The Power Of The Atbara Depended Entirely
Upon The Western Drainage Of The Abyssinian Alps:
Of itself it
was insignificant, until aided by the great arteries of the
mountain chain.
The junction of the Salaam at once changed its
character; and the Settite or Taccazzy completed its importance
as the great river of Abyssinia, that has washed down the fertile
soil of those regions to create the Delta of Lower Egypt; and to
perpetuate that Delta by annual deposits, that ARE NOW FORMING A
NEW EGYPT BENEATH THE WATERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. We had seen
the Atbara a bed of glaring sand--a mere continuation of the
burning desert that surrounded its course, fringed by a belt of
withered trees, like a monument sacred to the memory of a dead
river. We had seen the sudden rush of waters when, in the still
night, the mysterious stream had invaded the dry bed, and swept
all before it like an awakened giant; we knew at that moment "the
rains were falling in Abyssinia," although the sky above us was
without a cloud. We had subsequently witnessed that tremendous
rainfall, and seen the Atbara at its grandest flood. We had
traced each river, and crossed each tiny stream, that fed the
mighty Atbara from the mountain chain, and we now, after our long
journey, forded the Atlara in its infancy, hardly knee deep, over
its rocky bed of about sixty yards width, and camped in the
little village of Toganai, on the rising ground upon the opposite
side.
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