THE SOURCES OF THE NILE--THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, AND THE FOUNTAINS OF
THE NILE.
Père Jerome Lobo and the Nile--The chartographers of Homer’s
time--Hekatæus’s ideas of Africa--Africa after Hipparchus--The
great Ptolemy’s map--Edrisi’s map--Map of the Margarita
Philosophica--Map of John Ruysch--Sylvannus’ Map--Sebastian Cabot’s
map--The arbitrariness of the modern map-maker--Map of Constable,
Edinburgh--What Hugh Murray says in his book published in 1818--A
fine dissertation on the Nile by Father Lobo--Extracts from part of
a MS. in the possession of H. E. Ali Pasha Moubarek--Plan of Mount
Gumr--A good description of Africa by Scheabeddin--The Nile
according to Abdul Hassen Ali--Abu Abd Allah Mohammed on the Nile
river.
[Sidenote: 1889.
June.
The Nile.]
Every reader of this chapter will agree with Père Jerome Lobo, of the
Company of Jesus, who wrote in the 16th century, that “it is not
difficult, after having found the sources of the Nile, and of the rivers
that run into it, to resolve the question as to its origin--a question
that has caused so much anxiety to ancient and modern authors, because
they were looking for that which could not be discovered in their heads,
by which they were lost in vain thoughts and reasonings.”
For the complacent satisfaction of those who have not undergone the
harassing anxieties attending the exploration of the countries in the
region of the Nile sources, and who would prefer to content themselves
with reading about them at home before a sparkling fire and under the
light of the parlour lamp, I beg to present them with a few copies of
ancient maps, from Homer’s time, forty centuries ago, down to those
whence we derived instruction in African geography. They will observe
with pleasure that we have not much to boast of; that the ancient
travellers, geographers, and authors had a very fair idea whence the
Nile issued, that they had heard of the Lunae Montes, and the triple
lakes, and of the springs which gave birth to the famous river of Egypt.
We only claim to have barred for a time the periodic flights of these
interesting features of Africa, from 10° north latitude to as far as 20°
south latitude, and from east to west Africa, and to have located with
reasonable precision the grand old Mountains of the Moon, and the
Albertine and Victorine sources of the Nile. And for a time only! For
“what profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh. The thing
that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is
that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is
there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been
already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of
former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are
to come with those that shall come after.”
What the chartographers of Homer’s time illustrated of geographical
knowledge succeeding chartographers effaced, and what they in their turn
sketched was expunged by those who came after them. In vain explorers
sweated under the burning sun, and endured the fatigues and privations
of arduous travel: in vain did they endeavour to give form to their
discoveries, for in a few years the ruthless map-maker obliterated all
away. Cast your eyes over these series of small maps, and witness for
yourselves what this tribe has done to destroy every discovery, and to
render labour and knowledge vain. There _is_ a chartographer living, the
chiefest sinner alive. In 1875, I found a bay at the north-east end of
Lake Victoria. A large and mountainous island, capacious enough to
supply 20,000 people with its products of food, blocked the entrance
from the lake into it, but there is a winding strait at either end of
sufficient depth and width to enable an Atlantic liner to steam in
boldly. The bay has been wiped out, the great island has been shifted
elsewhere, and the picturesque channels are not in existence on his
latest maps, and they will not be restored until some other traveller,
years hence, replaces them as they stood in 1875. And young travellers
are known to chuckle with malicious pleasure at all this, forgetful of
what old Solomon said in the olden time: “There is no remembrance of
former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are
to come with those that shall come after.”
[Illustration: AFRICA IN HOMER’S WORLD.]
So, though it is some satisfaction to be able to vindicate the more
ancient geographers to some extent, I publish at the end of the series
of old maps the small chart which illustrates what we have verified
during our late travels. I do it with the painful consciousness that
some stupid English or German map-maker within the next ten years may,
from spleen and ignorance, shift the basin 300 or 400 miles farther east
or west, north or south, and entirely expunge our labours. However, I am
comforted that on some shelf of the British Museum will be found a copy
of ‘In Darkest Africa,’ which shall contain these maps, and that I have
a chance of being brought forth as an honest witness of the truth, in
the same manner as I cite the learned geographers of the olden time to
the confusion of the map-makers of the nineteenth century.
In the little sketch of ‘Homer’s World,’ which I have taken the liberty
of copying, with a few others, from Judge Daly’s[13] learned and
valuable contribution to the knowledge of ancient geography, it will be
seen that the Nile is traced up to an immense range of mountains, beyond
which are located the pigmies.
Five centuries later a celebrated traveller called Hekatæus illustrates
his ideas of Africa in a map given below. Though he had visited Egypt,
it is quite clear that not many new discoveries had been made. According
to him the great Egyptian river takes its rise at the southern extremity
of Africa, where the pigmies live.
