Case file · Folklore / legend
Páez at the sacred springs of the Blue Nile
On 21 April 1618 the Jesuit Pedro Páez became the first European known to see the springs of Gish Abay, the source of the Blue Nile, which the local Agaw people honoured with sacrifices.
1618 CE · 10.98, 37.22 · status: account
The account
Páez described two round springs in a marsh below Mount Gish and how the Agaw gathered there each year to offer cattle to the spirit of the river. A church and holy water still stand at the site; the Scottish traveller James Bruce later claimed the discovery for himself in 1770.
The sceptical view
A documented visit; the sacred status of the springs is part of living Agaw and Orthodox practice.