That flood occurs
suddenly about the 20th of June, and the grand rush of water
pouring down the Blue Nile and the Atbara into the parent
channel, inundates Lower Egypt, and is the cause of its extreme
fertility.
Not only is the inundation the effect of the Abyssinian rains,
but the deposit of mud that has formed the Delta, and which is
annually precipitated by the rising waters, is also due to the
Abyssinian streams, more especially to the river Atbara, which,
known as the Bahr el Aswat (Black River), carries a larger
proportion of soil than any other tributary of the Nile;
therefore, to the Atbara, above all other rivers, must the wealth
and fertility of Egypt be attributed.
It may thus be stated: The equatorial lakes FEED Egypt; but the
Abyssinian rivers CAUSE THE INUNDATION.
This being a concise summary of the Nile system, I shall describe
twelve months' exploration, during which I examined every
individual river that is tributary to the Nile from Abyssinia,
including the Atbara, Settite, Royan, Salaam, Angrab, Rahad,
Dinder, and the Blue Nile. The interest attached to these
portions of Africa differs entirely from that of the White Nile
regions, as the whole of Upper Egypt and Abyssinia is capable of
development, and is inhabited by races either Mohammedan or
Christian; while Central Africa is peopled by a hopeless race of
savages, for whom there is no prospect of civilization.
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