[Illustration: AFRICA IN MAP OF HEKATÆUS. 500 B.C.]
The next map of Africa that I wish to introduce for inspection is by the
“greatest astronomer of antiquity,” Hipparchus, who lived 100 years B.C.
His sketch contains three distinct lakes, but situate far north of the
equator.
Here follows the great Ptolemy, the Ravenstein or Justas Perthes of his
period. Some new light has been thrown by his predecessors, and he has
revised and embellished what was known. He has removed the sources of
the Nile, with scientific confidence, far south of the equator, and
given to the easternmost lake the name of Coloe Palus.
[Illustration: HIPPARCHUS. 100 B.C.]
A thousand years elapse, and bring us to Edrisi, an Arab geographer,
1154 A.D. Some little information has been gained in the meanwhile of
the Dark Interior. The Mountains of the Moon are prominent now, but
several degrees south of the equator. Two of the lakes discharge their
surplus waters to a third lake, which is north, whence the Nile issues,
flowing northward towards Egypt. We see in it the results of
geographical conferences, and many inquiries from ivory traders.
[Illustration: PTOLEMY’S MAP. A.D. 150.]
Four centuries later we see, by the following map, that the lakes have
changed their position. Ambitious chartographers have been eliciting
information from the latest traveller. They do not seem to be so well
acquainted with the distant region around the Nile sources as those
ancients preceding Edrisi. Nevertheless, the latest travellers must know
best.
[Illustration: CENTRAL AFRICA _according to_ EDRISI. 1154 A.D.]
But in the short space of five years new light has been thrown again, or
is it the mere vagary of a chartographer? Lo! the “Mountains of the
Moon” are restored many degrees below the equator, but there are only
two lakes south of the equator, while the third has travelled to an
immense distance north of the line.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE MARGARITA PHILOSOPHICA A.D. 1503]
Within three years Africa seems to have been battered out of shape
somewhat. The three lakes have been attracted to one another; between
two of the lakes the Mountains of the Moon begin to take form and rank.
The Mons Lunæ are evidently increasing in height and length. As Topsy
might have said, “specs they have grown some.”
[Illustration: JOHN RUYSCH A.D. 1508.]
[Illustration: SYLVANNUS’ MAP A.D. 1511]
[Illustration: HIERONIMUS DE VERRAZANO 1529]
[Illustration: SEBASTIAN CABOT’S MAP OF THE WORLD 16th Century]
In the following map we see a reproduction of Sebastian Cabot’s map in
the sixteenth century. I have omitted the pictures of elephants and
crocodiles, great emperors and dwarfs, which are freely scattered over
the map with somewhat odd taste. The three lakes have arranged
themselves in line again, and the Mountains of the Moon are
picturesquely banked at the top head of all the streams, but the
continent evidently suggests unsteadiness generally, judging from the
form of it.
That from the sixteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century very
little further knowledge respecting the sources of the Nile was known
may be proved by the map of my school-days, which follows. There is a
distinct retrogression by the determined stupidity of the map-maker. All
that we had gathered since the days of old Homer down to the seventeenth
century--all the lakes are swept away--the Mountains of the Moon run
from about 5° to about 10° north of the equator, and extend from Long.
20° to the Gulf of Aden. We simply owe our ignorance to the map-makers.
We no sooner discover some natural feature than it is removed in a next
issue.
[Illustration: THE NILE SOURCES ACCORDING TO GEOGRAPHERS OF THE 16^{TH}
& 17^{TH} CENTURIES]
[Sidenote:1889. June.
The Nile.]
The arbitrariness of the modern map-maker is as bad as that of his
predecessors. In a late German map, for instance, considered to be the
best in Germany, there is a large bay removed altogether from the
Victoria Nyanza, and a straight line, drawn by pure caprice, usurps the
place of a very interesting and much indented coastline, explored by me
in 1875. Speke’s Lake Urigi is jostled to the east, shunted to the
north; Ukerewe is utterly out of order, and the Tanganika has a great
bay named after a person who had followed in the steps of six preceding
investigators. Lake Leopold II. narrowly escaped being sponged out
because two Germans, Kund (?) and Tappenbeck, had lost their way, and
could not find it; but in the meantime an English missionary visited it,
and it was left in peace. English map-makers are quite as capricious.
This map, for instance, which has made such cruel and wicked changes of
Homer, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and others, was published by Constable in
1819, in a fit of aggravated biliousness no doubt.
Hugh Murray, a compiler of African travels, published in London, 1818, a
book called an ‘Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in
Africa,’ and as he has been an industrious collator of testimony which
the best authors of twenty centuries could furnish, I avail myself of
his assistance. He says:
“Herodotus shows himself to have known the course of the Nile
higher probably than it has been traced by any modern European.
