Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/28

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12 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER


and at this day does suspend a plummet of an ounce and half at the index of my three-feet quadrant.

The next morning, the 13th of November, having settled our account with our host, we set out from the hospitable house of Shalaka Welled Amlac, after having engaged, by promises to the ladies, that we should pay them soon ano- ther visit. Our landlord accompanied us in person to the ford, and by this, and his readiness to shew us what he thought worthy of our curiosity, and by his care in ascer- taining for us the distances and situations of places, he gave us a certain proof he was well contented, and therefore that we had nothing to fear.

We had both nights heard the noise of cataracts, and we thought it might be of the Nile, as we were in fact but five miles from the second small cataract at Kerr, which lay W. S. W. of us. We were informed, however, in the morning, that it was the sound of falls in the river Jemma, near whose banks this house is situated. We set out at eight o'clock, the hills of Arooffi bearing north ; and at half past eight we came to the ford of the Jemma, which is strong, rugged, and uneven.

The Jemma here comes from the east ; its banks are most beautifully shaded with acacia and other trees, growing as on the west of the Nile, that is, the trunks or stems of the trees at a distance, but the tops touching each other, and spread- ing broad. Though growing to no height, these woods are full of game of different kinds, mostly unknown in Eu- rope. The bohur is here in great numbers ; also the Buffalo, though not so frequent. Whoever sees Richmond hill has

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