Mower County transcript., 1869-12-02
Incidents In the Overflow Gf the Nile.
A correspondent of tho London Times

correspondent OF tho AonoOn 4'mes
" On ths piehs 9th, iolh of October;
owingto the Extraordinarily sudden rise in
the Nile, an inundation occurred, which,
for the celebrity with which it rose, is, per-
phaps,s without. parallel Ia lthial might
I happened sstor be- :athymg in tone o. the
doomed Nillag6ssd j had therefore oppoftu-
mites which rarely.fall tb the lot of au
European of witnessing intimately the i'm
mediate effect Of the calamity on the poor
villsgerA tndH a9 jhdtced to send yoq
this brief aof0nntbf what came under my
own experience and observation az tribute
TO the remarkable patience and ,fortitude Of
the :AIabs under very trying and IS rperilous
About 3 O'clock il iitdh liz mdorniinng dSS iin t 6at Be-
douin servant awoke us. saying that tho
water was rising rapidly. Every inhabi.
tant of the yilhge1: woman or child
was IVA, xefApe Gtp tny apesgy .s1 seldom m VT VT
oroaching water, or carrying their bread
and 'winsse suPpeysaef grain IT, spots which
had hitherto proved sufficiently high for
safety. But il was Of no avail The banks
wersS vlshedS dewk. md the bread aoated
got dismal enough|the darkness, tie unl
sss sSss ie5s s Il &. Il. sSsss
IA C s%l es: ssas
had It all ifS own way; :1nenopolizinR even
th6 Aoiss, and nothing ;wpa Qv,heard bat
house after. house, surein& and: ,cening
down with o dali souse into the wataF.
Our house being, higher aAd stronger
than the others, We went to the top and be-
gan to construct q raft there, Intending to
launch it from the roof. We were soon
compelled to frelinquish our task. and were
scarcely clear when the walls gave;way, at
water level and the whole came down. All
made thsirWAy, with the water breast high,
to the: highest spot, fortunately still several
feet above the water level.p Hers was soon
collected every inhabitant of the village,
but how changed the women no longer
,waiAh1Ri andf themeu n3l longer discomfort
cd, tfpf the last house Has Rbhs; II was. no
longer possible to SaNe anything and The
water was still rising. There was, therefore
nothiAMforthdnb but % await theirdestiny.
which they set about doing with. every ap-
pearancs Of contentnent, 'the village benu-
GesInever Seen except at such q time) even
seeming, as it seemed to me, to enjoy the
state of things as relief to tho monotony
Of their existence. ~ y. 4e2s''.
~ II now became necessary to think Of our
raft again, SO, after making several excur-
sions from our present comfortable stand
ing place to the site Of our late residence,
We had collected sufficient wood fot the
purpose; over this We placed dried corn.
stalks and hound the who's: together with
xopes from tho. cameApaekA SO quickly
did the water still rise that our raft, COM
menced on dry land, was finished floating
on over q foot OF, water. We now Joined
the villagers on the little mound and await.
ed tho sunrise. "A Afcqnsni1aoushgure was
the digni6ed old sAeikk" 0f th6 village, as
he passed from one family group to another,
evidently imparting eonfidenee to all. To,
him swe proposed p take Of with u.s. as:
many women and children as eur raft would
bear, but he replied that 'Allah was great
and would send boats iutime if it was His
will to save His people; that. our bark was
frail, our poles short, and the current
strong, and il any weRt With us he washed
his hands Of my responsibility His ar-
guments were backed by the sight Of sail
in tie distance, SO we had to put off by
ourselves to the, bases Of the hills Between
two ard three miles distant, Arrived
there, We sent the raft back by two,
BsdouiAs, and, made, our way to where
some boats were employed in carrying
stone. One Of these we procured for the
assistance of aour late psighbors,-and We
had. the Satiehetipr before 1eaFingpf see-
ing them ell encamped Under the hllh. !"