The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-10
THE MIRACLE OF TIE NILE.
A Sterile Desert Transformed at Its OYER
Hcw Into Fruitful Paradise.
From London Nature. I

|
phases Of the river been SO poesically
, described as by Osburn, who thus de-
scribes 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
flats or steep banks of black, sun-baked
Nile mud form both the shores Of the
river. All beyond them is sand and
sterility, for the hansen, or sand
wind Of fifty days duration, has scarce
| ly 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 distance they are not distinguish
able from the desert sand that sur
rounds them. It is only by the most
painful and laborious operation of
watering that any tint approximatiag
to greenness can be preserved at this
season even in the pleasure gardens of
Pasha. The first symptom of the ter
rible season is the rising of the north
wind (the Etesian wind of the Creeks,
blowing briskly, often fercely during
the whole Of the day. The foliage of
the groves that cover Lower Egyptis
soon disencumbered by it of the dust, s
and resumes its verdure. The fierce
fervors of the sun, then at his highest
ascension, arealso most seasonably nit
igated by the same powerful agency,
which prevails for this and the three
following months throughout the en-
tire land of Egypt"
Then at last comes the inundation:
perhaps there is not in nature a
more exhilarating sight, or one more
strongly exciting to confidence in God,
than the rise Of the Nile. Day by day
and night by night its turbid tide
sweeps onward majestically over the
parched sands Of the waste, bowling
wilderness. Almost hourly, as we
slowly ascended it before the Etesian
wind, we heard the thundering fall Of
some mud bank, and saw BY, the rush
of all animated nature to the spot that
the Nile had overleapt another OBJ.
struction, and that its bounding waters
were difnsing life and joy through
another desert There. are few impses-
sions ever received upon the Temem-
brance of which 7 dwell with more
pleasure than that OF seeing the FIRST
burst of the Nile into one ofthe great
channels OF its annual overflow. All
nature shouts for JOY. The men, the
children, the bufaloes, gambol in its
refreshing waters, the broad waves
sparkle with shoals of fish, and fowl of
every wing futter over them in clouds.
Nor is this jubilee Of fnature confined
to the higher orders Of creation. The
moment the sand becomes moistened
by the approach Of the fertiiAing
waters, it is literally alive with insects
innumerable. It is impossible to stand
by the side Of one of these noble
streams, to see it every moment
sweeping away some obstruction to It's
majestic course, and widening as 1t
flows, without feeling the heart to ex-
| pand with love and joy and confidence
IN sshe great Author of this annual
miracle of mercy, ---:z.
The effects of the inundation as osEI
burn shows in another place, exhibit
themselves in a scene of fertility and
beauty such as viii scarcely be found
in another country at any season OF
the year-the vivid green ofthe spring
ing corn. the groves Of pomegranate
trees ablaze with the rich scarlet OF
| their blossoms, 5he fresh breeze laden
with perfumes of gardens of roses and
| orange tbickets, every tree and every
shrub covered with sWeet-scented
flowers. These are few Of the nat
ural beauties that welcome the stranger
10 the land of Ham. There is consid-
cradle samepess in them, it is true, for
he would observe little variety in the
trees and plants, whether BE first en-
tered Egypt by the gardens OF Alexan-
dria or the plain of Assouan. Yet sit
the same everywhere, only because 1t
would be impossible to make any
addition to the sweetness of the odors,
the briiliancy of the colors or the ex-s
quisite beauty Of the many forms Of
vegetable life, in the midst of which be
wacders. It IS monotonous, but it is
the monotony Of paradise.
"The food reaches Cairo on a day
closely approximating to that of the
solstice. It attains It's greatest height
and begins to decline near the autun-
nal equinox. BY the winter solstice
the Nile has again subsided within its
banks and resumed its blue color. Seed
time has occurred in this interval. The
year in Egypt divides itself into three
seasons-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
cycle"
81 Am So Tired"
Is a. common exclamation at this sea-
son. There is certain bracipg effect
IN ool6 cir which ia lost when fhe 2.