William E. Garstin

“ Even at half-flood this obstacle is navigable for steamers, but care is at all times necessary, as the only safe channel is a very crooked one, and the river-bed is much studded by rocks. The scenery of these rapids is beautiful. The Nile is split up into several branches by islands, all thickly covered with trees and a luxuriant undergrowth. Through this foliage the shining black surface of the granite rocks projects at intervals, making a sharp and agreeable contrast. ”

“ Again it tears through wild and narrow gorges, bounded by precipitous cliffs and rocky crags, until at length, as the mountains recede farther from the valley, it winds through a rolling expanse of woodland, much broken by ravines and ridges, the favourite abode of the lord of these forests—the mighty elephant. With each succeeding league the country becomes more open, and the granite hills are more isolated and further apart At length the conical peak of Rejaf is sighted—a sign that the mountainous country is coming to an end and that the land of the marshes is approaching. ”

“ Throughout this portion of the Nile Valley the river scenery presents a series of beautiful pictures. The mountains bar the stream on the west, rising almost vertically, with scarred and scarped faces, like a Titanic wall. To the east low, wooded hills run parallel to the river—at times, little more than stony ridges, but occasionally rising some hundred feet above the water. ”

“ The general feeling of all those whom an unkind fate has obliged to spend any time within the 'sudd' region is one of relief when they have passed through it, and have issued again into the open river and into an atmosphere comparatively clearer and less unwholesome. ”

“ The width of the Nile Valley in the marsh country is considerable, in places being as much as eight or nine miles from high land to high land. Through and across this dreary expanse of swamp the river wanders, at times approaching one bank and then again the other. It rarely touches either, but crosses the marshes backwards and forwards in an exasperating succession of loops and twists. On both sides of the valley the dry land is marked by a belt of thorny bush, varying in width from a few hundred yards to several miles. ”

“ Space does not permit of more than a very brief account of the Nile in its journey to the north, conveying the united waters of the two great streams which combine to form that single river to which Egypt owes its prosperity. ”

“ The earliest writers vied one with another in relating legends regarding its sources, the dwellers on its banks, and the countries through which it passed.
This is easy to understand. Those pioneers of civilization who settled in its northern valley, and who, by the help of its beneficent waters, converted the desert into an area unrivalled for its agricultural prosperity—thus amassing the wealth which enabled them to form a mighty Empire—were aware that this river had its beginning in a land far away to the south, barred to them by an intervening wilderness of sand and rock. ”

“ Some fifty miles down-stream of Lake No the Bahr-el-Zaraf rejoins the White Nile, and at 1,060 miles from Lake Victoria its largest and most important tributary, the Sobat, enters it on the eastern bank. This stream largely influences the discharge of the main river, and from May to the end of November brings a larger volume of water into the Nile than ever succeeds in passing through the southern marshes from the equatorial lakes. The colour of the Sobat water, when rising, is a creamy white, changing, when in full flood, to a brick-red. ”

“ Although much given to fighting among themselves, the negroes of the Nile Valley are a good-humoured race of people, very indolent, and only cultivating the soil to an extent absolutely necessary to support life. ”

“ Few, if any, of the earth's chief waterways have aroused such universal and sustained interest as has that great stream which, rising at the equator, flows due north, through thirty-one degrees of latitude, to the Mediterranean. Almost from the dawn of history, the Nile has formed the basis of endless conjecture, and the subject of many a myth. ”

“ The reflection of the trees and palms, mirrored in extreme detail upon the surface of the placid lake, combined with the picturesque background of hills, produces an effect of fairy-like loveliness and peaceful beauty hard to rival, and still harder to describe. ”

“ As soon as the Nile has crossed this parallel of latitude, the change in the life of the people is apparent Whereas in Negroland cultivation on the river-bank is entirely unknown, in the Arab country the entire population migrates to the Nile in summer, bringing with them their flocks and herds, and cultivating the foreshores and the mud flats. ”

“ Its snow-fed torrents have consequently no other outlet than either the stream or the lake, and their waters must therefore help eventually to swell the volume of the Nile.
To those who have never visited Uganda it is difficult to give any but a faint idea of the scenery of the country in which the Nile has its birth. Every variety of landscape is here met with, and the beauty of this region can scarcely be surpassed elsewhere. ”

“ With the disappearance of the sun the mosquito makes his appearance in countless myriads, and his hum resounds through the entire period of darkness. The air swarms with these pests, and on a still night life is made a burden by their attentions. ”

“ The air is hot and steamy, and the trees are entwined in the embraces of snake-like creepers of great thickness, which hang down in fantastic loops and festoons, and make progress extremely difficult. In these sanctuaries large herds of elephants wander at will, and in almost complete security. Their remoter strongholds are the home of the chimpanzee and many rare species of monkeys.
In some of the valleys the bamboo grows in luxuriance, but more often than not the hollows separating the ridges are filled with papyrus swamp, through which a sluggish stream slowly filters. ”

“ As the escarpment of the rift is approached the character of the landscape changes completely. The trees, the flowers, and the birds disappear, and a barren expanse, or table-land, of lava, interspersed by black and jagged rocks, extends to the very summit of the cliffs. The scene here is a remarkable one. The surface of the plateau is seamed by the inverted cones of extinct craters, many hundred feet in depth, close to one another, and frequently separated only by a ridge a few yards in width at the top. ”

“ At 2,500 miles from its sources at the equator the Nile emerges from the long rapids of the Second Cataract and passes Wadi Haifa, the terminus of the Soudan Railway. In its course from Khartoum to this point the fall in the bed-levels has been as much as 850 feet. From Wadi Haifa to the First Cataract, a distance of 200 miles, the river is open, and navigable throughout the year. This region is that of Nubia proper—a country of rocky hills and golden-coloured sand, with occasional stretches of cultivation, and many date-palms. ”

“ Here and there a small village, in the midst of a minute area of cultivation and surrounded by groves of date-palms, gives a pleasing idea of peace and calm amidst the turmoil of the general surrounding. ”

“ Many of these islands cover a large area, and contain hill-ranges of considerable height. Others are mere rocky elevations rising from the lake, a few acres in extent. One and all are clothed with a rich carpet of verdure, extending from the heights almost to the water-level. The shores of these islands are almost invariably belted by a dense growth of bush and forest, or by groups of the graceful 'raphia' palm. ”

“ Barren as is the soil, and scanty as are his means of living, the Nubian loves his rocky home, and can with difficulty be induced to leave it, even if he is offered a more kindly climate and surroundings. ”

“ With each fresh addition the area of the waterway is diminished, and the compression increases until the entire mass becomes wedged into a solid block of crushed reeds and earth, sometimes as much as 20 feet thick, and so solid that a hippopotamus can cross it with impunity. Experience has proved that the best way of removing such an obstacle is to commence from the down-stream end and cut the surface by means of trenches into blocks of some 10 feet square. ”

“ North of Khartoum the trough of the Nile is of considerable breadth, and full of sandbanks and of large islands, many of which are highly cultivated. To the west the desert stretches an expanse of broken ground, relieved by occasional rocky ridges and ranges of low hills. ”

“ The Nile, in making this journey, probably passes through more varied conditions of country, soil, and climate, and affords existence to a greater variety of races than is the case with any other among the main waterways of the world. ”

“ Like most plants in Uganda, these flowers are of large size, and in order to top the grass and reach the sunlight their stalks attain a height of several feet The effect of these varied masses of colour is extremely pleasing, and the traveller is reminded of Swiss mountain scenery when the 'alpen rosen' and the gentians are in bloom. ”