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,[N145]
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;[N146]
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[N147]
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,[N148] for love of one of his sisters, as Master Peter relateth.
But Master Gondolfo[N149] 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.
[Footnote AY: Lit., the midday.]
[Footnote AZ: Gondolfo.]
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.
[Footnote BA: Atlantic.]
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[N150] 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.
[Footnote BB: Cherchel.]
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.
[Footnote BC: The Nile.]
[Footnote BD: Astabores.]
[Footnote BE: The Cataracts.]
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.