THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 581
foot of it crofted a fmall river of the fame name, which ter- minates the territory of Attata ; here, to the fouth, it is indeed narrow, but very difficult to pafs by reafon of its muddy bottom. The fun all along the plain of Goutto had- been very hot till now, and here fo excemvely, that it quite overcame us : what was worfe, Woldo declared himfelf fo ill, that he doubted if he could go any farther, but believed lie mould die at the next village. Though I knew too much of the matter to think him in any danger from real difeafe,- I faw eafily that he was infected with a counterfeit one, which I did not doubt was to give me as much trouble as a real one would have done. .
At three o'clock, however, we pufhed on towards the - S. E. and began to enter into the plain of Abola, one of the divifions of the Agow. The plain, or rather valley, of Abo- la, is about half a mile broad for the mofl part, and no- where exceeds a mile. The mountains that form it on the eaft and weft fide are at firft of no confiderable height, and are covered with herbage and acacia-trees to the very top; but as they run fouth, they increafe in height, and be- come more rugged and woody. On the top of thefe are moll delightful plains, full of excellent pafture; the moun- tains to the weft are part of, or at leaft join the mountain of Aformafha, where, from a direction nearly S. E. they turn fouth, and inclofe the villages and territory of Sacala, which lie at the foot of them,: and ftill lower, that is more to. the weftward,the fmall village of Geefh, where are the long-ex- pected fountains of the Nile.
These mountains are herein the form of a crefcent ; the ■: river runs in the plain along the foot of this ridge, and !
along-;
