those Fountains and Spring-heads have been since discover'd so long and unsuccessfully sought for by the Ancients Athanasius Kircher has describ'd them from the Relation of Peter Pays who view'd them himself In the Kingdom of Gojam saith he and in the Western Parts thereof in the Province of Sabala which the Agawi inhabit are to be seen two round Spring-Heads very deep in a place somewhat rais'd the ground about it being quaggy and mershy nevertheless the Water does not spring forth there but issues from the foot of the Mountain About a Musquet Shot from thence toward the East the River begins to flow then winding to the North about the fourth part of a League it receives another River a little farther two more flowing from the East fall into it and soon after it enlarges it self with the addition of several other Streams About a days journey farther by the Relation of the same Peter it swallows up the River Jema then winding Westward some twenty Leagues it turns again to the East and plunges it self into a vast Lake This Relation differs not from what Gregory has discoursed to me only he particulariz'd the names of the Countries that perhaps were the more special Denominations of those places of which Sabala was the more general Name For as he related to me the Spring-head of Nile is in a certain Land call'd Secut upon the top of Dengla which perhaps is the name of a Mountain He also affirm'd that it had five Spring-heads reckoning in the Heads of other Rivers which have no particular name and are therefore taken for the Nile But it passes through the Lake Tzanicum preserving the colour of its own Waters like the Rhosne running through the Lake Lemann and the Rhine through Acronius or the Lake De Zell Then winding to the South it washes on the left hand the principal Kingdoms of Habessinia Bagemdra Amhara Waleka Shewa Damota and takes along the Rivers of those Countries Bashlo Tzohha Kecem Jema Roma and Wancit Then on the right hand embracing Gojam its Native Country almost like a Circle and swell'd with the Rivers of that Region Maga Abaja Aswari Temci Gult and Tzul it turns again to the West as it were bidding farewel to its Fountains and with a prodigious mass of ramass'd Rivers leaving Habessinia upon the right hand rolls to the North through several thirsty Nations and sandy Deserts to enfertile Egypt with its Inundations and there makes its way through several mouths into the Sea For the more certain Demonstration of the Truth it will be of particular moment to insert the Relation of Gregory himself perhaps the first that was ever made public by an Ethiopian Epist d. 20. Octob. 1657. The Course of Nile is like a Circle it encompasses Gojam but so that it never returns back to its Head making directly to Sennar And therefore Gojam lies always upon the right hand of Nile but all the other Kingdoms of Ethiopia as well those that lye near as those at a distance remain still upon the left As it flows along it takes in all the Rivers great and small with several Torrents as well Foreign as Habessinian which by that general Tribute acknowledge him their King who having thus muster'd together all the Waters of Ethiopia jocundly takes his leave and proceeds on his Journey like a Hero according to the Command of his Creator to drench the Fields of thirsty Egypt and quench the drowth of Thousands The Spring-head of this famous River first shews it self in a certain Land which is called Secut upon the top of Dengla near Gojam West of Bagemdra Dara the Lake Tzana and Bada Rising thus it hastens with a direct course Eastward and so enters the Lake of Dara and Bed as it were swimming over it Passing from thence it flows between Gojam and Bagemdra but leaving them upon the right and left speeds directly toward Amhara Having touch'd the Confines of Amhara he turns his Face toward the West and girdles Gojam like a Circle but so that Gojam lies always upon the right hand of it Having past the Limits of Amhara it washes the Confines of Walaka and so on to the extream bounds of Mugara and Shewa Then it slides between Bizama and Gonga and descends into the Country of the Shankelites Whence he winds to the right hand and leaves by degrees the Western Clime upon the left hand to visit the Kingdom of Sennar But before he get thither he meets with two great Rivers that plunge themselves into his Streams coming from the East of which one is call'd Tacazè that falls out of Tigra and the other Guangue that descends from Dembea After he has taken a view of the Kingdom of Sennar away he travels to the Country of Dengula and so comes to the Kingdom of Nubia and thence turns to the right hand in order to his intended Voyage for Alexandria and comes to a certain Country which is call'd Abrim where the Stream is unnavigable by reason of the Cliffs and Rocks after which he enters Egypt Sennar and Nubia are seated upon the shore of Nile toward the West so that they may drink of his Waters besides that he guards their Eastern Limits as far as he approaches near them But our People and Travellers from Sennar after they have cross'd Nubia quit the River Nile leaving it upon the right hand toward the East and ride through a Desert of 15 days journey upon Camels where neither Tree nor Water but only Sand is to be seen but then they meet with it again in the Country of Riffe which is the Upper Egypt where they either