The White Nile has been traced up by Dr. Knoblecher and his associates further than by any one before him. In January, 1850, he passed the furthest point reached by any previous expedition; and on the sixteenth of that month reached the village of Logwek, which takes its name from a solitary granite peak about six hundred feet high, which stands on the left bank of the Nile. This is in latitude four degrees and ten minutes north, and is the most southern point which has yet been reached on the White Nile. Dr. Knoblecher ascended the mountain, which commanded a view of almost the entire Bari country. Toward the south-west the river wound out of sight between the mountains Rego and Kidi, near which is the mountain of Kereg, containing rich iron mines which are worked by the natives; and to the south, on the very verge of the horizon, rose a long range of hills, whose forms could not be observed with exactness, owing to the great distance. Beyond the Logwaya range, which appeared in the east, dwell the Berri tribes, whose language is distinct from the Baris, and who are neighbors of the Gallas, that warlike race, whose domain extends from Abyssinia to the wilds of Mozambique, along the great central plateau of Uniamesi. The natives of Logwek knew nothing whatever of the country to the south. The furthest mountain range was probably under the parallel of latitude three degrees north, so that the White Nile has now been traced nearly to the equator. At Logwek, it was about six hundred and fifty feet wide, and from five to eight feet deep, at the time of Dr. Knoblecher’s visit, which was during the dry season. Such an abundance of water allows us to estimate with tolerable certainty the distance to its unknown sources, which must undoubtedly lie beyond the equator. The great snow mountain of Kilimandjarò, discovered in 1850 by Dr. Krapf, the German missionary, on his journey inland from Mombas, on the coast of Zanzibar, has been located by geographers in latitude three degrees south. It is therefore most probable that the source of the White Nile will be found in the range of mountains, of which Kilimandjarò is the crowning apex. The geographer Berghaus, in a long and labored article, endeavors to prove that the Gazelle river is the true Nile, and makes it rise in the great lake N’Yassi, in latitude thirteen degrees south. Dr. Knoblecher, however, who examined the Bahr el-Ghazàl at its mouth, says it is an unimportant stream, with a scarcely perceptible current. He considers the White Nile as being, beyond all question, the true river.
THE NILOMETER.
Following the river on to its mouth, the greater part of lower Egypt is contained in a triangular island, formed by the Mediterranean sea, and the two great branches of the Nile, which dividing itself five or six miles from Old Cairo, flows on the one side to the north-east, falling into the sea at Damietta; while the other branch runs to the north-west, and enters the sea at Rosetta. What is called the Delta, resembling the Greek letter of that name, and constituting a triangle, is thus formed. The water of the Nile is here, for the most part, thick and muddy, more particularly when the river is swollen by the heavy rains which constantly fall within the tropics in the beginning of the summer season, and which are doubtless the principal cause of its overflowing the low lands of Egypt. A similar phenomenon is found in the Ganges; and it is the same with all the rivers which have either their rise or course within the tropics: they annually break their bounds, and cover the lands for many miles on each side, before they reach the sea. They likewise leave prolific mud, which, like that of the Nile, fertilizes the land; beside which, the north winds prevailing about the latter end of May, drive in the waters from the sea, and keep back those of the river, in such a manner as considerably to assist the swell. The Egyptians, and the Copts more especially, are persuaded that the Nile always begins to rise on the same day of the year; as, indeed, it generally commences about the same time in June. Its rise was observed for three successive years by Dr. Pococke, who found it to ascend during the first five days from five to ten inches; and it thus continued rising till it had attained the hight of nine feet, when the canal of Cairo was cut. It then rose from three to five inches only in the day; for, having spread over the land and entered the canal, although more water might have descended than before, its rise was less considerable. The other canals were now laid open at stated times, and those which water the lower grounds the last. These canals are carried along the highest parts of the country, so that from their elevation the water may be conveyed to the valleys. So important is this matter of the rise and fall of the river to the whole country, that a thin column or pillar, called the Nilometer, has been erected, to mark the elevation or depression of its waters. A view of it is given in the cut following. It is situated in the middle of a round tower, on the island of Rhoda, not far from Cairo, in the middle of the river. In this tower is a marble cistern, through which the Nile flows; its bottom and the bottom of the river being on the same level. From the center of this cistern rises a slender pillar, as seen in the engraving, marked off into twenty divisions of twenty inches each; the entire space marked on the column being somewhat more than thirty-six feet. This column is of the greatest interest to the people, as connected with their prospects of a harvest; and of the greatest importance to the government, as enabling it to fix the tribute, or tax, according to the hight of the inundation. The tower in which it is placed, is lighted by some eighteen or twenty windows, which form a belt around the base of the dome; and beneath these, and above the cistern, are rooms or apartments for those who come to see the hight of the waters, from which rooms a flight of some thirty stone steps leads to the marble pavement in the center of which the cistern and Nilometer are placed. As soon as the attendants ascertain that the overflow will be such as to fertilize all the land, the large canals are all opened with great ceremony and rejoicing. And as soon as the waters retire again from the fields, they are sown with all kinds of grain, so that in a short space of time the whole face of the country is variegated with the rich hues of the flowering plants and the ripening grain.
