Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 24.2

24.2

I have already mentioned that while the two Ethiopian ambassadors were at Dehli, my Agah Danechmend-kan, whose thirst for knowledge is incessant, invited them frequently to his house, and that I was always one of the party. His object was to be made acquainted with the state of their country, and the nature of its government. Among other subjects, we spoke a great deal about the source of the Nile, which is called by them Abbabile. They spoke of its source as of a thing generally well known, and concerning which no one entertained any doubt. One of the ambassadors had even seen it, accompanied by a Mogol who had returned with him to Hindoustan. They told us that the source of the river Nile is in the country of the Agaus; that it gushes out of the earth by two large and bubbling springs near one another, and forming a small lake of about thirty or forty paces in length; that the river issuing from this lake is of considerable size, and that in its progress it receives many tributary waters, which swell it to an important stream.