The source of the Blue Nile : $b 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, with a note on the religion, customs, etc. of AbyssiniaHayes, Arthur J.
Religion
The source of the Blue Nile : $b 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, with a note on the religion, customs, etc. of Abyssinia
Hayes, Arthur J.
Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Religion; Sudan -- Description and travel
I went back to the deeper part of the pool, and as soon as I had made
a cast, hooked one, whose first tug showed that he was a prize worth
landing. I feared that I should lose him, as my tackle was hardly
strong enough for a heavy catch, so I made up my mind to play him
very gently and tire him out, if possible. Away he went and round spun
the wheel. He hid under a ledge of rock, and I wound it gently. This
started him again, and now he showed sport without a break for twenty
minutes. After that, to my surprise, I brought him up quite close to
a shallow, and then I saw that I had hooked a real monster and had a
good chance of landing him. But it would be useless to try to get him
ashore without help, and I shouted and shouted again; for all the time
he was making dashes and stopping in exhaustion, and I was playing
him in nearer to the shallow. At last one of our boys came to aid me,
and I saw that he was eager to help—but the first thing that he
did was to rush into the water and grab my line! I yelled to him to
leave it alone and strove to explain what he was to do. The next time
my prize came into the shallow his strength had nearly failed him,
for he rolled over and showed his white belly. It was a moment of
excitement when the black fellow slipped into the water and tried
to catch hold of _the fish’s tail_. I did nearly lose him then,
but he was almost spent; and after a great deal of shouting I made
the boy understand at last that he was to put his thumbs into the
fish’s gills on each side. At first he thought I wanted him to put
his fingers into its mouth, and was afraid. It took two men to lift
my fish on to dry ground, and I could hardly believe that the tackle
had held him; I was using a small trout-rod. From snout to tail he
measured forty-five inches, and he had a girth of thirty inches. We
judged his weight to be between fifty and sixty pounds. This species
(_lates niloticus_) is called by the natives “el baggar” (the
cow). It has been described by Sir S. Baker, who also published in
“The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia” a drawing of a fine specimen
which he caught in the Atbara. My photograph shows that the fish which
I landed does not altogether correspond to his description. It may
be that the Soudanese name covers more than one species, or there
may be considerable variation among members of the same species,
but I am inclined to think that the illustration in Sir S. Baker’s
book was prepared from an imperfect sketch.
During the morning we saw a troop of baboons. For a time they watched
us. It was interesting to note their method of scouting. Here and
there one would climb a tree, scan the surroundings sharply, and then
descend quietly and join the main body. A few minutes later another
would renew the observation from another tree. In this manner they
keep a constant look-out. Mansfield Parkyns studied the habits of
these creatures in Abyssinia and has given a most interesting account
of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account