There could be seen, starting from the soil, delicate
jets of water scattering in all directions, crossing and
recrossing each other, mingling, contending in the swiftness
of their progress, and all rushing toward that nascent
stream which became a river after having drunk them in.
"Here is, indeed, the Nile!" reiterated the doctor, with
the tone of profound conviction. "The origin of its name,
like the origin of its waters, has fired the imagination of
the learned; they have sought to trace it from the
Greek, the Coptic, the Sanscrit; but all that matters little
now, since we have made it surrender the secret of its
source!"
"But," said the Scotchman, "how are you to make
sure of the identity of this river with the one recognized
by the travellers from the north?"
"We shall have certain, irrefutable, convincing, and
infallible proof," replied Ferguson, "should the wind hold
another hour in our favor!"
The mountains drew farther apart, revealing in their
place numerous villages, and fields of white Indian corn,
doura, and sugar-cane. The tribes inhabiting the region
seemed excited and hostile; they manifested more anger
than adoration, and evidently saw in the aeronauts only
obtrusive strangers, and not condescending deities.
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