The Nile has one peculiar characteristic. Other rivers being supplied by rivulets, the ground is lowest near their banks; but as no water flows into the Nile in its passage throughout Egypt, and as it is necessary that this river should overflow the land, the country is generally lower at a distance from, than near to it; and, in most parts, the land has a gradual descent from the river to the foot of the hills, which terminate the sandy plains most benefited by the irrigation. Among other remarkable appearances, the celebrated Bruce notices a very singular one attendant on the inundation of the Nile. In Abyssinia, the early part of the morning is constantly clear in that season, with a fine sunshine. About nine, a small cloud, not above four feet in apparent breadth, appears in the east, whirling violently round as if on an axis; but having approached nearly to the zenith, it first abates its motion, and then loses its form, extending itself greatly, and seeming to call up vapors from all the opposite quarters. The clouds thus formed having attained nearly the same hight, rush against each other with great violence, and remind the spectator of Elisha foretelling rain on Mount Carmel. The air being 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 follows instantly, attended by rain. After some hours the sky again clears, with a wind at north; and it is always disagreeably cold when the thermometer is below sixty-three degrees.
Dr. Clarke, in his travels, draws the following elegant picture of this most interesting river.
“Here we were unexpectedly greeted with an astonishing view of the Nile, the Delta, and the numerous groves in the neighborhood of Rosetta. The scene is beyond description. The sudden contrast it offers, opposed to the desert we had traversed, the display of riches and abundance poured forth by the fertility of this African paradise, with all the local circumstances of reflection excited by an extensive prospect of the Nile, and of the plains of Egypt, render it one of the most interesting sights in the world. The beautiful boats of the Nile, with their large, wide-spreading sails, were passing up and down the river. Unable to quit the spot, we dismissed our guides, and remained some time contemplating the delightful picture. Afterward, descending on foot, close by the superb mosque of Abu-Mandur, we continued our walks along the bank of the river, through gardens richer than imagination can portray, beneath the shade of enormous overhanging branches of sycamore and fig trees, amid bowers of roses, and through groves of date, citron, lime and banana trees, to Rosetta.”
THE BARRAGE, OR GREAT DAM OF THE NILE.
We end our sketches of Egypt, and the Nile, by a notice of the barrage, or great dam, at the northern part of the Delta, just below where the river divides into the two great streams which empty themselves at Rosetta on the west, and Damietta on the east. This immense work, which is hardly heard of out of Egypt, is one of the greatest undertakings of modern times. It is nothing less than a damming of the Nile, so as to hold back its waters and keep them in reserve, till, by letting them out, at the proper seasons, two inundations may be produced each year, and so the crops doubled throughout the Delta. This great work is not only projected, but far advanced toward completion. Each branch of the river is to be spanned by sixty-two arches, besides a central gateway ninety feet in breadth, and flanked by lofty stone towers. The point of the Delta, between the two dams, is protected by a curtain of solid masonry, and the abutments which it joins are fortified by towers sixty or seventy feet in hight. The piers have curved breakwaters on the upper side, while the opposite parapet of the arches rises high above them, so that the dam consists of three successive terraces, and presents itself like a wedge, against the force of such an immense body of water. The material is brick, faced with stone. When complete, it is intended to close the side arches during low water, leaving only the central gateway open. By this means sufficient water will be gained to fill all the irrigating canals, while a new channel, cut through the center of the Delta, will render productive a vast tract of fertile land. The project is a grand one, and the only obstacle to its success is the light, porous character of the alluvial soil on which the piers are founded. The undertaking was planned and commenced by M. Linant, and has been continued by other engineers. “The Egyptian boatmen,” says Taylor, “have reason to complain of the barrage. The main force of the river is poured through the narrow space wherein the piers have not yet been sunk, which can not be passed without a strong north wind. Forty or fifty boats were lying along the shore, waiting the favorable moment. We obtained permission from the engineer to attach our boat to a large government barge, which was to be drawn up by a stationary windlass. As we put off, the wind freshened, and we were slowly urged against the current to the main rapid, and at last reached smoother water, and sailed off gaily for Cairo.”