. Cassell's history of the war in the Soudan. traversing Ethiopia, these twoadventurous officers came to enormoustracts of impassable marshes, with twogreat rocks rising in their midst, frombetween which thej alleged the riverrushed forth impetuously. In the sixteenthcentury, two Portu-guese Jesuits feltcertain that theyhad reached thesource of the Nile ;but it was provedthat the two re-verend fathers hadmissed their way,and followed onlythe course of theBlue Nile, which isa tributary. Inmore modern timesit has often beenasserted that thereal sources of theriver were in therecesses of the Ge-b
. Cassell's history of the war in the Soudan. traversing Ethiopia, these twoadventurous officers came to enormoustracts of impassable marshes, with twogreat rocks rising in their midst, frombetween which thej alleged the riverrushed forth impetuously. In the sixteenthcentury, two Portu-guese Jesuits feltcertain that theyhad reached thesource of the Nile ;but it was provedthat the two re-verend fathers hadmissed their way,and followed onlythe course of theBlue Nile, which isa tributary. Inmore modern timesit has often beenasserted that thereal sources of theriver were in therecesses of the Ge-bel-el-Kamar, orMountains of theMoon, 800 leagues from the Delta. These mountains,says Humboldt, in his Tableaux ofNature, form on our old maps animmense continuous girdle, traversingAfrica from east to west. The existenceof these mountains appears certain, buttheir extent, their distance from theequator, and their general direction, arestill so many unsolved problems. But this interesting matter need notbe pursued any farther in these THE NILOMETER. To this day a curious remnant of theold river worship is still practised, when—at the cutting of the dykes—acoarsely moulded figure, made of Nilemud, called by the people the bride,is flung into the stream amid muchrejoicing, and is considered a substi-tute for a beautifulyoung girl, who, itis said, used to berichly attired as abride and cast intothe Nile to pro-pitiate its power. When, after thefounding of Fostat,the Nile failed torise to the usuallevel, the Copts im-plored the Governorof Cairo, Amroo, topermit them to offersuch a victim, herefused; but whenthe low state of theriver menaced tlieland with famine,Amroo made theCaliph Omar ac-quainted with thedesperate state of affairs. His messenger returned with a ro^alletter, which he was ordered to castinto the obstinate Iiver. The missiveof the Commander of the Faithful ranthus :— To the blessed Nile of Egypt. Ifup to this time thou hast flowed onlyby thine own will
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