Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-12-15
n Egypt L4ND.

~ - 90 ''''''t ~ ~ tli4'i - 'lIltlltt
~ ~ ia" r,n@"- - 'raii."i luA~~tui,
hI.j~. which -.lH-tl..r- ariTul"h am
+,-H"tifn'", rr;Ir' lf,Gli r:.-l other
!y:Nil'.r N"tWrcn iirtu au ;.yrYag.
hr";.',th Of seven mile pu the y, rtI
they widen and di-alrr;r. civin.
place t. nar-hy r.a,!,w plan
which extends t. the Mediterranean,
coast On thcsouth they are no long
~ Of limestone but IF granite: they
narrow I" point: they clos" in till
thry almost touch. ana through tn,
ls"!lntaln Eat" thus formed the river
y !c leaps with roar into the valley
and runs du" north toward the sea
In the winter and spring it rolls. d
ln%uid stream, through Il dry and
dusty plain. But in the summer al
extraordinary thing happen> The
+ rvrr grows troubled and swift: it
turns ;- red as blood. and then green:
itriSes, II ,w"llS, ill at length. over
/ ii'Win" Its banks. il covers the ad
| .,ning lands To the base of the hills
! C.i cIti'"r si,ir. The whole valley be-
/ comes I; lake, from which the Villages
rise like islands. for they are built on
artificial mounds.
This catastrophe was welcomed by
the Egyptians with religious graft
tudc and noisy mirtn. When then
iirids lrld entirely disappeared. they
thanked The gods and kept their har
vest home. The tax gathercr,, meas
iItcd II" watrr;lS if it were grain. and
announced what the crops and the
hudgrtof the next year would bp.
1t WI, then also that tn" white
robcd Priests. bearing the image of "a
god and singing hymns. marched
with sOrmn procession to the water
side AMI cast in sacrifice of gold
For tn. water which had thus risen
WAS thor life. Egypt is by nature Il
rainlrS> desert. which the Nile. and
the Nib only, converts into Il garden
every year.
Far. far away in the distant regions
of the south. in the deep heart of
Africa. lie two inland seas. These
are the head waters of the Nile; its
sources are in the sky. For the
clouds, laden with waters collected
ont of many seas, sail to the African
equator and there pour down ten
months rain. This ocean Of falling
water is received on region sloping
toward the north. and is conveyed by
a thousand channels to the vast rocky
cistcrns which form the Spekr and
Baker lakes They, filled and burst
iny. cast forth the Nile and drive it
from them through terrible and
thirsty land The hot air lies on the
stream and laps it up as ii flows. The
parchcL soil swallows it with open
pores; hut ton after ton of water Is
supplied from the gigantic reservoirs
behind. and 81 1t Is enabled to cross
that vast desert. which spreads from
the latitude of Lake Tchcd to the
borders of the Mediterranean sea,
The existence of the Nile is due to
the Nyanza lakes alone. but the inun
dation If the river has Il distinct and
separate callsr In that phenomenon
the lakes are not concerned.
Between the Nile and the Arabian
gulf are situated the highlands of
Ahyssinia. rising many thousand feet
above the level of the sea. and inter
ccpting the clouds of the lndian ocean
in their flight toward the north. From
these mountains. as soon as the rainy
season has set in, two great rivers
come laundering down their dried up
beds and rush into the Nile. The
main stream is now forced impetuous
ly along. In the Nubian desert its
swelling waters are held in between
walls of rock As soon as it reaches
the low lying lands of Egypt it nat
urally overflows. The Abyssinian
tributaries do oven more than this
The waters of the White Nile are
transparent and pure. but the Atbara
and Blue Nile bring down from their
native land a black silt, which the
flood strews over the whole valley as
a kind of top dressing or manure.
On that rich and unctous mud, As
soon as the waters have retired. the ua
tives east their seed. Then their lahors
are completed; no changes of weather
need afterwards be feared. no anX
ious looks are turned towards the sky;
sunshine only is required To fulfill the
crop. and in Egypt the sun is never
covered by a cloud.
Thus. were it not for tn! White
Nile. AhySsinian rivers would I've
drank up by the desert: and were it
not for the Ahyssinian rivers the
White Nile would be IA barren stream.
The river is created by the rains of
the equator: the land 10y the tropical
rains condensed in one spot by the
Abyssinian mountain pile. III that
far Egyptian valley, fattcncd by IA
foreign soil, frightened by eternal
sunshine. watcrcd by terrestrial rain,
the natives were able to obtain Il
years food in return for a few days
toll. and were provided with that
wealth of time which is essential TO Il
nations growth.
AMERIcAN HoMoGENEoUsNEss The
people of the United States are more
homogeneous than the people of Eng
land. OF the people of Germany. OF
the people of France. Mr.. Blaine
went to Maine when three or four and
twenty. carrying with him the man
ner. habits and tastes of n kentuck
ian, and became the leader of Yankee
hosts. Sergeant Prentiss went from
Maine to Mississippi, which took him
in her arms and made him her idol
His political rival was another north
crn man. Robert j. Walker. John
Slidcll did not look upon Louisiana
until he was thirty years old. lie
was New Yorker The present
United States Senator Hawley, OF
| Connecticut. is Il North Carolinian
and in Il recent Congressional invcsti
cation told IL witness he ought to
| knock a man down. We are all alike
a few differences of an eXterna
kind marking lis of by states, not see
tion5 and whether it be a rebe
among Yankees or Yankee among
rebels. the stranger will fare just n:
! he would at home precisely as ht
conducts himself. Henry Water