take Boat or travel a foot in Company with the Stream But as to what he wrote concerning the flowing of great and small Rivers into Nile he explains himself in these words All great Rivers and smaller Torrents flow into Nile excepting only two The one is call'd Hanazo which rises in Hangota and the other Hawash which runs near Dawara and Fatagara But as if this had not been enough he goes on with a farther Explanation in another Epistle as follows But whereas I told you in a Description of Nile that all the Rivers of Ethiopia flow'd into it except two I am not to be understood as if I spoke of all Ethiopia For those Rivers that are upon the Borders of the Circuit of Ethiopia which are near the Ocean they fall into the Sea every one in their distinct Regions Now the Countries adjoyning to the Ocean are these Canbat Guraghè Enaria Zandera Wed Waci Gaci and some others The Native Country of Nile being thus discover'd the cause of his Inundation is manifest For most of the Countries under the Torrid Zone when the Sun returns into the Winter Signs are wash'd as we have said with immoderate Showers So that the prodigious mass of Waters that randevouzes from all parts cannot be contain'd within his Channel and therefore when it comes into the Levels of Egypt
according to the frequent and ancient custom of the Orientals CHAP. VIII Of the Rivers of Habessinia more especially of Nile its Fountains and Course as also of the Lake Tzana Many Rivers there more precious than Metals The Fountains originally from Rain-water An Encomium of Nilus In Scripture it is call'd The River 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Schichor or Niger By some of the ancients Astapus and Astaboras In the Amharic Dialect call'd Abawi or the Patent of Rivers it flows not in Paradise as some of the Fathers thought Admiration caus'd the desire of knowing its Original that the Ancients plac'd in the Mountains of the Moon The Portugals discover'd the true Fountains their description from Peter Pays not different from Gregories It rises in Sicut it has five Heads It mixes with the Lake in Dembea It passes by the principal Kingdoms of Habassia encircles Gojam runs through Egypt and so into the Sea Gregories Ethiopic Description He alledges That all the Rivers of Africa fall into Nile He limits that assertion Some fall into the Sea The true causes of the overflowing of Nile Jovius blam'd A double Channel of Nile Niger the other Channel The old Relation in Herodotus explain'd Whether the King of Hebessynia can divert the Course of Nile Rivers suckt up in the Sand. Zebeus falls into the Indian Sea The Habessines unskill'd in Navigation The Tzanic Lake with its Islands BUT much more excelling and far more precious Gifts of Nature than those of Metals flow from the Mountains of Habessinia that is to say several remarkable Rivers more profitable to the Natives and the neighbouring Nations than Gold it self so much the Subject of human Avarice For the Rain-water soaking through the pores of the Earth and the clefts of the Rocks is receiv'd and as it were cistern'd up in the hidden Caverns of the Mountains where after it has pass'd through many secret conveyances of Nature at length it meets with some hollow place and breaks forth Sometimes oppress'd by its own weight it reascends and seeks for passage at the tops of the Mountains themselves which is the reason that in Countries where there is little or no Rain there are few or no Fountains but where there are frequent Rains the Rivers are large and swelling The Effect demonstrating the Cause (c) No truer opinion concerning the Original of Rivers Aristotle quotes it in his Meteorologies l. 1. s 4. c. 1. but without reason dissents Most Neoterics defend it See Isaac Vossius De Origine Nili Fluminum c. v. But Nilus owing to Habassia for its source for plenty of Water for sweetness wholsomness and fertility of the same excells all other Rivers of the World In sacred Writ by reason of its Excellency it is sometimes call'd Isa 23.3 The River absolutely and particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its black Colour and by the Greeks for the same reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it runs with black a muddy Water Some of the Ancients tell us Plin. 5.9 7.3 that it was then by the Ethiopians call'd Astapus and that the left Channel of it about Meroe was nam'd Astabora which others have understood concerning other Rivers that flow into Nile But this we let pass as obscure and doubtful whether meant of Nilus and our Ethiopians or no for the Habessines in their vulgar Language have no other name for Nile than that of Abawi And that as some think from the word Ab which signifies a Parent as if Nilus were the Parent of all other Rivers But this derivation neither suits with Grammar neither does (d) It is in the form of an Adjective Heavenly Golden So Abawi signifies Paternal Abawi simply signifie a Parent neither if you rightly consider it is it agreeable to Sense for Nilus does not send forth from his own Bowels but receives the Tribute of all other Rivers So that he may be rather said to be their Captain and Prince than the Father of them And therefore the Egyptians out of a vain Superstition call'd him their Preserver their Sun and their God and sometimes Poetically Parent In our Ethiopic or the Language of the Books this River is call'd