Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-08-15
The River Nile.

| JIhe Nile, whose source Dr. LIVING
stone is endeavoring to discover, is a
great river of East Africa, and the most
famous of the ancient world. 1t is
formed by two head streams-the Bahr-
el-Azrek (or Blue river and the Bahr-el-
Abiad (or White river)-which unite at
Khartoon, latitude l50 81 north, Each
of these streams has been claimed as
| the true source of the Nile, which re-
ceives its last tributary, the Athara, at
the northern extremity of the peninsu-
lar tract called the Island OF Meroe, in
la1;thde 17O. The river flows thence
north in a single stream, without the
least accession, through twelve degrees
of latitude, or following its windings at
least thirteen hundred miles to the sea.
Below its junction with the Athara the
Nile has the desert OF Bahiooda on the
west, and on the east the Berher.
Lower down it forms several islands,
one of which bears the name of
Kandake, and also one or more
cataracts. 1t then bends west by
south and passes by Jebel Barkal, where
stands the remains Of temple repaired
by Pirbaka in the year 700, before Christ.
Resuming its north course the Nile en-
ters the plains of Dongoula, and forms
several islands of great extent Quit
ting these plains by cataract it flows
north through the districts Of Mahas,
Lnkkat ETC., to what is known as the
Glen of Rocks, at the head of which is
the second or great cataract. Here it
enters into Egypt and descends the last
cataract to Syene, in latitude 24o From
this point it flows through Egypt to the
ancient Cercasorum, where it divides
into two branches leading to Rosetta
and Damietta, entering the sea in about
latitude 81, IS degrees north. The
banks are generally elevated in NJ
bia, less so in Middle Egypt, and
absolutely fiat in the Delta. AT
the Delta its waters spread out
into numerous streams in the form
of triangle extending at its
base on the Mediterranean 6ver a space
.of one hundred and twenty miles. The
two arms of the Nile, which still remain
,nayigable TO the sea, are supposed to
coincide with the two artificial branches
Of the ancients-the Bolbitine and Phat-
nitic. The other ancient arms, where rot
wholly effaced by time, are but partially
traceable in the various canals Of irriga-
ton which interseet the Delta. The Nile
is the only great tropical river which, by
periodical inundation, fertilizes a coun-
try surrounded throughout great part
of its course by sandy deserts. Rain
very rarely falls in the valley of the
Nile from the 18th to the 30th parallel
and scantilly even lower down The
river begins to increase in June, attains
its greatest hight about the autumnal
equinox, and then subsidies as gradually |
as it rose. The country above Egypt is
irrigated by means of the water wheel,
and many tracts Immediately by the
river. The sources of the Bahr-el-Abiad
are not yet ascertained, though explored
from, its rise in the Gomhart MouRtains
to the sea, a distance Of some three
thousand miles. From the days of Cos
mas Indicopheustes, in the sixth CEN
tury to the present time, explorers have
been searching for the fountains of the
famous Nile, but without success.
Whether Livingstone will be more sue
cessful than Mauro, Alverez, Pedro,
Paez, Bruce, Livant and others, none
can predict, though il is likely in his
scientific researches the source of this
great stream will be left in as much
doubt as ever.