“From Elephantine at the southern extremity of Egypt (Assouan) to
Meroe, the capital of Ethiopia, was a journey of fifty-two days,
and from thence an equal distance to the country of _Automolos_, or
exiles,[14] making in all a hundred and four days’ journey. The
regions deeper in the interior were known to him only by the very
short narrative of the ‘Excursion of the Nassamones.’ The river to
which the travellers were carried flowing to the eastward is
believed to have been the Niger, though Herodotus conceived it to
be the Nile. As it was proved by this data to proceed from the
west, it appeared natural that this river was one of the main
branches.
“Eratosthenes compared Africa to a trapezium, of which the
Mediterranean coast formed one side, the Nile another, the southern
coast the longest side, and the western coast the shortest side. So
little were the ancients aware of its extent that Pliny pronounced
it to be the least of the continents, and inferior to Europe. Upon
the Nile, therefore, they measured the habitable world of Africa,
and fixed its limit at the highest known point to which that river
had been ascended. This is assigned about three thousand stadia
(three or four hundred miles) beyond Meroe. They seem to have been
fully aware of two great rivers rising from lakes and called the
Astaboras and Astapus, of which the latter (White Nile) flows from
the lake to the south, is swelled to a great height by summer rains
and forms then almost the main body of the Nile.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE NILE BASIN. 1819. A.D.]
“Equal in fame with the Geographical School of Eratosthenes was
that of Ptolemy. This school displays an increase of actual
knowledge which was not, however, always accompanied by sounder
views respecting undiscovered regions. Ptolemy appears to have been
the first who formed a correct idea of the whole course of the
Nile, and assigns to its fountains a place in the vast range of the
Mountains of the Moon. But he places his Ethiopia interior much
further south beyond the equator, nearly in the latitude of Raptum”
(Kilwa?).
The Prior of Neuville les Dames et de Prevessin, who published extracts
from Father Lobo, the Portuguese Jesuit, launches into a fine
dissertation on the Nile, some portions of which are as follows:--
“The greatest men of antiquity have passionately endeavoured to
discover the sources of the Nile, imagining, after a career of
conquest, that this discovery was only needed to consummate their
glory. Cambyses lost many people and much time in this search.”
“When Alexander the Great consulted the oracle of Jupiter of Ammon
the first thing he desired to know was whence the Nile sprang, and
having camped on the Indus he believed that he had at last
succeeded.”
“Ptolemy Philadelphia waged war on Ethiopia with a view to ascend
the Nile. He took the town of Axum, as may be seen by the
inscriptions that Cosmos Indoplustes has preserved, which he copied
during the reign of Emperor Justin I.”
“Lucan makes Cæsar say in his ‘Pharsalia,’ that he would readily
abandon the design of warring against his country could he be happy
enough to see the primal fountains of the Nile:
“‘Nihil est quod noscere malim,
Quam fluvii causas per sæcula tanta latentes,
Ignotumque caput: spes sit mihi certa videndi
Niliacos fontes; bellum civile relinquam.’”
“Nero was animated by the same thirst for glory, for he despatched
armies to make this discovery, but the report submitted to him
removed all hope of success.”
“The ancients therefore, searching in vain for the sources of the
Nile, attempted to conceal their ignorance by mysteries, and they
related them in fables. Even the interpreters of Holy Scripture
were not exempt from this defect, as they knew no other lands on
Ethiopia than that of Africa; they thought that Gihon, mentioned in
Genesis, was the Nile, not being able to go against the Scriptures,
where it is said that the Gihon has its spring in the terrestrial
paradise, and it waters the land of Chus; it passes through under
the seas and under the earth to reappear in Ethiopia. How many
clever men have endeavoured to clear up these fables? and how many
different systems were got up? The Bishop of Avranches supports, in
his ‘Treatise of the Terrestrial Paradise,’ that the Gihon is an
easternly branch of the Euphrates, which flows from the country of
Eden and passes along the country of Chus, now the Cheezeslam. He
adds that Homer makes out that it descends from Jupiter, and calls
it [Greek: Dêtetê Δητετἡ]; this is what has caused Plautus to say,
in speaking of a river, which he does not name, that it has its
source in heaven and under the throne of Jupiter. The Egyptians,
Ethiopians, Abyssinians, Gymnosophists, after making out this river
to be a divinity, have thought themselves obliged to maintain the
old errors--even the most absurd ones. Therefore we should not be
astonished, after the poets having attributed a heavenly origin to
the Nile, if the Egyptians, who owe the fertility of their country
to it, have built temples, have erected altars, have established
festivals in its honour, finally, if they have adored it under the
name of Osiris.”
