The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-07-24
The Nile and the Mississippi.
The Nile and the Mississippi are all

The Nile and the Mississippi are alik
and yet unlike. The waters of eacl
come from immense distances and carry
with them those fertilizing agents which
are, to thousands upon thousands, th'
sources Of life and material property
But their dynamic laws are not the same
The one is regular, the other irregular
The one gives fertility to what other
wise would Le desert plain
the other creates the territory
through which it seeks the ocean ane
threatens with annual persistency te
sweep it again away. In Egypt
through which the Nile passes, rain
scarcely ever falls To their great rive,
the country is indebted for everything
AT its regular season the river overAows
the whole adjacent country, and through
the slight deposit which it leaves, and
the irregation which it renders possible
the land of Egypt has been rich in corn
for nearly halt century of centuries
Even iii prehistoric days, before the
dust Of which Cheops was composed had
assumed his august form to be sub.
sequently commemorated by the greatest
Of the Pyramids, Egypt was famous for
her countless hosts. and Nile for its
marvels. In those old times, when the
Egyptians were regarded as heathens
and outside barbarians by the chosen
people, the dwellers along the Nile look
ed upon their river as god, who anuu-
ally spread himself over their lands to
supply their wants and fill their store
houses with righteousness.
Usually the rise in lower Egypt COM
mences on the 25th day OF June, aud
for three months steadily increases. AS
it advances, the valley of the Nile be-
comes covered, and the villages stand
out as islands in the sea. BY the height
of this animal rise the prospects Of the
season are gauged. If the rise be less
than twenty feet, the prospect is dull;
four feet more will afford promise of au
average harvest, and three or four feet
additional, give assurance of an abund-
ant yield For ages tie commencement
of the rise has scarcely varied by a
single day, but if any delay was obsrrv-
ed, the people in old times used to select
a beautiful girl as sacrifice to their
aqueous deity, and throw he., richly
adorned, into the stream. The hope
and prayer was, that the offended god
would then rise and spread himself, as
had been his wont, in previous seasons.
We know but little Of what the ln-
iians used to think OF our great river,
their Father of Waters. Tradition has
been lementably negligent of the forest
philosophers who, for untold centuries.
studied the Me>chesate as their only
lore. The name of the river was given
by the tribes who lived upon the low
lands of the delta 1t was the Father OF
Waters to them, because, unlike other
rivers which depend principally on tri-
butaries for their volume and supply,
this river created other rivers from its
excess of wate:s, sending them off from
its gushing sides on new and lateral
courses to the sea.
1t was only with the discovery of
steam as propelling agent, that the value
of the Mississippi. as great inland
channel for commerce, began to be ap-
preciated. Every year since, its gran-
deur, its importance, its magniEcence
are becoming more firmly fixed in their
relations to the agricultural, commercial
and vital economy Of our rapidly in
creasing millions. II to the aborigines
it was merely the Father of Waters, to
US, who have as far as possible corrected
the errors of natur', by confning and
controlling its eccentric currents, it has
become the Father of Riches, far grand
er and less fabulous than those of Iud.
But even yet tithe of its future great
ness has scarcely been foreshadowed 10y
the wise men of our East and West.
The argosies it is destined to bear have
never been equa'ed, either for eSteut or
value, on sea or river, even as the agri-
cultural products of its aelta are, in
value, beyond comparison with any
other regions, warmed by the sun and
watered BY the clouds OF heaven.-(N.
O. Times.