Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-03-29
LETTER FROM EGYPT.
Peculiarities and Antiquity of the
Country.

III tNNAl L
PeculiaritieS and Antiquity OF the
Country.
slut, Middle Egypt, March LIST,
1899. Especial correspondence Of
the DEsERIT NEwsl-Egypt pre-
sents itself to the eyes of a traveller
as an immense alluvial basin or
valley Of mud, extending between
latitude S4HS' ami about $3.50,
north. The main breadth OF this
valley has been estimated at nine
miles; in other words, as a land
whose river aud only source OF
drinking or irrigating water, the
Nile, winds slowly in a serpentine
channel Of nearly 1000 miles. hav-
ing banks on either side OF an aver
age breadth Of less than four aud n
half miles. Beyond this are bluffs,
where the hot, shining sands Of
the deserts shift around in drifts.
and which during the simeon and
sirOceo, play behind the bills in
cloudy masses, a 10 snow flakes in
a WaSatch bllzzrd. The arabic or
cultivable soil of Egypt has
been reckoned at ten mill
lion square acres. Its fertility
is entirely due to the Nile; conse-
quenly where irrigation is suspend
ed year or two the land APPEARS
like barren waste covered with
sand, which, otherwise, in the regu-
lar course OF husbandry, is turned
under by the pillow, forming with
the tenacious alluvium (clay) n rich
aud friahle earth. Vast tracts in
the LybiRn desert were formerly fer
tile lands, ami are tOdsy true lands
ofdesolatiOn, where nothing exist
but heat, magnificent Iuins. a feW
islands or GASES in the midst of an
ocean Of sand, and immense chan
nels, designated now in Arabic by a
term which means waterless rivers,
IN which ages ago the Opalescent
hut life-giving rippies Of the mighty
Nile, lsnguiuly flowed.
The same can be said of the desert
to the east Of the Nile, called both
the Arabian Desert and Asiatic
Egypt.
Except a small town at the ex-
IRENE south, Miniet a Habe,ch, or
SlIniet of Ethiopia, no part Of Egypt
extends south Of the Tropic OF Can
Ger, ami yet, because Of The glowing
sands which surround il, Egypt
must be boxed upon rs though Of
the torrid zone.
The antiquity OF Egypt vies with
the number Of cODiectures entertain
ed by ancient sages. historians.
poets and medieval geOgraphrrs as
20 the sonce Of the Nile; or with the
theories and heated discussions of
mOieTn linguists, grammarians and
philol1gists with regard to the
origin OF the name by which
Egypt is known in our day. Ii We
accept the assurances which the wise
Of old make concerning Egypt's re-
mote antiquity, and follow them step
by step, We are unceremouiOusly
hustled past numerous deni-Cods.
aud soon find ourselves in the
solemn midst Of those majestic deities
xho are supreme, not only in the
great Pantheon Of Egypt, but whom
We meet under similar or differ
ent names, seated high up I'm the
heavenly councils Of Greek. Roman,
HindOO and Barbarian mythology.
Biologists and philosophers claim
the prerOgative Of deciding the
date ~ which Egypt hal assumed
the form Of a centralized govern
melt. Some French scientists OF
the class named have hazarde,l the
following cOnjectures: According
10 observations and measurements
made in the whole valley IL Is esti-
mated that the increase Of the depth
NJ the soil goes on az .he rate OF
tbOut four inches a century from
).l06 10 0.l25 Of a metre) through
the annual overflow Of the Nile.
lild using these four inches rs a d.
visor Of the quantity Of soil deposit
ed above the level Of the orig
inal foundations Of certain nionu-
ments, temples. etc, they obtained
The guotient $3.50, the number Of
years since the foundation II Thebes
was laid. This date carries
the origin Of that celebrated me-
tropOlis Gl2 years beyond the flood.
according % the reckoning Of mod
ern Jews: but the numbers they
claim differ considerably from those
Of the Samaritan text and the Sep
tuagint version. which carry the
ieluge back to 37I5 Il. g, leaving
seven and one half centuries be-
tween the flood and the foundation
Of Thebes.
y Gypt, in the language Of the
EthiOpians, means the Gland of
canals.o That J cunt and Gland Of
eanals'' should have become syn
Onymous terms in Ethiopia is not
strange. All nations have not used
the name Egypt when referring TO
this land. The ancient Greeks
called it first Aeria, /. e. heat, black
ness. The Jews, in Scripture, called
il Mizraim, which Is the plural form
81 the old Arabic name MIR, anu
today Egypt is called by the AIahs
Masr. THE sound - in Masr is not
a dental sibilant as our English IS, :
but Il spoken with the tip Of the
tongue against the palate, 80 that It
might as appropriately he SPELLED in
English Mar as Aiasr.) hIizraim,
Mir and Masr are evidently
derived from Mizraim, the name Of
grandson Of Noah. Egypt is called
Chemia by the Copts. Chemia is
supposed to have some relation to
Chem, Khan or Ham the son Of
Noah, three forms Of the same name.
1t has been presumed that in the
name Of this sol Of Ndah we are TO
look for the origin Of that Of Egypt,
originally Chem-to, Kham-to,
etc, and dwindling 30 Chem TO,
Gham-to, Gum-to, etc, and that the
an" in those names changed grad
ually 20 "B'; AMI in other districts
to 81, - a often occurs when a soft
consonaut like an" precedes a hand
one like ct" ia the added syllable
1T. ..aN.s.h