“The Jews and the Mohammedans, who are far from each other in
idolatry, have thought that the waters of the Nile were holy and
blessed, and the Agaus, who live in the environs of the sources of
this river, although instructed in the Christian religion, still
offer sacrifices; so that obstinacy and vanity support the
superstitions and the idolatries that ignorance has introduced.”
“The Nile has changed its name, according to the times and places:
‘Nec ante Nilus, quam se totum aquis concordibus rursus junxit. Sic
quoque etiamnum Siris, ut ante, nominatus per aliquos in totum
Homero Ægyptus, aliisque Triton.’ Pliny does not say, as some
others have said, that it was the Nile which at first had the name
of ‘Egypt,’ but it has given it to the countries it watered while
running into the sea, or it is called so after the name of the
country, as rivers are ordinarily called after the name of the
countries they pass through. Hesychius pretends that the Nile was
at first called Egypt, and that it is this river which has given
its name to the country: [Greek: Aigyptos, ho Neilos ho potamos
ach’ ou kai ê chara hypo tous neôterous Aigyptos epônomasmenos
Αἱγυπτος, ὁ Νεἱλος ὁ ποταμὁς ἁχ’ οὑ καἱ ἡ χαρἁ ὑπὁ τος νεωτεροὑς
Αἱγυπτος ἑπωνομασμἑνος] (Ægyptus, Nilus fluvius à quo regio à
recentioribus Ægyptus est appellata). Egypt, nevertheless, is not
the first name under which it was known; before it was called
Oceanus, afterwards Aetus or Aquila, then Ægyptus, and from thence
it was called Triton, on account of these three names; finally, it
is known now by the Greeks as well as the Latins by the name of
Nile. According to Pliny it takes the name of Syris by passing
through the country of Syene. The Egyptians, who think themselves
indebted to it for the fecundity of their country and for all its
products, have called it the Saviour, the Sun, the God, sometimes
the Father. In the Ethiopian language, as used by the learned, it
is called GEJON, and he believes that it may have been called so
after the name of Gihon, of which Moses speaks in his description
of the terrestrial paradise, where he says, ‘Et nomen fluvii
fecundi Gihon: ipse qui circumit omnem terram Æthiopiæ.’ Vatable,
in explaining the word Kuseh or Æthiopia, says that this must mean
the Eastern Ethiopia, ‘de Æthiopia Orientali intelligit.’ The Nile
or the Gejon do not environ the whole of Ethiopia or the whole of
Abyssinia, but merely a portion, which is the kingdom of Goyam.”
“It will easily be seen shortly how many false hypotheses, how many
false reasonings, have been made on the subject; however, there are
still people so obstinate of the antiquity, that they will not put
faith in those who have been on the spot, and who, having witnessed
with their own eyes, could efface what the ancients had written
about them. It was difficult and even impossible in following the
course of the Nile to go up to its source; those who undertook it
were always stopped by the cataracts, and despairing that neither
they themselves or others could succeed, they invented a thousand
stories. Let us add that neither the Greeks nor the Romans, who are
the only ones from whom we have borrowed all our knowledge, have
ever carried their arms to that side; who have not even heard
spoken of so many barbarous nations who live along this great
river; that the land where the Nile springs from, and all those in
its environs, are only inhabited by savage and barbarous people;
that to arrive there terrible mountains will have to be crossed,
impenetrable forests, deserts full of wild beasts, who hardly find
there anything to live on. If, however, those who have made so many
attempts to discover the source of the Nile had gone though the Red
Sea they might with less trouble and expense found what they were
looking for.”
After hearing what the ancients said and thought of the sources of the
Nile, let us see what we are able to gather from the Arabs:
The following are extracts from part of a manuscript, in the possession
of H. E. Ali Pasha Moubarek, the present Minister of Public Instruction,
Egypt. The name of the compiler is not given; only the date, 1098 A.H. =
1686 A.D. They are translated by Mr. Vandyck, teacher of English in the
Government Schools, Cairo.
“Abu el Fadel, son of Kadama, says in his book, ‘that all rivers in
inhabited countries are 228 in number. Some flow like the Nile,
from south to north, some flow from east to west, and some flow
from north to south, and some flow in more than one of these
directions, like the Euphrates and the Gihon.’ He further says, ‘As
for the Nile, it starts from the Mountains of Gumr (Kamar) beyond
the equator, from a source from which flow ten rivers, every five
of these flowing into a separate lake, then from each one of these
two lakes two rivers flow out; then all four of these rivers flow
into one great lake in the first zone, and from this great lake
flows out the Nile.”
