NIKOTOL, a thriving t. of s. Russia, in the government of Ekaterinoslay. on the bank of the Dnieper, about 200 in. from its mouth, in lat. 47° 33' north. Nikopol is the center of an extensive agricultural district, the produce of which is here shipped to. Odessa. Between Nikopol and the port of Odessa there is regular communication by steamboat. The natural advantages of Nikopol promise to make it one of the principal commercial centers on the Dnieper. Pop. '67, 8,758.
NILE (Naus), called by the Egyptians Hapi Mu (the genius of the waters), and by the Hebrews Stlior(the black), the river of n.e. Africa formed by the union of the Bahr-el-Abiad (the White or true Nile) and the Bahr-el-Azrek (Blue Nile). Capts. Speke and Grant discov ered that the first of these, the true Nile, flowed out of the lake Victoria Nyanza, which extends from about let. 0° 20' n., to 2° 40' s., and from long. 31° 40' to 35° e., and is 3,800 ft. above the level of the sea; and the river Shimiyu, the largest tributary of this lake, flowing into its southern extremity, must now be regarded as the most southerly source of the Nile. The second, the Blue Nile, has its source in Abyssinia, in lat.10° 59' n., and long. 55' east.
The White Nile, from its outfall from the Victoria Nyanza at the " Ripon falls," lat. 0° 20' n., long. 33° 30' c., flows n.w. and AV. for about 230 in. till it enters the lake Albert Nyanza, within 30 m. of its northern extremity, where tire river again emerges. On issuing from the Victoria Nyanza the Nile rushes down due n. like a mountain-tor rent, running off at last into long fiats, and expanding so as to tform what is called Ibrahim Pasha lake. In this part of its course the river is navigable, and continues to be so until it reaches the Karma falls. From these falls to the Murchison falls (120 ft. in height), near the Albert Nyanza, the river forms a series of rapids. Between the two Nyanzas the Nile is known as the Victoria Nile, or Somerset river After leaving the Albert Nyanza, the Nile begins its northward course to the Mediter ranean, and has no further lake expansion. Between the Albert Nyanza and Gondokoro (Ismailia), in 4° 55' n. lat., and 31° 51' e. long., 1500 ft. above the sea, the Nile river
descends several hundred feet in a series of rapids and cataracts. For about 500 m. after Gondokoro the Nile flows very tortuously, first in a north-westerly and then in a north easterly direction, and is joined, in about lat. 9° 15' n., long. 30° e., by its first great affluent, the Bahr-el-Gazal, which joins the Nile from the w. with hardly any perceptible current. The second tributary is the Giraffe river, about one-third the volume of the• Nile at its point of -junction, long. 31! east. From the Bahr-el-Gazal the Nile flows in a due easterly direction for aliont0 m,, then a. for 30 m., when 'gist' joined by its third.
tributary, the Sobat river, from the east. The Sobat is full and navigable. Between this and the town of Khartoum, a distance of about 460 m., the Nile runs in a northerly -direction, with a width of from one to two m., and is joined by several streams from the -c. side.
Khartoum, the capital of Nubia, is situated at the confluence of the Bahr-el-Azrek (Blue Nile) and the Bahr-el-Abiad (White Nile), 1188 ft. above the sea level, in lat. 15° -35' n. long., 32° 30' east. The Bahr-el-Azrek, supposed to be the main branch of the true Nile, is formed by the junction of the Abai and the Blue river. The Abai has its source in Abyssinia, 50 m. from lake Dembea, which it enters s.w.; emerg ing on the s.e. of the lake, it flows for about 90 m. in that direction, when it describes a semicircle round the peninsula of Godjam, and continues north-westerly for about 150 miles. It is here joined by the Blue river from the s., and from this point the Blue Nile flows n.w. to Khartoum, receiving from the e. two large rivers running nearly parallel to each other, the Dewier and the Rahad or Shimfa. From Khartoum, the united stream flows n. for about 60 in., passing the town of Halfaia and the ruins of Mero6 to the first cataract, and thence n.e. past Shendy (q.v.) to its junction with the Atbara, which enters the Nile at El Darner, lat. 17° 45' n., long. 34° east.