A land far distant, where the tawny race
Dwell near the fountains of the sun, and where
The Nigris pours his dusky waters; wind
Along his banks, till thou shalt reach the fall
Where from the mountains with papyrus crowned
The venerable Nile impetuous pours
His headlong torrent; he shall guide thy steps
To those irriguous plains, whose triple sides
His arms surround.
The ancient authors knew that the Nile rose in the Ethiopian mountains thousands of years before the Victorian explorers worked that out. The Nile is more than 4,000 miles long and authors have been mapping the Nile with poetry - writing poems about the River Nile - for more than 4,000 years.
The Falls at the source of the Blue Nile, Lake Tana, Ethiopia