Gejon or Gewon by an ancient mistake from the (e) For in the time of the 70 Interpreters it was so called who render'd Shichor Jer 2.18 where the Prophet speaks positively of Nile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gihon The same you shall find in the Book of Syras Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Geon and that from the Hebrew word Gihon because it seem'd to agree with the Description Gen. 2.13 which encompasses the Land of Ethiopia whereas it only encircles Gojam but only glides and passes by all the other Kingdoms of Ethiopia If you object That Gihon had its source in the Terrestrial Paradise 't is twenty to one but that they extol their own Country for Paradise For you must understand that many of the Fathers of the (f) Theodoret in c. 2. Gen. 9.19 Austin l. 8. de gen c. 7. Abulens in c. 2. Gen. 9.15 26.9.2 Church were of the same opinion which that they might defend they brought the River Nile under Ground and under the Sea into Egypt well knowing that no body would follow them thither leaving their Readers to find out the way Certainly the Ancients never inquir'd so curiously into the Nature or Source of any River as they did in that of Nile neither were they ever so deceiv'd for it was a thing altogether unusual for any other Rivers in the World to overflow in the most sultry Season of the year an Inundation so wholsom and profitable to Egypt So that the ignorance of the cause of it fill'd the minds of the Ancients with so much admiration that both Princes and private Persons desired nothing more than to know the Head of that River which was the Original of their Happiness in so much that there were some Emperours and Kings who sent great Armies in quest of the satisfaction of their Curiosity tho with all success (g) As Cambyses Alexander Ptol. Philadelph J. Caesar Nero c. Most of the ancient Geographers by meer conjecture plac'd the Fountains of this River beyond the Equinoctial Line in I know not what Mountains of the Moon to the end they might deduce the cause of its swelling from the Winter Rains of those Regions For they could not persuade themselves that the Sun being in the Northern Signs so much Winter or Rain could be so near to cause so great an increase of the Flood tho there were (h) So Pliny l. 17. c. 18. wherever Summer Rains are not as in India and Ethiopia some who made it out plainly enough but that Credit would not be given to them (i) Photin in Bibl. n. 249. in the Life of Pythag. Agatharchides Strabo and others See Vossius d. l. c. 20. But by the Travels of the Portugals into Habessinia and the sedulity of the Fathers
view taken from the Saracenic History In those days that is in the days of Michael the Patriarch Nilus fail'd extreamly Mustansir therefore a Mahumetan Prince of Egypt sent him to the Country of the Habessines with costly Gifts and other things of high value Whereupon the King of the Country came forth to meet him whom the Patriarch reverenc'd publicly After that the King demanded of him the cause of his coming Then the Patriarch made known to the King how that the Waters of Nile fail'd in Egypt to the unspeakable detriment of the Land and Inhabitants Thereupon in favour of the Patriarch the King commanded the Channel to be open'd through which the Water ran into Egypt which was then stopp'd up Which being done Nilus encreas'd three yards in one night and the River was so fill'd that the Fields of Egypt were water'd and sown So that the Patriarch return'd with great Honour into Egypt I could wish to hear the opinions of those that deny this place The words are clear of themselves that the King commanded the Channel that was stopp'd to be open'd The Historian himself is accounted a credible Author bred and born in Egypt as also Secretary to the Mahometan Princes of that Country So that he could not possibly be ignorant of such an accident and besides he wrote his History above a hundred and twenty years after the thing happen'd And therefore had it been an untruth he durst not have mention'd it for fear of being contradicted which he might easily have been But it may be objected That the Historian does not mention by whom the Channel was obstructed or whether it happen'd as many times it does naturally when the course of a Stream is damm'd up by trunks of Trees Mud and Stones driven by force and heap'd together in the narrow passages of the Water But this Objection does not resolve the doubt for such remarkable stops rarely or never happen in such large or violent Rivers Or if Nature could effect so much what might not be accomplish'd by Art Athanasius Kircher a person not only generally vers'd in the Affair of Egypt but more particularly in what related to the River Nile in his Catalogue of the Patriarchs of Egypt relates That one (t) In Supplement Prod. and Lexic Capt. p. 524. c. 2. This Michael was the 68th Patriarch of the Jacobites and dy'd about the year 1110. Michael was sent into Ethiopia for the restoring of Nile to its Channel from whence the Ethiopians had directed the Course of its Waters tho it be the fault of that learned Man to write much rather than accurately nor does he always commend his Authors The Question being put to Gregory he did not remember the Story of Michael but that he had heard from persons of great Credit That not far from the Cataracts of Nile all the Land toward the