12 PAST AGES OF CONQUEST

southward, the Itahan colony of Erithrea and the

great empire of Abyssinia, on the water-supply from

whose hills Egypt at present is absolutely dependent

for fruitful existence, are interposed between it and

the sea ; while in lower latitudes still, where even

the Sudan itself has scarcely been traversed, the

arid country is in the hands of entirely savage

people.

About 1,300 miles due south of the Egyptian boundary as the crow flies, Uganda and the Congo

Free State form the southern frontier, the latter

extending northwards to join the farthest and least- known confines of the French Sudan as the

enclosing areas on the west, out of which appeared

Marchand as " a bolt from the blue " on his way to

Fashoda.

The whole importance of the country naturally

depends on the river, which follows the great line

of surface depression extending from Lake Nyassa

to Syria and marked by the chain of Central

African lakes, the Nile, and the Dead Sea. In the Sudan the retaining boundaries consist of the

mountains of Abyssinia and of the Atbai district on

the east, and the ridge on the west which separates

Congo and Nile.

The drainage area of the Nile is divided into three

great sections ; the greatest extends far beyond the

limits of the Sudan into the Uganda Protectorate, where the long-sought source was located as the

Victoria Nyanza, the second into the Highlands of

Abyssinia. The third, which is at present of least