Note 4 — Chapter XXIV · EXCURSIONS AND PREPARATIONS.

Capt. Peel, who measured the volume of water in the two rivers, gives the following result: Breadth of the Blue Nile at Khartoum, 768 yards; average depth, 16.11 feet; average current, 1.564 knots; volume of water, 5,820,600 cubic feet per minute. Breadth of the White Nile, immediately above the junction, 483 yards; average depth, 13.92 feet; average current, 1.47 knots; volume of water, 2,985,400 feet per minute. Breadth of the Nile below the junction, 1107 yards; average depth, 14.38 feet; average current, 2 knots; volume of water, 9,526,700 cubic feet per minute. This measurement was made in the latter part of October, 1851. It can hardly be considered conclusive, as during the preceding summer the rains had been unusually heavy in the mountains of Abyssinia, which may have occasioned a greater disproportion than usual, in the volume of the two rivers.