East lies level and unless it were for one Mountain that stands in the way Nile would rather flow that way than into Egypt or the Northern Sea So that if that Mountain were digg'd through a thing to be done with pains and difficulty the Course of the River might be turn'd and carry'd into the Red-Sea which is well known to the Turks and many of the Portugals And for this reason have the Emperours of Ethiopia obtain'd those advantagious Conditions from the Saracens Nay it is said That once one of the Ethiopian Emperours had an intention to have done it and had commanded his Subjects to undertake the Work but that he was prevail'd upon to desist at the entreaty of the Egyptian Christians I must confess this thing has very much perplex'd my thoughts nor are the Reasons that are brought against it to be contemn'd For either to raise a Mole or Dam of Stones and then to remove it again are things requiring so much toyl and labour that the Task does no way agree with the nature of the Abessines And it seems somewhat unlikely that so vast a River so long accustom'd to a declining and headlong Course should be diverted and compell'd to change its Channel I consider'd also with my self that if the King of Habessinia had the River Nile so much in his Power he might have all Egypt easily at his Devotion and that the Turk could deny him nothing whatever he demanded Nor would he ever suffer the Christians of his own Religion and the Patriarch who is the Head of his Church to groan under such a miserable Bondage Lastly I did not a little wonder that the Jesuits did not insinuate it into the heads of the Abessines to make use of that Power which Nature had put into their hands and that they did not use Threats rather than Intreaties and Bribes to obtain those conveniencies which they enjoy by the favour of the Turkish Basha who commands the Ports of the Red-Sea But all things consider'd and rejecting the History of Elmacine we may answer Tellez from the Relation of Gregory which is That a new Channel may be carry'd on not from those parts of Abessinia which lie upon the Nile and are so many Leagues distant from the Sea but from that part which is near the Cataracts and formerly perhaps belong'd to Nubia My first Opinion was That the Channel of Nile could no where be so easily alter'd as in that place where it divides it self into two Channels for that there by the direction of Nature her self it seem'd that the whole might be more easily turn'd another way where a part turns naturally without compulsion For tho other Rivers empty themselves into Nile beyond this separation and flow into Egypt yet are they not enough to make the Inundation so great as necessity requires which would not only be the ruin of Egypt but a great diminution of the Turkish Power But however it be this I believe to be certain That the King of Habessinia is now no more Lord of those places where the River Nile ever was or ever can be diverted from Nile nor are the Princes of those places now at his Devotion neither are they indeed Christians but unhappily revolted to Paganism So that whatever formerly might have been done cannot now be brought to pass not that the nature of the place obstructs the design but that the Prince of the Country wants Power or else has no inclination to the Project Otherwise I should not think it either absurd or improbable that some Rivers that make their way through the high Fields of Habessinia might be convey'd another way by the descents of the Hill through the sandy Levels that lye below to a vast diminution of the Egyptian Stream provided that skilful Artists were employ'd to survey the declivities of the places and the places most proper to carry off the Water For though it be a difficult thing to alter the Course and Limits of Rivers which Nature has settl'd yet Examples are not wanting We read in Herodotus L. 1. call'd Clio. That Nitocres King of the Babylonians
horseback a practice very necessary in such a Country where many times there is no use of Horse In brief the Military Discipline of the Habessines is very irregular rather the fault of the Captains that know not how to command them than of the Souldiers For they run away without any fear of Infamy or Punishment neither do they know how to rally when they are once disorder'd so that the first array being broken the rest are carry'd away like a Torrent neither do they strengthen their Wings with Reserves neither do they separate the Veterans from the Raw Souldiers disheartning the Courage of the one by the unequal mixture of the other The fury of the first Onset for the most part wins the Field for which reason the Gallans surpassing the Habessines in heat and violence have so often vanquish'd them They are not easily perswaded to avoid the Combat believing it sloathful and dastardly to tire out an Enemy by delay and wait for opportunities Which has bin the Ruin of many of their Kings that have joyn'd Battel with more Courage than Prudent Advice The Kings themselves for the most part bred up in the field command their own Armies themselves or else they create a Ras to command in their stead One thing more remains behind That this Country is very much infested with Robbers as well as Enemies who many times robb in Troops like Souldiers and very much infest the Roads and this without any searching after or care taken to punish them by