At This Season It
Was Nearly Dry, And At No Time Did It Appear To Exceed A Depth Of
Ten Or Twelve Feet.
As we had arrived at this point, some
distance above the junction, we continued along the margin of the
stream for about two miles until we reached the Settite.
The Hor
(a ravine) Mehetape was the limit of my exploration; it was
merely a rapid mountain torrent, the individual effect of which
would be trifling; but we were now among the mountains whose
drainage caused the sudden rise of the Atbara river and the Nile.
Far as the eye could reach to the south and east, the range
extended in a confused mass of peaks of great altitude, from the
sharp granite head of one thousand, to flat-topped basalt hills
of five or six thousand feet, and other conical points far
exceeding, and perhaps double, that altitude.
The Settite was very beautiful in this spot, as it emerged from
the gorge between the mountains, and it lay in a rough stony
valley about two hundred feet below our path as we ascended from
the junction of the Hor to better riding ground. In many places,
our route lay over broken stones, which sloped at an inclination
of about thirty degrees throughout the entire distance of the
river below; these were formed of decomposed basalt rocks that
had apparently been washed from decaying hills by the torrents of
the rainy season. At other parts of the route, we crossed above
similar debris of basalt that lay at an angle of about sixty
degrees, from a height of perhaps two hundred feet to the water's
edge, and reminded me of the rubbish shot from the side of a
mountain when boring a tunnel.
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