[AX] The Guinea.
CHAPTER LXI.
In which the author relateth some things concerning the River of Nile.
Meseemeth that since in this last chapter I have spoken of how our caravels arrived at the river of Nile, I ought now to tell you something of its marvels, so that our Prince may receive the greater honour for his mandate to our men to make booty upon the waters of the most noble river of the world. And about the greatness of this river there are marvellous testimonies, for these have spoken of it, to wit: Aristotle and Ptolemy, Pliny and Homer, Isidore, Lucan, and Paulus Orosius,[[145]] and many other learned men; but not even they knew how to give a full recital of its marvels. And in the first place, Paulus Orosius saith, that the river appeareth to issue from the coast where the Red Sea beginneth, at the point which the Greeks call Mossylon Emporion;[[146]] and thence, he saith, it goeth towards the west and passeth through many lands, and maketh in the midst of its waters an isle called Meroë. And this city is in the lordship of Ethiopia, in which Moses was by command of Pharaoh with all the power of Egypt, even as Josephus Rabanus[[147]] and Master Peter write; and he saith that it was anciently called Saba, and, was the head of the kingdom of Ethiopia, but that after a long time Cambyses, who was king of that land, gave to that city the name of Meroë,[[148]] for love of one of his sisters, as Master Peter relateth. But Master Gondolfo[[149]] saith, in the ninth part of the book he wrote called Pantheon, that before it had that other name this place was called Nadabet, and that this was the first name the city had immediately after its foundation. And so the Nile, winding at this island, maketh its course toward the north, and thence turneth toward the south,[[AY]] and according to the description that he[[AZ]] hath, it overfloweth its banks at certain times of the year, and watereth all the plains of Egypt.
But Pliny relateth the story in another fashion, for he saith that the founts whence riseth this river of Nile are not certainly known to any man, and that the river goeth for a very long way through desert countries and through lands so hot that they would take fire and blaze up if it were not for the river; and he saith also that many have toiled much to get to the knowledge of the place where this stream doth rise, but he who gained most knowledge of the same was the King Juba, who left it written that he had found that the river of Nile rose in a mountain called Atlas, which is in the land of Mauritania, at the furthest extremity of Africa towards the west, not very far from the great sea,[[BA]] and that it riseth from a fountain where it maketh a great pool called Nullidom, in which breed certain fish, some called Allaltetes, and others Coracinus, and others Sillurus; and it is said moreover that the crocodiles breed there too.
And as to this, it is recounted that the inhabitants of the city of Caesarea,[[BB]] which is in that same land of Mauritania, took a crocodile[[150]] and put it in one of their temples called Eseo; and that for many years it remained there in testimony that the said crocodiles were to be found in that pool; and he relateth that it was found by some men of that land who examined the matter, and found it well proved that, according as it snowed and rained in the land of Mauritania, where that fountain is, in like manner rose or fell the Nile itself. And that after it issueth from that part and reacheth the land of the sands, it will not run over the surface of those sands nor through places altogether desert or miserable, but that it vanisheth there, and so floweth hidden beneath the sand for the space of many days. And they say, too, that after it arriveth at the other Mauritania Caesariensis, which is not a sandy land, it cometh up over the ground and there maketh another lake, in the which breed those same animals and creatures which breed in the other; and therefore men believe that all this water cometh from the Nile, and that after it floweth out from there and cometh to the other sandy districts which are beyond Mauritania and towards Ethiopia, it again disappeareth and runneth for the space of twenty days underground till it is within the land of Ethiopia. And here again it cometh up above the ground, showing clearly that it riseth from a fountain like that other in Mauritania, which is called Nigris, where also breed the same animals and other things that we have described before.
And thenceforth it[[BC]] runneth ever above ground without any more hiding of itself beneath the soil, and parteth Africa from Ethiopia, and maketh great lakes from the which the men of that country derive their maintenance; and in the same way are to be found there all the creatures which breed in the other places of the said river. And from the place where it beginneth to run above ground without again taking its course subterranean, down to the place where it commenceth to divide itself, it is called Niger; and in this part its stream is already very great, and here it maketh of itself three parts, each one of which is a river by itself. And of these three rivers, one entereth Ethiopia and divideth the same in the middle, and this is called Astapus, that is to say, according to the language of that land, a water that runneth out of darkness. And this river watereth many islands which are so great that, in passing by the smallest of them, though it runneth in its course very briskly, it doth consume five days. But the noblest of these islands is that called Meroë, which we have named above; and the second branch of these three is that called Astaboras,[[BD]] the which in their language is as much as to say "an arm of the water which cometh out of darkness," and this taketh its course towards the left; the third of these three is called Astusapes, which meaneth "the water of the lake," and this also floweth towards the left; and these streams, so far as they flow separately, are called by these names that we have given. But when they are all joined together in one river, the stream taketh its own proper name, to wit, "the Nile;" but it is not called so before, though all these streams be one water. And when it leaveth the islands, it shutteth itself up in certain mountains, but in no part doth it flow so angrily and with such a rushing stream as when it cometh to a place of Ethiopia called Catadupia,[[BE]] and thenceforth its bed is strewn with many great rocks for a long space. And these break it in its course, and the river goeth dashing through those rocks and maketh a very great noise therewith: so much so, that the learned say that no pregnant women dare dwell within two leagues of the same, in that the terror caused by this noise straightway maketh them to miscarry.
And coming forth from that multitude of great rocks, the strength of the waters is now broken, and the stream floweth as if wearied, and the current of the water is very gentle. And as soon as it entereth the plains of Egypt, it divideth many islands which have other names than those they used to have; and thence it maketh its way directly to the sea; but before that it formeth many lakes and marshes by which are watered all the plains of Egypt; and thereafter the river entereth the sea in one stream near the city which is called Damietta.
[AY] Lit., the midday.
[AZ] Gondolfo.
[BA] Atlantic.