“The author of the book called ‘The Explorer’s Desire,’ says that
‘this lake is called the Lake of Likuri,[15] from the name of a
tribe in the Soudan who live around the lake, and are very
barbarous, and cannibals. From this lake flows out the river Garna,
and the Abyssinian river. After leaving this lake, the Nile
traverses the country of Likuri, then the country of
Mennan--another Soudanese tribe--between Khartoum and Nubia.’”
“On reaching Dongola, the metropolis of Nubia, it goes to the west,
and then reaches the second zone. Here the banks are inhabited by
the Nuba, and the river has many large cultivated islands with
cities and villages, and the boats of the Nuba reach to this point
coming downward, whilst the boats of Upper Egypt reach that far
going upwards. There are there rugged rocks which prevent the ships
from passing except at high Nile. It then flows northward, and
passes east of Assouan, in Upper Egypt. It then passes between two
mountain chains which border Egyptian territory, east and west,
until it reaches Fostat; thence it flows a day’s journey, and then
divides into two branches, the one emptying into the Mediterranean
at Damietta, and is called the eastern river, and the other, which
is the main Nile, passes on, and empties into the Mediterranean at
Rosetta, and is called the western branch.”
“The length of the Nile from its source is 3,748 parasangs. It is
said that it flows through uninhabited country for four months, and
through the Soudanese territory two months, and through Moslem
territory one month. No other river goes on increasing while the
other rivers are at their lowest, except the Nile, for it rises in
the dry season, when the sun is in the constellation Cancer, Leo
and Ceres.”
“It is said that this river has tributaries. Some say that its rise
is caused by snows melted in summer, and according to the quantity
of snowfall will be the greater or lesser rise. Others say that
the rise is caused by the different direction of the winds; that is
to say, that when the north wind blows strongly, it stirs up the
Mediterranean, and pushes the waters thereof backwards so that it
overflows the land; and when the south wind blows the Mediterranean
ceases to storm, and the waters that were dammed up flow away
again.”
“Others say that the rise is caused by fountains upon its banks,
that have been seen by travellers who have reached to the highest
point.”
“Others say that the Nile flows from snowy mountains, and they are
the mountains called Kaf. That it passes through the Green Sea, and
over gold and silver and emerald and ruby mines, flowing on _ad
infinitum_ until it reaches the lake of the Zingh (Zanzibar), and
they say were it not to enter into the salt sea and be mixed up
with the waters thereof, it could not be drunk for great
sweetness.”
“There is a difference of opinion as to the derivation of the word
‘Gumr.’ Some say it ought to be pronounced ‘Kamar,’ which means the
moon, but the traveller, Ti Tarshi, says that it was called by that
name because ‘the eye is dazzled by the great brightness.’ This
mountain, the Gumr, extends eastward and westward into uninhabited
territory on both sides. Indeed, this whole chain is uninhabited on
the southern slope. This chain has peaks rising up into the air,
and other peaks lower. Some have said that certain people have
reached these mountains, and ascended them and looked over to the
other side, where they saw a sea with troubled waters, dark as
night, this sea being traversed by a white stream, bright as day,
which enters the mountains from the north, and passes by the grave
of the Great Hermes, and Hermes is the prophet Idrisi (Enoch).”
“It is said that Idrisi there built a dome. Some say that people
have ascended the mountain, and one of them began to laugh and clap
his hands,[16] and threw himself down on the further side of the
mountain. The others were afraid of being seized with the same fit,
and so came back. It is said that those who saw it, saw bright
snows like white silver glistening with light.[17] Whoever looked
at them became attracted, and stuck to them until they died, and
this science is called ‘Human Magnetism.’”
“It is said that a certain king sent an expedition to discover the
Nile sources, and they reached copper mountains, and when the sun
rose, the rays reflected were so strong that they were burnt.
Others say that these people arrived at bright mountains like
crystal, and when the rays of the sun were reflected they burnt
them. Others say that Mount Gumr is a mountain on an island which
is called by this same name. Opposite to it is the land of
Serendib,[18] four months’ journey in length and twenty days’
journey in breadth, and that from this mountain comes the bird
called gimre.”
“The author of the book called the ‘Mirror of Ages,’ says, ‘Hameed,
son of Biktiari, has stated that the fountain which is the first of
all the fountains is in Mount Gumr. From this fountain start ten
rivers, one of which is the Nile. They say that the Nile traverses
the first zone, then passes into the second zone, and that the
length of it from the source to the Mediterranean is 3,000
parasangs. Some have thought that these fountains are the cause of
the rise, whereas others say--and this is the most probable--that
the cause is the abundance of rain and torrents in Abyssinia and
Nubia, and that the delay in the rise reaching Egypt is on account
of the great distance. All other rivers flow to the south, whereas
it flows northward, and like it, Orontes in North Syria near
Hamath.’
