Many Interpreters Of The Holy Scriptures Pretend That Gihon,
Mentioned In Genesis, Is No Other Than The Nile, Which Encompasseth
All Aethiopia; but as the Gihon had its source from the terrestrial
paradise, and we know that the Nile rises
In the country of the
Agaus, it will be found, I believe, no small difficulty to conceive
how the same river could arise from two sources so distant from each
other, or how a river from so low a source should spring up and
appear in a place perhaps the highest in the world: for if we
consider that Arabia and Palestine are in their situation almost
level with Egypt; that Egypt is as low, if compared with the kingdom
of Dambia, as the deepest valley in regard of the highest mountain;
that the province of Sacala is yet more elevated than Dambia; that
the waters of the Nile must either pass under the Red Sea, or take a
great compass about, we shall find it hard to conceive such an
attractive power in the earth as may be able to make the waters rise
through the obstruction of so much sand from places so low to the
most lofty region of Aethiopia.
But leaving these difficulties, let us go on to describe the course
of the Nile. It rolls away from its source with so inconsiderable a
current, that it appears unlikely to escape being dried up by the
hot season, but soon receiving an increase from the Gemma, the
Keltu, the Bransu, and other less rivers, it is of such a breadth in
the plain of Boad, which is not above three days' journey from its
source, that a ball shot from a musket will scarce fly from one bank
to the other. Here it begins to run northwards, deflecting,
however, a little towards the east, for the space of nine or ten
leagues, and then enters the so much talked of Lake of Dambia,
called by the natives Bahar Sena, the Resemblance of the Sea, or
Bahar Dambia, the Sea of Dambia. It crosses this lake only at one
end with so violent a rapidity, that the waters of the Nile may be
distinguished through all the passage, which is six leagues. Here
begins the greatness of the Nile. Fifteen miles farther, in the
land of Alata, it rushes precipitately from the top of a high rock,
and forms one of the most beautiful water-falls in the world: I
passed under it without being wet; and resting myself there, for the
sake of the coolness, was charmed with a thousand delightful
rainbows, which the sunbeams painted on the water in all their
shining and lively colours. The fall of this mighty stream from so
great a height makes a noise that may be heard to a considerable
distance; but I could not observe that the neighbouring inhabitants
were at all deaf. I conversed with several, and was as easily heard
by them as I heard them. The mist that rises from this fall of
water may be seen much farther than the noise can be heard. After
this cataract the Nile again collects its scattered stream among the
rocks, which seem to be disjoined in this place only to afford it a
passage. They are so near each other that, in my time, a bridge of
beams, on which the whole Imperial army passed, was laid over them.
Sultan Segued hath since built here a bridge of one arch in the same
place, for which purpose he procured masons from India. This
bridge, which is the first the Abyssins have seen on the Nile, very
much facilitates a communication between the provinces, and
encourages commerce among the inhabitants of his empire.
Here the river alters its course, and passes through many various
kingdoms; on the east it leaves Begmeder, or the Land of Sheep, so
called from great numbers that are bred there, beg, in that
language, signifying sheep, and meder, a country. It then waters
the kingdoms of Amhara, Olaca, Choaa, and Damot, which lie on the
left side, and the kingdom of Goiama, which it bounds on the right,
forming by its windings a kind of peninsula. Then entering Bezamo,
a province of the kingdom of Damot, and Gamarchausa, part of Goiama,
it returns within a short day's journey of its spring; though to
pursue it through all its mazes, and accompany it round the kingdom
of Goiama, is a journey of twenty-nine days. So far, and a few
days' journey farther, this river confines itself to Abyssinia, and
then passes into the bordering countries of Fazulo and Ombarca.
These vast regions we have little knowledge of: they are inhabited
by nations entirely different from the Abyssins; their hair is like
that of the other blacks, short and curled. In the year 1615,
Rassela Christos, lieutenant-general to Sultan Segued, entered those
kingdoms with his army in a hostile manner; but being able to get no
intelligence of the condition of the people, and astonished at their
unbounded extent, he returned, without daring to attempt anything.
As the empire of the Abyssins terminates at these deserts, and as I
have followed the course of the Nile no farther, I here leave it to
range over barbarous kingdoms, and convey wealth and plenty into
Egypt, which owes to the annual inundations of this river its envied
fertility. I know not anything of the rest of its passage, but that
it receives great increases from many other rivers; that it has
several cataracts like the first already described, and that few
fish are to be found in it, which scarcity, doubtless, is to be
attributed to the river-horses and crocodiles, which destroy the
weaker inhabitants of these waters, and something may be allowed to
the cataracts, it being difficult for fish to fall so far without
being killed.
Although some who have travelled in Asia and Africa have given the
world their descriptions of crocodiles and hippopotamus, or river-
horse, yet as the Nile has at least as great numbers of each as any
river in the world, I cannot but think my account of it would be
imperfect without some particular mention of these animals.
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