The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead

Dealing with the Blue Nile from 1798, this is a companion to "The White Nile" by the same author. The books describe the two branches of the Nile in southern Sudan. This is a wonderful book with good research and good stories. It mainly is an account of amazing men who overcame unbelievable obstacles to explore and conquer the area of the Blue Nile. The upper reaches of this river are so rugged that for centuries the map of it was a dotted line. James Bruce discovered its source. He was a Scot, a protestant who studied Arabic and explored the upper Blue Nile and down to Cairo. Returning to England, he was ridiculed and not believed; 17 years later he published his books.

Next the book describes Napoleon's conquest of Egypt. What fascinated me was the fact that after conquering Egypt he went up the coast of Palestine to Syria and conquered until he beseiged Acre unsuccessfully and had to return to Egypt. Prior to that, after a brilliant conquest of Egypt, the fleet that had brought him was destroyed by Lord Nelson, leaving Napoleon stranded in Egypt for many months. Napoleon brought many famous French scientists with him: Monge, Berthier, Davont, Lannes, Junot, Murat. Denon, an artist, was drawing the beautiful temples and monuments not previously seen by Europeans, but always was rushed because the columns had to advance and to fall behind left him vulnerable to raids by Bedouins. Desaix took columns far up the Nile and chased the Mamelukes, the fascinating lords over the Egyptians who were not Egyptian but adopted male slaves from the Caucasus regions who had no children but bought young boy slaves from the Caucasus to perpetuate their lines. The scientists reported their findings to France in a multi-volume work.

The final part of the book is a fascinating tale of Napier's mission to rescue kidnapped English subjects from Thomas, king of Ethiopia. This was a massive military effort launched from India with boats, trains, elephants and artillery. The contrast with the French invasion is very interesting and shows the change in warfare.

Interesting references include
R. E. Chesmon's "Lake Tam and the Blue Nile," Macmillan 1936
James Bruce "Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile" 1804
F. B. Head's "The Life of Bruce, Murray" 1836
Jonquiere's "L'expedition d'Egypte"
W. G. Browne's "Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria: 1792-1796"