Having Taken On Board A Month's Rations For All Hands, We Started; And,
With A Strong Breeze In Our Favour, We Reached The Sobat Junction On
16th February, At 12.30 P.M.
There we took in fresh water, as that of the Sobat is superior to the
White Nile.
At this season the river was about eight feet below the
level of the bank. The water of the Sobat is yellowish, and it colours
that of the White Nile for a great distance. By dead reckoning I made
the Sobat junction 684 miles by river from Khartoum.
When I saw the Sobat, in the first week of January 1863, it was
bank-full. The current is very powerful, and when I sounded in various
places during my former voyage, I found a depth of twenty-six to
twenty-eight feet. The volume of water brought to the Nile by this river
is immense, and the power of the stream is so superior to that of the
White Nile, that as it arrives at right angles, the waters of the Nile
are banked up. The yellow water of the Sobat forms a distinct line as it
cuts through the clear water of the main river, and the floating rafts
of vegetation brought down by the White Nile, instead of continuing
their voyage, are headed back, and remain helplessly in the backwater.
The sources of the Sobat are still a mystery; but there can be no doubt
that the principal volume must be water of mountain origin, as it is
coloured by earthy matter, and is quite unlike the marsh water of the
White Nile.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 38 of 782
Words from 9838 to 10111
of 207249
