The morning call., 1893-04-16
MIRACLE OF THE NILE.
A Desert Transformed Into a Fruit
full Paradise.

LONDON Nature.
BY no one. perhaps, have the impressions
produced by the various phases of the river
been so POLITICALLY described as by Osburn,
who thus describes the Nile:
The Nile has shruuk 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
sandwind for fifty 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 at
moSphere, but so entirely are their leaves
coated with dust, that at a distance they
are not distinguishabie from the desert sand
That surrounds them. IL is only by the most
painful and labOrious operation of water
ing that any tint apprOximating to green
ness can be preserved at this season even in
the pleasure gardens of the Pasha. The
first symptom of the termination of this
most terrible season is the rising of the
north wind Qhe Etesian wind of the Greeks),
blowing briskly, often fiercely during the
whole of the day. The foliage of the
groves that cover Lower Egypt is soon dis
encountered by it of the DUST and resumes
its verdure. The fierce fervors Of the sun,
then at his highest ascension, are also most
seasona0ly mitigated by the same powerful
agency, which prevails for this and the
three following months throughout the en-
tire laud of Egypt"
Then at last comes the inundation:
Perhaps there is not in nature a more
exhiarating sight, or one more strongly ex-
citing to confidence in God, than the rise of
the Nile. Day by day and night by night
It's turbid tide sweeps onward majestieally
over the parched sands of the waste, howl
ing wilderness; Almost hourly, as we
slowly ascended it before the Etesian wind.
we heard the laundering fall of some mud
bank, aud saw by the rush of all animated
nature TO the spot that the Nile had over
leaped another obstruction, and that its
bounding waters we're diffusing life and
oy through another desert There are
few Impressions | ever received upon the
remembrance of which dwell with more
pleasure than that of seeing the first
burst Of the Nile into one of the
great channels of its annual overflow. All
dren. the bufalos, gambOl in its refreshing
waters; the broad waves sparkle with
shoals of fish, and fowl of every wing fiut-
ter over them in clouds. Nor is this jubilee
OF nature confined to the higher orders of
creation. The moment the sand becomes
moistened by the approach of the fertiizng
waters 1t is literally alive with insects in
Vulnerable. 1t is impossible TO stand by the
side OF one Of these noble streams, to see it
every moment sweeping away some OBJ
ing as ii flows, without feeling 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 Osburn
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 springng corn. the groves of pcmegran-
ate trees ablaze with the rich scarlet of their
blossoms, the fresh breeze laden with the
perfumes of gardens of TO ses and Oran ge
thickets, every tree and every shrub covered
with sweef-scented flowers. These are
few OF the natural beauties that welcome
the stranger to the land of Ham. There is
considerable sameness in them, it is true.
for he would observe little variety in the
trees and plants, whether he first entered
Egypt by the gardens of Alexandria or the
plain of Assouan. Yet is 1t the same every
where. only because it would be impossible
to make any addition to the sweetness Of
the odOrs or the brilliancy of the colors, or
the exquisite beauty of the many forms of
vegetable life in the midst of which he
wanders. II is mOnotonous, but it is the
mon0tony Of paradise"