Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/596

 572 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

This, known by the name of the Firft Cataract of the Nile, did not by its appearance come up to the idea we had form- ed of it, being fcarce fixteen feet in height, and about fixty yards over ; but in many places the meet of water is inter- rupted, and leaves dry intervals of rock. The fides are nei- ther fo woody nor verdant as thofeofthe cataract of the AfTar; and it is in every fhape lefs magnificent, or deferving to be feen, than is the noble cataract at Alata before defcribed, erroneoufly called the Second Cataract ; for below this there is a water-fall, nearly weft of the church of Bofkon Abbo, not much above the place where we fwam our horfes o- ver in May, and lefs than this firft cataract of which I am fpeaking, and nearer the fource ; there is another ftill fmaller before the Nile joins the river Gumetti, after falling from the plains of Sacala ; and there are feveral ftill fmaller between the fountains and the junction of the Nile with the river Davola ; thefe laft mentioned, however, are very infignincant, and appear only when the Nile is low : in the rainy feafon, when the river is full, they fcarcely are dif- tinguifhed by ruffling the water as it pafles.

Having fatisfied my curiofity at this cataract, I galloped back the fame road that I had come, without having feen a fingle perfon fince I left Goutto. Fafil's horfe went very pleafuntly, he did not like the fpur, indeed, but he did not need it. On our arrival we found a cow upon the point of being killed ; there was no appearance of any fuch to be found when I fet out for the cataract, but the diligence and fagacity of Woldo had overcome that difficulty. By a par- ticular manner of crying through his hands applied to his mouth, he had contrived to make fome beafts anfwer him,

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