reason that the King and the Governours being wholly busied with continual Wars have no time to ridd the Nation of these Vermin who being pursu'd presently shelter themselves among the Rocks and Mountains CHAP. XV. Of the Wars in the last Century Especially of the Fatal War of the Adelans Their ancient Wars incertain the distance between Egypt and our Ethiopia Caleb's Expedition into Arabia The Wars of the last Century First the Adelan dreadful The Lamentations of the Ethiopians at Rome Caus'd by the sloath and voluptuousness of their Princes The assistance of the Turk and Fire-Arms The Portugals assist the Habessines The Enemie vanquish'd by Gomez His Fame His Fidelity tempted by Grainus but in vain They both act warily Grainus fights and his Horse shot under him A second Battel The Enemies Camp taken Gomeus forces the Jews Rock Gomez wounded kill'd his death reveng'd by Claudius Grainus overcome and slain The Kingdom at quiet The Adelans recover strength vanquish and kill Claudius To whom Menas succeeds who is also slain in the Field Serzadenghel vanquishes the Turk Civil Wars after his death WE shall forbear to set down over-ancient or incertain Relations concerning the Expeditions of the Kings of Ethiopia into Egypt in regard it does not appear to us what part of Ethiopia those Writers mean or how far the Empire of the Abessines of old extended For those things which Historians have deliver'd to memory in reference to the Ethiopians adjoyning upon Egypt are not presently to be apply'd to the Ethiopians For that the distance between Egypt and our Ethiopia comprehends Eight or nine degrees or a hunder'd German Miles and more In which wide space Nubia was seated so that there might be Kings of other Ethiopick Nations next to that And therefore till we see the Histories themselves of the Abissines we are unwilling to publish Incertainties for Certainties But that the Habessines did make several Famous Expeditions into Arabia is a thing not to be question'd insomuch that some of them have made a Computation of their Years from thence and that the Kingdom of the Homerites was totally subdu'd by Caleb we have already declar'd To omit then several other Wars wag'd with their Neighbours the Stories of which are to us unknown as for example that with the Nubians in the 25th Year of the former Century recorded by Alvarez the most lamentable and most fatal was that War which they enter'd into with the Adelans their Ancient Enemies True it is indeed that in the beginning of his Raign David vanquish'd them in several Battels But after the Turks had vanquish'd Egypt and some Ports of the Red Sea the Adelans strengthen'd by their assistance turn'd the Scale of Fortune and were always Victors For King Adelis sent one Ahmed a Mahumetan vulgarly call'd Grainus or Grannus that is to say Left-handed with an Army to invade Habessinia and revenge the Losses of the Adelans He about the Year 1526 subdu'd all Fatagara For the first two Years the War was carry'd on with various Success but the next Twelve Years to the Year 1540 at what time King David deceas'd the Habessines had the worst of it The King having lost the choicest of his Kingdoms and his Second Son Menas who was taken Prisoner languish'd out the rest of his days in the Rock Damus And indeed the Habessines were brought to that low and miserable Condition that they began to despair of their Countrey For such are the Lamentations which we find made by those that liv'd at Rome in the Epilogue printed after the Gospel of St. John Not without reason do we weep when we call to mind the Captivity of our Brethren our Countrey layd wast Our Temples Burnt our Books and our Sanctuaries consum'd with Fire and the Profanation of our Monasteries by that wicked and impious Grainus a Companion for Goats a Perscutor and Invader of the Sheep from Waigaci to the Red Sea Among the Causes of such a Torrent of Calamities these may be reck'nd not to be the least for that the King vanquish'd by his own sluggish humour had given himself wholly up to the Temptations of Pleasure so dedicated to Women that he permitted some of them to have their Idols in his Palace Next the Turks out of their inbred hatred to Christianity had supply'd their Mahumetan Friend with Fire-Arms and such as knew well how to use them whose Thunder then by the Abessines first heard they were not able to endure nor did they know how to cure the Wounds which the Bullets made as not being accustom'd to them besides that on the other side the Mahumetans so numerously abounding throughout Abessinia favourably every where entertain'd those of their own Sect. Many also of the Abessines themselves following as is usual the Fortune of the Victor forsook their Native Soveraign So that now every thing threaten'd utter destruction and desolation when the King lurking among the Rocks began to bethink himself of craving Succour from the Portugals To that purpose in the Year 1535 one John Bermudes a Portuguese was sent Who first arriv'd at Rome in the Year 1538 where he was made Patriarch joyntly of Ethiopia and Alexandria and afterwards went into Portugal in the Year 1539 and there obtain'd a Commission from John the Third to the Vice-Roy of India to send Assistance to the Abessines Their Commander was Christopher Gomez a Person of great Valour who in the Month of July in the Year 1541 enter'd the Kingdom