The true =source of the Nile= is Victoria Nyanza, or =Lake Victoria=, which lies between the parallels of latitude 0° 20′ N. and 3° S., and the meridians of 31° 40′ and 35° E. of Greenwich; the lake is 250 miles in length and 200 in breadth, and was discovered in modern times by Speke, on August 3rd, 1858. Other contributory sources are Albert Nyanza, or =Lake Albert=, discovered by Sir Samuel Baker on March 16th, 1864, and =Lake Albert Edward=, discovered by Sir H. M. Stanley in 1875; the connecting channel between these lakes is the Semliki River. The portion of the Nile between Lake Victoria and Lake Albert is called the “=Victoria Nile=” (or the “Somerset River”); that between Lake Albert and Lake Nô is called the “Baḥr al-Gebel” or “=Upper Nile=”; and that between Lake Nô and Kharṭûm is called “Baḥr al-Abyaḍ,” or “=White Nile=.” The total length of these three portions of the Nile is about 1,560 miles. At Kharṭûm the White Nile is joined by the “=Blue Nile=” (or Abâî, the Astapos of Strabo, which rises in Lake Ṣânâ and is about 1,000 miles long), and their united streams form that portion of the river which is commonly known as the “Nile.” The distance from Kharṭûm to the Mediterranean Sea is about 1,913 miles, and thus the =total length of the Niles= is about =3,473 miles=. Between Kharṭûm and the sea the Nile receives but one tributary, viz., the =Atbara=, the Astaboras of Strabo, a torrential stream which brings into the Nile an immense quantity of dirty red water containing valuable deposits of mud. The =Cataracts=, or series of rapids, on the Nile are six in number: the =first= is between Aswân and Philae, the =second= is a little to the south of Wâdî Ḥalfah, the =third= is at Ḥannek, the =fourth= is at Adramîya, the =fifth= is at Wâdî al-Ḥamâr, and the =sixth= is at Shablûkah. On the White Nile is a series of cataracts known as the “Fôla Falls,” and on the Blue Nile there are cataracts from Rusêres southwards for a distance of 40 miles. [Illustration: Statue of Ḥāpi the Nile-god. [No. 766.]]