The Nile El Abeede, or Nile of the Negroes, overflows in the same manner as the Nile Massar, or Nile of Egypt,[218] when the sun enters Cancer; this is the rainy season in the countries south of the Great Desert, and in Jibbel Kumra, or the Mountains of the Moon, from whence the waters descend which cause the river to overflow its banks. At Kabra, near Timbuctoo, it becomes a very large stream. River horses are found in the Nile El Abeede, as well as crocodiles, and the country contiguous to its southern banks is covered with forests of primeval growth, in which are many trees of great size and beauty. These forests abound with elephants of an enormous size. The river, according to the concurrent testimony of the Arabs and the Moors, and all travellers who have been on the spot, flows from west to east, and is about the width of the Thames at London; the stream is so very rapid in the middle, as to oblige the boats which navigate to Jinnie to keep close to the shore: and the boatmen, instead of oars, push the boat on with long poles.[219] The soil about Timbuctoo is generally fertile, and near the river produces rice, millet, Indian corn, and other grain; wheat and barley grow in the plains, and are cultivated principally by the Arabs of the tribe of Brabeesh.[220] Coffee[221] grows wild here, as does also indigo; the latter, however, is cultivated in some parts, and produces a very fine blue dye, which they use in their various cotton manufactures; a specimen of this colour may be seen in the British Museum, in a piece of cloth of cotton and silk, which I had the honour to present to that national depository of curiosities some years since: it is of a checquered pattern, similar to a draft board, the squares are alternate blue and white; these pieces of cotton are manufactured at Jinnie and Timbuctoo, and used as covers to beds; they are valuable from the strength and durability of the texture, and are therefore sold at a high price in Barbary, according to the quantity of silk that is in them, and the quality of the cotton; those however which have no silk interwoven, but are simply cotton, of blue and white patterns, are not so costly: the width varies from two to twelve inches; the pieces are sewed together so closely afterwards with silk or thread, that one can scarcely perceive the seams, the whole appearing as one piece. The husbandmen (whom they call fulah) are very expert in the œconomy of bees; honey and wax are abundant, but neither is transported across the Desert; first, because the articles abound in Barbary, and secondly, because they are used by the natives of Timbuctoo, the former as an article of food, and the latter for candles.[222]