source-territory of the Nile.” In order to set aside many preconceived opinions, and again to give the true imprint of my own views, I do not hesitate to annex the report of Dr. Girard, whom I have several times mentioned, and which was contained in the above instructive little work, being partly founded upon my geognostical collection; because this learned young man has discovered and ascertained, with acuteness rarely to be found, the quality of the soil in Africa, so far as I am able to judge from my expedition. He says:—“There are three great mountain chains in the eastern part of Central Africa, one extending to the east, the other to the South, and the third to the West. The eastern one surrounds the large Tzana-lake, and contains the sources of the Tacazze and the Blue Nile, and ascends easterly from the latter to a height of more than 10,000 feet. The southern and south westerly, respecting the elevation of which nothing is known, forms the water-shed between the tributaries of the Nile and the territory of the streams flowing westerly, and is that region formerly called the Mountains of the Moon. Lastly, the north-westerly, the centre of which is in the Jebel Marra, from which some tributaries wind towards the south, to the Bah’r-el-Abiad; but the most of these subordinate streams flow towards the west, the centre of Africa. Between the eastern and southern mountain-stock, there is another chain of high mountains, not extensive but lofty, which, forming the westerly part ofEnarea, appears to spread to the kingdom of Bari, and attains in Enarea a height of more than 7000 feet.[8]
“A marsh-land extends to the south of this mountain, and the Goshcop flows into it: if it be permitted to carry our surmises so far, we should say that not any high mountains are to be expected further to the south, for coffee and cotton are cultivated on the other side of the Goshcop-valley, because we conceive that there is a salt-lake, and, lastly, a land producing gold. The former may be considered to lie on a dry table-land, the latter on a low plain, wherein the auriferous loam and sand may be deposited.
“A similar auriferous foreland seems to extend in the centre of these regions, between the highlands of Enarea and Bari, to the upper course of the Bah’r-el-Abiad, and the mountains of Kordofàn, Sennaar, and Fàzogl.[9]It is a country which is inhabited partly by negroes pursuing agriculture. Another part consists of wide plains, covered with high grasses, wherein many elephants pasture, and which is bounded on the north by a girdle, thirty miles in breadth, of a ground containing gold-sand. These are the plains through which the Sobàt (written in French Saubat) flows with itstributariesto the Bah’r-el-Abiad.[10]The specimens from the shores of the Sobàt are composed partly of a micaceous sand, of a brown black ochrous clay, of chalky sand, and partly of a conglomerate, which is baked together and composed of small fragments of limestone. The sand, when it is pure, consists of several little yellowishgrains of quartz, a small portion of reddish feldspar, some brown iron-stones, tombac, brown mica, and little grains of a black mineral, the nature of which cannot be accurately ascertained. This composition denotes that the sand derives its origin from a mica slate, and gneiss chain of mountains, not very distant; for if the sand were far from the mountains from whence it sprang, it would not contain coloured mica. The sand of the shore of the Bah’r-el-Abiad, in the kingdom of Bari, is perfectly similar to this sand, only somewhat coarser in grain, and, moreover, merely attaining to the size of millet. It contains principally quartz, then the same brown mica, only in a larger quantity than in the preceding sand, and, in addition, several more of those black grains, proving that there is hornblende here. This comes probably from syenite and diorite masses, as they are frequently seen in gneiss and mica-slate mountains. They might, however, be of volcanic origin, for they contain, in great abundance, the lava of the Jebel Defafaungh (written in French Tefafon) on the north boundary of the said plain. The mountain is clearly an extinct volcano. It rises probably from a basaltic plateau, for basalt with olivine and pyroxene are seen in it, and red-brown porous lava, with large rounded hornblende crystals and dark-grey tophus, formed of clear little porous fragments of lava and fine ashes, seem to cover its declivity. The tophus, as well as the lava, does not contain any vitreous feldspar, nor is any pumice-stone observable among them, but all the products of the volcano shew that it is a converted basalt.
“The volcanic activity appears not to have extended far, and is only discovered on the northern margin of this cauldron, which was probably, at one time, a large sweet-water basin, for the stones of Sennaar in the north, those of Fazògl and Bertat in the east, of the country of Bari in the south, and ofKordofàn and Jebel Tira in the west, are of a different nature.
“The collections in this city are derived partly from M. Werne, who made them in the expedition sent by the Basha of Egypt in the year 1840, and partly are owing to the scientific liberality of M. Russegger; and they afford sufficient information with respect to the general geognostic relations of these scarcely discovered mountains.
“The chain of the Mountains of the Moon consists, according to the several specimens, of gneiss and mica-slate. One of these specimens, was taken from the most southerly point that the expedition reached, and indeed, ‘from the cataracts in the land of Bari;’ that is to say, from the rock which prevented the expedition from penetrating further into the country. It is gneiss, composed of white feldspar, and much black mica, and mica-slate; the friable and exceedingly granulous quartz does not contain feldspar, but small scaly black mica. There is found, moreover, in the valley of Berri, magnet iron-stone, which, however, does not seem to be commonly known; for it has been collected to the amount of several pounds weight, as being merely sand, without any other particles of stone.[11]
“The magnet-iron displays also, in several places, brittle iron-ore, and reminds me of similar occurrences in the large mica-slate mountain-chain of the Brazils.
“We do not possess, unfortunately, any specimens from the high mountains of Enarea, but the stones of the lands of Bertat, Sennaar, and Fazògl, are well known throughM. Russegger’s excellent collection. There are granite and gneiss mountains in the land of Bertat, and in the southern part of Fazògl; chlorite slate (probably the stone bringing gold here) follows this chain towards the north, together with mica-slate; and lastly, in Sennaar, there is also clay-slate. In the latter, which is very much changed in some places, veins of granite and quartz are at the top, so that here also, as in many other points, the clay-slate appears the more ancient, the granite the more modern stone. Granite is met with likewise on the Bah’r el Abiad, in the Jebel Njemati (Iemati), being partly of pink feldspar, white albin, grey quartz and black mica, and partly composed without albin, and only of dark red feldspar, white quartz, and black mica.
“Similar species of rocks are found in Kordofàn, viz., granite, gneiss, and mica-slate. However, diorite makes its appearance towards the south, consisting of white feldspar, green and black hornblende, and a little volcanic sand. On the island of Tira there is also chlorite slate. But the most remarkable thing is the appearance of clinkstone or phonolite, found in Koldadschi (written also Kodalgi and Koldagi), in Russegger’s collection.
“This circumstance is conclusive of a considerable development of basaltic stones in these regions, though it does not denote volcanic phenomena; for phonolite, with us, only appears in those basaltic mountain-groups where there has not been any eruption of volcanoes.
“A sandstone and hornstone formation, probably belonging to the latter tertiary rocks, is situated before the mountain-chain of Kordofàn and Sennaar, to which Mount Mandera, which consists of syenite, is united in the east. It forms the Jebel Mussa, specimens from which have been given both by Russegger and Werne.
“We wind up the geognostical picture of these countries bysaying that we find granite, gneiss, and mica-slate generally spread, with which clay-slate, chlorite-slate, and diorite present themselves, all of the earlier formation,—new stones of basalt, phonolites, and volcanoes, springing from the tertiary epoch, join on immediately to the others. The limestone conglomerates, found in the Sobàt, have perhaps their origin in chalk lime-stone, to which they belong apparently, judging from external appearances; and if this should be the case, the geognostical relations of the eastern part of central Africa are closely allied to those of Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor.”
THE END.
London:Printed by S. & J.BentleyandHenry Fley,Bangor House, Shoe Lane.