Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-01-16
tflislellnllp.
The Nile and It's Overfows.

Some peculiar features OF he Nile valley
given interesting letter, written some
months since, By an American Eiitor, then trav-
cling abroad. The article Is 80 interesting and
worthy OF careful thought that we give 1t be.
low:
Next t) TIE pyramids perhaps tie most il
ter sing ihilg 10 tue neIglbOrhOod OF Cairo is
tie ileske+s ~ Niiometer. | shall endeavor 70
give sleI Of IL UbJect and use IN connection
yith some Oi .he Characteristic features OF the
Nile valley, e, planned To me- by Hekek an
Bey.
il IS alw.ys said that the peculiar fertility Of
the y NlIe valley Is cau4=d by Jlc overflow of ths
waters Of the river " c told thai The ys.tsr,
which i observed 70 be charged With minute.
PARTICLES Of rich soil, deposits thin laye oi
them On the surface OF the earth every year
When the waters retire, cultivation ensue<
Beyond the reach of overflow are the bar
ren sands of the desert.
When this explanation Is given, 1t OF course
occurs 70 an InquisItive learner TO ask, what
becomes Of these repeated layers upon layers Of
rich soil piled one upon another? However
thin, year by year, they must sooner or later
make d mOiehIll OF mountain OF some size,
and If sufficient TO affect cul ivatIon, they must
10 the aggregate OF even limited number of
years make - barrier, high enough, one would
suppose. 20 narrow the whole valley by excluding
the river from overflow, and coDtnlng II 70 lie
proper channel be @een high banks o! earth
iOr thIs II nOI the C mmon case O. tie irrIga-
tiOn OF rich land by water, (amIliar in M ST
Intervales. SUCH that Of the Connecticut
River at Northampton, &c.) lie statement Is
that absolutely barren sand making d desert
that you see and tread upon, dreaTy ana
desoiate, becomes fruitful soil by receiving upon
Its surface deposit of particles bO-pe along /
the current In the r.veT.
The explanation given by Hekekyan Bey, 70
this mystery, which has long puzzled the soUGns.
begins with asserting The idct (p.csentiy 10 De
prUved) that from some cause other there
has been and Is a constant and nearly regular
depression or subsidence of the crust OF the
ear-h, going on IN this part OF the world since
the earliest times ana now continued so that
Egypt would long ago have sunk into the
and bec8me an estuary OF the Mediterranean
except f0E tnIs peculiar reinforcement, recruit
Ing Ifs land by the deposits OF soil brought
down from the upper couBtry 10 The waters of
the RIVER. what the surface has lost by the
geological subsistence or depression, it has gained
by the material accretIon top.
Ia NilOmerer is simply an oytagr nal pillar
Of stone, erected very long 40, upon solid Iock
at the U0.tJm OF tue Me d tie Island OF Roda,
upon which pillar a careful observer has marked
at regular intervals high NIls' for long
time. The Office Of observer and marker has
been held IN the same family since an epoch
probably anticipating the patents OF ali heredi-
tary grand faicoaers CT o.her descended fuDc-
uJnArIes IN Europe IL is known by exErinsc
records that the marks have continued fos hun
treds OF yeas, perhaps might say thousan -
heAekyan Bay says for 5000 years al least. Il
The Niie were like the Connecticut or mcst other
rivers, these marks would 10 doubt vary consId
eFSbly, someumes higher and sometimes lower,
but HOuit always show about the average
HIS {, and the pillar would get notcLed good
ee'. '.oJut the same place. But the popularity
VI the pIller D. the NIiomeer is this that the
MARKS IN tie long run steadily appear 10 rise
higher and higher on The pillar, so that the pII-
iaF has several times requi cd TO be patched oy
putting new pieces on I.s top. Thus il is GER
taInly known a matter of recorded hletoTy
that the sculptured flowers. forming a proper
capital OF the pIilar, were made to mark cDrrect-
ly me hight OF the High Nile for the period of
toe HegIra, A.. d. go. At the time this . as
cole the walls and parapet of the basin IN
when tie pillar stan0s (all very much Ike the
Ia'e : here they measure the hight Of I'll
IL the b-uOAine Gate uouse of the CocuItua;o
"aer orHs) we're renewed in handsome style.
since that date 1t has been necessary TO build up
th' p+sap-ts and TO add 10 the oil ar several
i'-t' Decal lse High NIe in these modern years
IS mucn higher than High Nile of the time OF
gIEa. ne mean increase of hight is not very
Tar ir'n hve feet IN one thousand years.
lne resIltIs, that the pillar seems {, be grow
I1g always al the top; in fact the aneients
cal-l y : the blossJnlng rod,'' and would
s9la t. mark u higher ana higher level, year by
-, ilr the waters of the Nile. Bat as the
- y 'he Niie Is found TO agree year by year
Win that oi tue MedIIerraue .o-no Niagara
Le'nS created at the mouth OF the riyer-and as