It is called, by the natives, Abavi, the
Father of Water. It rises in Sacala, a province of the kingdom of
Goiama, the most fertile and agreeable part of the Abyssinian dominions.
On the eastern side of the country, on the declivity of a mountain,
whose descent is so easy, that it seems a beautiful plain, is that
source of the Nile, which has been sought after, at so much expense and
labour. This spring, or rather these two springs, are two holes, each
about two feet diameter, a stone's cast distant from each other. One of
them is about five feet and a half in depth. Lobo was not able to sink
his plummet lower, perhaps, because it was stopped by roots, the whole
place being full of trees. A line of ten feet did not reach the bottom
of the other. These springs are supposed, by the Abyssins, to be the
vents of a great subterraneous lake. At a small distance to the south,
is a village called Guix, through which you ascend to the top of the
mountain, where there is a little hill, which the idolatrous Agaci hold
in great veneration. Their priest calls them together to this place once
a year; and every one sacrifices a cow, or more, according to the
different degrees of wealth and devotion. Hence we have sufficient
proof, that these nations always paid adoration to the deity of this
famous river.
"As to the course of the Nile, its waters, after their first rise, run
towards the east, about the length of a musket-shot; then, turning
northward, continue hidden in the grass and weeds for about a quarter of
a league, when they reappear amongst a quantity of rocks.
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