Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-04-05
The Miracle of the Nile.

The Miracle Of the Nile.
By no one, perhaps, have the impress
zioas produced by the various phases of
the river been SO poetically described
as by 0sburn, who thus describes the
low Nile:
,.The Nile has shrunk within its
banks until its stream is contracted TO
half its ordinary dimensions, and its
turbid, Shiny, stagnant waters scarcely
seem to flow in any direction. Broad
fats or steep banks of black, sun-baked
Nile mud iorm both the shores of the
river. All beyond them is sand and
steriity, for the llamsccn, or sand wind
OF 80 days duration, has scarcely yet
ceased to blow. The trunks and
branches of trees may be seen here and
there through the dusty, hazy, burning
atmosphere, but so entirely are their
leaves coated with dust, that at q dis
tauce they are not distinguishable from
the desert sand that surrounds them.
1t is only by the most painful and labo-
rious operation of watering that any
tint approXimating to grcenness can be
preserved ut this season even in the
pleasure gardens Of the Pasha. The
first symptom of the termination of this
nost terrible season is the rising of the
north wind tthe Etesian wind of the
Greeks blowing briskly, often tiercely
during the whole OF the day. The
foliage of the groves that cover lower
Egypt is soon disencumbered by it of
the dust, aud resumes its verdure. The
fierce fcrYors Of the sun, then at his
highest ascension, are also most sea-
sOnably miligated by the same power
;ul agency, which prevails for this and
the three following months throughout
the entire land of Egypt"
Then at last comes the inundation:
''Pcrhaps there is not in nature q
more exhilarating sight, or one more
strongly exciting TO confidence
in God, than tie Use of the
Nile. Day by day aud night
by night lis lurhid tide sweeps onward
maiestically over the parched sands Of
the waste, bowling wilderness. AL
most hourly, as we slowly ascended it
before the Etcsian wind, we heard the
laundering fail Of some mud bank, and
saw by the rush of all animated nature
to the spot that the Nile had overleap-
ed another obstruction, and that its
bounding waters were ditlusing life and
10Y through another desert There are
few impressions | ever received upon
the remembrance Of which | dwell with
more pleasure than that ofseeing the
first burst of the Nile into one Of the
great channels of its annual overflow.
All nature shouts for joy. The men,
the children, the buflaloes, gambol in
its refreshing waters, the broad waves
sparkle with shoals of fish, and fowl of
every wing ilutter over them in clouds.
Nor is this jubilee ofnature confined to
the higher orders ofcreation. The mo-
ment the sand becomes moistened by
the approach ofthe fertilizing waters.
it is literally alive with insects in
Vulnerable. It's impossible to stand
by the side of one Of these noble streams,
to see it every moment sweeping away
some obstruction to its majestic course,
and widening as it flows, without feel
ing the heart to expand with love and
Joy and confidence in the great Author
of this annual miracle of mercy"
The effects of the inundation, 'as Os-
burn shows in another place, "eXhibit
themselves in scene of fertility and
beauty such as will scarcely be found
in another country at any season of the
year-the vivid green of the springing
corn, the groves Of pomegranate trees
ablaze with the rich scarlet of their
blossoms, the fresh breeze laden with
the perfumes of gardens of roses and
orange thicIets, every tree and every
shrub covered with sweet-sccnted flow
ers. These are q few of the natural
beauties that welcome the stranger TO
the land Of Ham. There is cousidera-
ble samcness in them, it is true, for he
would observe little variety in the
trees and plants, whether he first en-
tered Egypt by the gardens of Alexan-
dria or The plain of Assouan. Yet it is
the same everywhere, only because it
would be impossible to make any addi-
ton to the sweetness of the odors, the
brilliancy of the colors, or the exQui-
site beauty of tho many forms of vege-
table life, iu the midst of which he
wauders. 1t is monotonous, but it is
the monotony ofparadise.
"The flood reaches Cairo on day
closely approXimating TO that of the
summer solstice. 1t attains its greatest
height and begins to decline near the
autumnal equinox. BY the winter sol
Stice the Nile has again subsidized with
in its banks and resumed its blue color.
Seed time has occurred in this interval.
The year in Egypt divides itself into
three ScaSon-four months of sowing
and growth, corresponding nearly with
our November, December, January,
and February; four months of harvest
from March to June; the four months
of the inundation completing the cy-
cle."-Lohdon Nature.