Daily globe., 1883-07-01
IN EGYPT.
Waiting for the OUe,7loto Of the Nile.
From Harper's Weekly.I

the Atlantic ocean to the Euphrates.
The river has hard work to hold its own,
for the desert is encroaching day by
day. In some places the banks widen
out and embrace fertile plain, at others
the rocky heights that hem it in are so
close to the waters that there is only a
narrow strip of alluvial soil. At still
other places the Arabian desert closes
up to the eastern bank, and rolls in I'M
dulating drifts to the waters edge.
Yellow powders crop out of the sand,
low barriers of limestone rock appear,
and end in a long perspective of fat
topped precipices, which now plunge
sheer down to the river, now break into
lateral valleys, in which nestle patches
OF verdure. Through every ravine and
gap streams of sand are pouring down
from the high level of the desert, just
as the SHOWS of Switzerland pour down
from the upper plateaus of the Alps.
The traveller who ventures even short
distance from the banks of the river
finds himself in valleys of sand, which
wind among rocks of rose-color and
green breccia mixed with porphyry
which the sunlight seems to have pol
ished. An hours journey takes him
away from verdure and vegetation, and
places him on vast plain, desert and
uncultivated, scanned with profound
crevasses, without a tree, without
blade of grass, without bird.
These crevasses seem sometimes more
like the work of man than of nature, so
narrow are they in width, so high are
the confning slopes. Like the lands
on the banks Of the river, these lateral
valleys receive the overflow of the Nile,
less in quantity, but still sufficient to
give fertility. It is no wonder that the
Egyptians have always regarded the
Nile with veneration. In old times the
holy stream was an object of worship;
in our day it is the center of countless
superstitions. It is believed that its rise
is caused by the fall of miraculous
drop into the river, and crowds of the
natives spend the night on the banks of
the Nile, some in the houses of their
friends, some ii the open air. A tradi-
ton, too, still prevails which gives to
the rising waters a healing influence
such as was attributed by the Jews to
the Pool of Sloan, and sick folk camp
out waiting for the rise of the blessed
river. During the rise of the Nile the
criers proclaim: God hath been pro-
pitious to the lands. The day of good
news!" AS they pass through the
streets they repeat kind of liturgy:
"God hath given abundance, and in
creased and watered the high lands!"
and the mountains and the roads and
the fields" May He pour abundantly
the Nile over the country" The best
known festival in connection with the
Nile is the cutting Of the dam at Cairo,
when the population of the city turn
out to witness the ceremony, which is
attended by a display of fireworks, and
is made the occasion Of general reioic-
ing. At night the river and its banks
present remarkably picturesque scene.
Numerous boats are constantly passing
up and down. The lamps in the rig
ging and on the shore, where also
torches are stuck in the ground, produce
a striking effect.
The water Of the Nile is pronounced
by the Egyptians to be the only water
fit to drink. During the first period of
the rise, when the waters have green
ish tinge from the quantity of vegetable
matter they bring down from Abyssinia
and the great lakes, the Nile is said not
to be wholesome, but this period is of
very short duration. The water is al
ways turbid, and has to stand some time
till the coloring matter settles. The
water is poured into>a vessel named zir,
which is at once a filter and fountain.
It is a vase of fine porous earth, through
which the water comes drop by drop,
clear, fresh and limpid The Nile water
thus cooled, purified from particles of
mud, and clarified by transmission
through the sides of the filter, becomes
the lightest, finest, most exquisite drink
which can be imagined. Most, how
ever,.of the superstitions which are still
held respecting the Nile come down
from the ancient days when the earliest
of civilizations grew up on its banks,
when virgins we're offered in sacrifice to
the deity of the stream. The boat in
which the victim used to be conveyed
to the spot where she was to be sub
merged is still represented by the
Ackabah with its silken awnings and
flags, but the human offering is replaced
by an efigy. In the old unreformed
days of Egypt the fete of cutting the