“Ti Farshi says that ‘some astronomers state that the Nile comes
from beyond the equator 11½°, and then flows on to Damietta and
Alexandria at 30° lat. N. They say from its source to its mouth are
142⅓° nearly, hence the length would be 8614⅓ miles with all its
meanderings. It meanders eastward and westward greatly.’
“Achmed, son of Ti Farshi, in his book of the description of the
Nile, says, ‘historians relate that Adam bequeathed the Nile unto
Seth his son, and it remained in the possession of these children
of prophecy and of religion, and they came down to Egypt (or Cairo)
and it was then called Lul, so they came and dwelt upon the
mountains. After them came a son Kinaan, then his son Mahaleel, and
then his son Yaoud, and then his son Hamu and his son Hermes--that
is Idrisi the prophet.[19] Idrisi began to reduce the land to law
and order. The Nile used to come flowing down upon them, and they
would escape from it to the high mountains and to elevated land
until the river fell, then they would plant whatever country was
left bare. Idrisi gathered the people of Egypt and went with them
to the first stream of the Nile,[20] and there adjusted the
levelling of the land and of the water by lowering the high land
and raising the low land and other things according to the science
of astronomy and surveying. Idrisi was the first person who spoke
and wrote books upon these sciences. He then went to the land of
Abyssinia and Nubia, and gathered the people, and extended the
distance of the flow of the Nile, or reduced it according to the
swiftness or sluggishness of the stream. He even calculated the
volume of the water and the rate of flow. He is the first man who
regulated the flow of the Nile to Egypt. It is said that in the
days of Am Kaam, one of the Kings of Egypt, Idrisi was taken up to
Heaven, and he prophesied the coming of the flood, so he remained
the other side of the equator and there built a palace on the
slopes of Mount Gumr.[21] He built it of copper, and made
eighty-five statues of copper, the waters of the Nile flowing out
through the mouths of these statues and then flowing into a great
lake and thence to Egypt.’
“Idyar el Wadi says, ‘the length of the Nile is two months’ journey
in Moslem territory, and four months’ journey in uninhabited
country. That its source is from Mount Gumr beyond the equator, and
that it flows to the light coming out of the river of darkness, and
flows by the base of Mount Gumr.’
“Mohammed, the Prophet of God, says:--
“‘The Nile comes out of the Garden of Paradise, and if you were to
examine it when it comes out, you would find in it leaves of
Paradise.’
“King Am Kaam, mentioned above, is Hermes I. The devils carried him
to this mountain, which is called Gumr, and there he saw how the
Nile flows out of the Black Sea and enters into the mountain of
Gumr. King Am Kaam built on the slopes of the mountain a palace
having eighty-five statues, to which he collected all the water
that flows from this mountain, conducting it in vaulted conduits
until the water reaches the statues and flows out of their mouths
in measured quantities and calculated cubic contents. It thence
flows in many rivers until it reaches the Great Central Lake.[22]
Round this lake is the country of the Soudan and their great city
Garma. In this great lake is a mountain which traverses it, going
out of the lake and extending north-west.[23] From this mountain
the Nile flows on a month’s journey and then it divides in the land
of Nubia, one division going to the far west, and in this branch is
the greater part of the country called the Soudan--whilst the other
is the branch which flows down to the land of Egypt, and beyond
Assouan it divides into four branches and thus flows into the sea
at Damietta and Alexandria. It is said that three of these branches
flow into the Mediterranean, whereas the fourth branch flows into
the Salt Lake and thence to Alexandria.
“It is said that the rivers Sihon, Gihon, the Nile and the
Euphrates, all start from a green jasper dome from a mountain, and
that this mountain is near the Dark Sea.[24] That the waters are
sweeter than honey, and more fragrant than musk, but that the
waters are changed in the course of the flow.
“Sheikh Izz Edin, son of Ibn Gamar, says in his book on medicine
(and I have copied from the autograph manuscript), that the source
of the Nile is from Mount Gumr beyond the equator by 11° and 20′.
From this mountain start ten rivers from various sources, each five
of which flow into a great round lake, which is distant from the
extreme uninhabited country of the west by 57°, and from the
equator 7° and 31′ to the south, and these two lakes are equal, the
diameter of each being 5°. Out of each one of these two lakes flow
two rivers which empty into one great lake in the first zone. It is
distant from the uninhabited country of the west by 53° and 30′. It
is distant north of the equator 2°. Each one of these four rivers
empties itself separately into this great lake, and from it comes
out one single river, and this is the Nile. It passes through the
country to Nubia, and joins another river, whose source is from
another part near the equator, from a great round lake whose
diameter is 3°, and which is distant from the confines of inhabited
country on the west of 71°.
