I
Followed The Circuitous Course Of The River For Some Miles,
Until, After A Most Fatiguing Exploration Among Precipices And
Deep Ravines, I Arrived At The Junction Of The Salaam River.
On
the way, I came upon a fine bull nellut (A. Strepsiceros) beneath
a shady nabbuk by the river's side; I could only obtain an
oblique shot, as his hind quarters were towards me; the bullet
passed through the ribs, and reached the shoulder upon the
opposite side.
This nellut had the finest horns that I had yet
obtained; they measured four feet in the curve, three feet one
inch and a half in a straight line, with a spread of two feet
seven inches from point to point. I found tracks of hippopotami
upon the high grassy hills; these animals climb up the most
difficult places during the night, when they ascend from the
river to seek for pasturage. I was not far from the tent when I
arrived at the junction of the Angrab with the Bahr Salaam, but
the rivers were both sunk in stupendous precipices, so that it
was impossible to descend. The mouth of the river Angrab was an
extraordinary sight; it was not wider than about fifteen yards,
although the river averaged a width of at least a hundred and
fifty yards. The exit of the water was between two lofty walls of
basalt rock, which overhung the stream, which in the rainy season
not only forced its way for about a hundred yards through this
narrow cleft, but it had left proof of inundations that had leapt
over the summit of the obstruction, when the rush of water had
been too great for the area of the contracted passage.
Altogether, the two rivers Sahaam and Angrab are interesting
examples of the destructive effect of water, that has during the
course of ages cut through, and hollowed out in the solid rock,
a succession of the most horrible precipices and caverns, in
which the maddened torrents, rushing from the lofty chain of
mountains, boil along until they meet the Atbara, and assist to
flood the Nile.
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