THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 583
the eaft of the Nile, and lofes itfelf in that river below Sam- feen, near the ford where our army palled in the unfor- tunate retreat of the month of May : its fources or fountains are three ; they rife in the mountains of Amid Aifnd, and keep on clofe to the eall fide of them, till the river ili'ues out of the valley into Maitfha.
This triple ridge of mountains difpofed one range behind the other, nearly in form of three concentric circles, feem to* fuggeft an idea that they are the Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunce of antiquity, at the foot of which the Nile was faid to rife ; in facf , there are no others. Amid A- mid may perhaps exceed half a mile in height, they cer- tainly do not arrive at three quarters, and are greatly fhort- of that fabulous height given them by Kircher. Thefe mountains are all of them excellent foil, and everywhere covered with fine pafture ; but as this unfortunate country had been for ages the theatre of war, the inhabitants have only ploughed and fown the top of them out of the reach of enemies or marching armies. On the middle of the mountain are villages built of a white fort of grafs, which makes them confpicuous at a great diftance ; the bottom is- all grafs, where their cattle feed continually under their eye ; thefe, upon any alarm, they drive up to the top of the mountains out of danger. The hail lies often upon the top of Amid Amid for hours, but mow was never feeri in this country, nor have they a word * in their languge for it, It is alfo remarkable, though we had often violent hail
at
- By this is meant the Amhatic, for in Geez the word for fnow is Tjke ; this may
have been invented for tranflating the fcripturss.