“After it has passed the city of Cairo, it reaches a town called
Shatanuf, where it divides into two rivers, both of which flow into
the salt sea, one of these branches being called the Rosetta River,
and the other the Damietta River. This river reaches to Mansoura,
and there branches off from it the river called Ashmun, which
empties into a lake there, and the remainder flows into the salt
sea near Damietta, and here I give a plan of Mount Gumr.
“The historian El Gahez, in his description of countries, says that
‘the source of the river of Sindh[25] and the river Nile is from
one place,’ and that he came to this conclusion because ‘the two
rivers rise at the same time, and because the crocodile is found in
them both,’ and that ‘the kind of land-cultivation upon both is the
same.’ The historian Mashi, in his ‘History of Egypt,’ says that in
the country of Tegala is a Soudanese tribe of the same name in
whose land gold crops up, and that in their land the Nile splits
and becomes two rivers, the one branch being the Nile of Egypt, and
the other being green, which flows eastward and traverses the salt
sea to the landing of Sindh, and this is the river called Meharaam.
“The lake into which the water flows is called Biliha.[26] Part of
the Nile flows to the Soudan country, then passes to the east of
Kussed, and then flows along one of the mountains of this country
and comes out at the equator. Then it passes out from a lake there,
and continues going westward to the country of Laknur, and thence
northwards until it flows into the great ocean. Then it flows to
the country of Abyssinia, and thence to the country of the Soudan,
and then to the east of Dongola, until it comes upon the cataracts
of Assouan, thence it flows into the Mediterranean.
[Illustration: MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON.--MASSOUDI, 11TH CENTURY.]
“Makrisi says, ‘There is no difference of opinion. The Nile comes
from Mount Gumr.’ Makrisi also says that ‘Merka-Eel, the son of
Doobar-Eel, the son of Garabat, the son of Asfusan, the son of
Adam, on coming to Egypt with a number of the tribe of Arabat,
settled in Egypt and there built the city of Assus and other
cities, and they dug the Nile until they led the water down to
them, because, before that time, it did not flow regularly, but
used to spread out over the land unto the country of King Mekronsé
of Nuba. They regulated the course of the Nile and drew from it
various streams to their different cities which they had built.
They also led one stream to the city of Susan, then after the world
came out of the flood, and when time rolled on until the days of
Berdashir, the son of Bzar, the son of Ham, the son of Noah, the
flow of the Nile was again regulated a second time, after it had
been completely ruined by the flood.’ But the historian Ibn
Wasifsha says, ‘when Berdashir ruled--and he is the first who
became a priest and who practised magic and used to render himself
invisible--he sent the Prince Hermes to the great Lake,[27] whence
the waters of the Nile flow. It is also said that he regulated the
stream, because formerly it used to overflow in some places and not
in others.’
“As for the place where are the copper statues, it contains
fifty-eight figures, and Hermes collected to these figures the
water that flows out of the Nile, conducting the water to them by
vaulted conduits and aqueducts, so that the water would flow to the
figures and then come out from Mount Gumr, and thence flow from
under the wall, and then pass out through the mouths of these
figures. He regulated and measured the quantity of water flowing
out, so as to allow to flow out that amount which is required for
the land of Egypt, viz., that it should rise only to eighteen
cubits, each cubit having thirty-two digits. Were it not for this
the Nile would swamp all the countries that it passes through.
“El Welid, the son of Romah the Amalekite, was enabled to go to
discover the sources of the Nile. He occupied three years in
preparing for his expedition, and then started with a large army,
destroying every tribe he came upon. He passed through the tribes
of the Soudan, and through the gold country, and there he saw
golden sticks sprouting out. He continued journeying until he
reached the great Lake,[28] unto which the Nile flows coming from
the rivers which flow out from under Mount Gumr. He went on until
he reached the Temple of the Sun, and passed it until he reached
Mount Gumr or Kamar, which is a high mountain. He says that it is
called Mount Gumr because the moon does not shine except upon it
because it is outside of the Equator.[29] He saw the Nile flowing
out from under Mount Gumr and coming down from the rivers of Mount
Kaf. After the river traverses the Equator it is joined by waters
from a stream coming from the region of Tekraan[30] in India, and
this fountain starts from under Mount Gumr and flows in that
direction. It is said that the river Tekraan is like the Nile. It
rises and falls at the same time, and has in it crocodiles and
fishes resembling those in the Nile.
“Some people have said that when they were there they saw neither
sun nor moon, but the only light was the light of the most merciful
God like the light of the sun.
“Other explorers have said that the four rivers, Gihon, Sihon, the
Euphrates, and the Nile arise from one source--from a dome in the
gold country, which is beyond the dark sea, and that that country
is a part of the regions of Paradise, and that the dome is of
jasper. They also say that Hyad, one of the children of Ees, prayed
God to show him the extreme end of the Nile. God gave him power to
do this, and he traversed the dark river, walking upon it with his
feet over the water which did not stick to his feet, until he
entered that dome. This legend I have taken from El Makrisi’s
book.”
