Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-07-18
THE NILE.
The Most Famous of Rivers, and Its
Annual Rise-Cutting the Embank-
ment.

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school, palaces of the khedive, his
mother, a son and a snn-in-law. and
the straw market, 1 came to the Fun
el-Khalig, or influx of the city canal
into an arm of the Nile, writes Cairo
correspondent of The New Orleans
Tlmes-Democrat. Here the festivities
IN connection with the cutting of the
Nile establishments take place in
August. On the right flows the Nile,
the most mysterious of all the rivers,
the same from age to age; its muddy,
greasy waters the source of fruitful
ness in land that otherwise would
be a continuation of the Sahara des-
ert. Unchanged, this mighty stream
has moved on since the touching story
of Joseph and his brethren was enact
ed on its banks, since Pharaoh's
daughter bathed IN its turbid waters
(and thereby displayed her bad judg-
ment, since the Israelites tolled at
the thankless task of making bricks
without straw along its shores, and
since its bosom, many centuries later,
bore the gorgeous galleys of voluptu-
Gus Cleopatra
And this same Nile-what an in
fuence it has welded upon the worlds
civilization.
1t is accredited with having stimu-
lated the art of river-engineerlng and
the kindred science of land surveying
by the exigencies arising out of its
capricious behavior. Its annual over
flow, which for over twenty centuries
puzzled European scientists, taught
the people to observe the heavens in
ordor to anticipate the inundation,
and thus the science of astronomy
arose. The encroachments made upon
the land called legal and political
rules into being. 1t made Egypt, in
short, the worlds store house of
knowledge, and we of to-day are only
beginning to learn for ourselves some
of the principles which were known
and taught here centuries ago. Mes
merism, magic, and clairvoyance must
indeed have been far advanced here
# we accept literally the story of the
wonders wrought by Pharaoh's mag
icians when brought into competition
with Moses, who, we read, was ''sHill-
ed in all the knowledge of the Egyp-
tians." Without inclining to pessim
ism, we must accredit many lost arts
to the land of the Nile.
But I was about to speak of this
ceremony of cutting the Nile bank.
At present the river IS at It's lowest,
and Evil remain so until the 1st or
middle of June, when it will COM
mence to rise very slowly. The night
of the 18th of June is called the Night
of the Drop" because on that night,
so say these superstitious Egyptians,
a tear from Isis falls into the Nile and
causes it to rise. This explanation is
about on a par with some of those at
first given by the European philoso,
pliers to account for the inundation.
The astrologers here profess to calcu-
late exactly the hour when the tear
falls. Thousands of CaireneS spend
this night on the banks of the river
engaged IN all sorts of religious rites.
Each member of the family usually
puts piece of dough on the roof of
the house, and, according as this rises
or falls to rise during the night, good
or bad fortune is in store for the per
son depositing the dough on the roof
should think that some of your Am
erican baking powder might strike q
bonanza here in Egypt about that
time.
In July the river swells in volame
rapidly. The Nile-crier may then be
heard shouting the height of the water
as he passed through the streets, &C
companied by a boy, with whom he
carries on religious dialogue.
Toward the end of September the
river ceases to rise, remaining at the
same height for a fortnight. Dur.
ing the first half of October it AGAR
rises, and attains its highest level. Il
then gradually subsidies, but frequent
II, takes slight squirt during the pro
cess OF subsistence.
The cutting of the dam takes place
along from the 9th to the 10th OF
Notwithstanding to our calender
The Nile-crier announces that the
plenltude" of the Nile has beer
reached, and peoplerepaif to the place
I have mentioned, amid general re
ioicing. The cutting through of the
dam takes place about as it did 14OC
years before Christ, accompanied by
noisy demonstrations. During the
overflow Egypt is no longer vas
lake, but the water is conducted into
network of canals, basins, anc
tanks. In January, February, anC
March the fields from which the
water has receded gradually dry up.
From the Fum-el-Chalig proceed
ed to the island of Roda, crossing al
arm of the Nile on foot, so completely
was the bed dried. I passed through
a series of intricate lanes and entered
garden, miserably kept, but fragrant
with orange blossoms. Here l was
met by an obese Arabian female, wht
uttered a convulsive shrek anc
came forward, waving her hand!
excitedly. My guide smiled and re
marked:
"She is the nurse, and has come tt
warn us not to approach the house, a
the governors wife is resting on thu
porch. We will wait here minute
while she gets the lady into thu
house.
I thought there was no call for s.cl
excitement, as l had seen so much o
the average Egyptian that the salts
faction of failure to meet this over
modest specimen would be mutual
We neared the famed Nllometer mix
yas), which was the object of my Wis
it. This Nilometer. constructed II
the year 716 A. D., is slender ston
pillar in the midst of a well sixteel
feet square. 1t is octagenal in shape
and graduated with ancient Arabian
measures and Cutie inscription. TIL
whole is finely preserved, but is onl..
interesting by reason of the offic
which it performed. The bottom o
the well was connected with the Nile
and. as the name implies, this instru
ment was used for measuring tn
depth of the water. Not only this
but Herodotus mentions it as part o
the priestcraft of the Pharaohs TO es
innate the probable extent Of the har
vest by measuring the rise and fall o
the Nile, centuries before the day o
the present Nilometer, and even tn
rate of taxation was determined in. &C
corGance with tie extent of the in
undation thus tested. The mean dIf
ference between the low and the higt
level here is about twenty -fve feet.
1t was on this island of Roda, &C
cording to an infallible q tradition
that the infant Moses was Launched
for his first nautical experience.
Ioolyed Q wound for h1llruSh To carry