The source of the Blue Nile

The Source of the Blue Nile is a record of a journey through the Soudan to Lake Tsana in Western Abyssinia, and of the return to Egypt by the valley of the Atbara. Arthur J. Hayes supplies a note on the religion, customs, etc. of Abyssinia, and an entomological appendix is by E. B. Poulton.

On one day described, the travellers were in the saddle nearly eight hours, covered about twenty-three miles and reached their camping-ground at Abou Harras at five o’clock. On Friday, February 20, the party arrives at Gallabat, where the writer meets the Doctor of Kassala, who was then making a tour of inspection with the object of discovering cases of leprosy. The Egyptian Government has wisely ordained that lepers shall be compulsorily segregated, with a hospital for them at Gallabat. The text describes a magic vessel preserved in a conspicuous situation in the hut where the women worked, and says that the attacks of bouda were less frequent after this occurrence than before.