The best description that I have been able to discover is by
Scheabeddin, an Arab geographer who wrote about 1400 A.D. He says:--
“The Isle of Mogreb (Africa) is in the midst of the seas which
water it on all sides. To the east it is bounded by the sea of
Kulzum (Red Sea); to the south and west by the ocean of which God
only knows the extent and limits; to the north it has for limits
the sea of Kharz, which is that by which the Franks came into the
Holy Land, by landing on the coast of Syria.
“In the midst of the Isle of Mogreb are the deserts of the negroes,
which separate the country of the negroes from that of the Berbers.
In this isle is also the source of that great river which has not
its equal upon the earth. It comes from the mountain of the moon
which lies beyond the equator. Many sources come from this mountain
and unite in a great lake. From this lake comes the Nile, the
greatest and most beautiful of the rivers of all the earth. Many
rivers derived from this great river water Nubia, and the country
of the Djenawa. This river cuts horizontally the equator, traverses
Abyssinia, the country of Kuku, comes to Syene, cuts Egypt
throughout its whole length and throws itself into the sea between
Tunis and Damietta.”
Abdul Hassan Ali, ibu el Hasseyn, ibu Ali el Massoudé, born at Baghdad,
and who came to Egypt 955 A.D., where he closed his accounts with the
world, and brought his many travels to an end, writes:--
“I have seen in a geography a plan of the Nile flowing from the
Mountains of the Moon--Jebel Kumr.
“The waters burst forth from twelve springs and flow into two lakes
like unto the ponds of Bussora. After leaving these lakes, the
waters re-unite, and flow down through a sandy and mountainous
country.
“The course of the Nile is through that part of the Soudan near the
country of the Zenj (Zanzibar).”
As I finished the transcription of these interesting old legends, I said
in my heart: “As it happened unto the ancient authors, so it will happen
unto me. Why was I then more wise? I considered all travail, and every
right work--that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. Therefore I
hated life, because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto
me--for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
The following was kindly translated by His Excellency Count de Landburg,
the Consul-General at Cairo for Sweden and Norway.
[Illustration: MAP OF NILE BASIN TO-DAY, FROM MEDITERRANEAN TO S. LAT
4.]
“Chams ed-din Abu Abd Allah Mohammed ed Dimachgê (born 1256 A.D.,
Dec. 1336 (31)), in his geography, _Mukhbat ed-dahr fê Ajaîb
al-barr walbahr_, edited by Professor Mehren, St. Petersburg, 1866,
says (p. 88), in the chapter dealing with the four rivers of
Paradise:--
The scholars say about this, that the Egyptian river called the
Nile is the river of Nubia. Its springs are in the Mountains of the
Moon, which divide the inhabited land to the south of the equator,
and that on the outside from the southern unknown countries,
whereof there is no information. The number of its springs are ten
rivers, running with haste in ten valleys between high trees and
compact sands. The distance between the longest off situated
occidental is about fifteen days, and they all together flow into
two large lakes, the distance between these being four days. The
extension of the oriental lake with all its islands and mountains
is rather four days to him that passes around it, and the extension
of the occidental is about five days to him that passes around it,
and in both these lakes, and in the land that lies between the
streams above mentioned, are the wild Sudan tribes, whose nature
resembles to that of the beasts. They do eat whomsoever they
assault, and he that catches anybody of another tribe, kills him
and eats him, as the game eaten. The situation of these lakes is
from 50-56° longitude from the springs of the river, and from 6-7°
latitude on the south of the equator. The Oriental lake is called
_Kúkû_ and _Tamim es-Sudanese_, and the occidental _Damâdim_ and
_Galjûr_ and _Hajami_. Farther issue from each of these two lakes
four rivers, running through populated valleys, where the Sudanese
have their settlements. These rivers are flowing near the equator
until 7° latitude, and flow all together into one long and large
lake, which is called _Jawas_ and _el Jamia_ (Arab: the
‘Collector'), and which is called also _Kûri_[31] _of the
Sudanese_. Its circuit is about six days with the islands _Jawas_
and _Kûri_, inhabited by the Sudanese. From this lake issue three
big rivers. The one flows towards the west, and is called Rhâna;
another, turning to the south, flows to the east, and is called _ed
Damadim_, or the _Magid Shu of the Negroes_, and the third is the
river of Nubia, and is called _the Nile_. Its course is to the
north until it flows into the Mediterranean, as the river Damâdim
flows into the Southern Sea, and the Rhâna river into the Western
Ocean.”