139 PAET II—HISTORICAL.* CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OT TO 1882.

On the Nile above Assuan the Nubian desert limited for centuries the extension of so-called civilisation towards the heart of Africa. This progress was further impeded by the obstacles presented in the second and third cataracts of the Nile, which render the river almost impassable for over 200 miles. Colonel Gordon wrote :—" From Wadi Haifa southwards to Hannek, a distance of 180 miles, an utter desert extends, spreading also for miles eastwards and westwards on both sides of the Nile. For the same length the river is also encumbered with ridges of rock. .... It was, therefore, this boundary of the desert that kept the warlike and independent tribes of the Sudan quite apart from the inhabitants of Egypt proper, and has made the Soudanese and the Egyptians two distinct peoples, that have not the least sympathy one with the other." South of the Nubian Desert lie the lowlands of Ancient Ethiopia,f or Island of Meroe, flanked on the south-east by the Abyssinian hills. Ethiopia was originally, in the days of the Pharaohs, a colony of Egypt, and its * Authorities :— ad. 770 to 1837.—Col. Stewart, " Eeport on the Sudan, 1883."

,, 1837 to 1882.—From " Eeport on the Egyptian Provinces of the Sudan." I.D., 1884.

,, 1S82 to date.—Compiled from various authorities, mainly Col. Wingate's works, Intelligence Reports and Publications, &c.

+ Ethiopia is nowadays considered to mean Abyssinia, and is the word employed by the ruler of that country to denominate his dominions.