Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-17
NILE VALLEY is RICH.
Annual lnundation Fertilizes the Land,
Which Produces Enormous
Crops.
BY William E. Curtis.
Special Correspondence of The Chica-
go Record-Herald.
o

.
CAIRO. Dec. SO.-According to re-
cent explorations, the Nile, the most
remarkable of all rivers, is 4200 miles
long. The Mississippi is fifty miles
longer
From the sea to Assuan. the first
cataract. is $50 miles: from Assuan to
Khar,um, the capital of the Sudan, is
1880 miles; Lake Victoria, the main
source is 22S5 miles nearer the equa-
tor, in a region of perpetual rains
with greater rainfall, probably, than
occurs in any other section of the
earth where records are kept The
Albert Nyanza is the source of anoth-
er branch. and there are two great
af'luents in Abyssinia called the Blue
Nile and the Black Nile In addition
10 these there are numerous lesser
streams and many springs, but the
lake sources maintain the life of
Egypt throughout the year with suf-
tcieni supply of water to meet the ex-
aaustion by evaporation in the atmos-
Dhere and absorption by the soil
through the irrigation system.
The fall of the Nile from Lake Vic.
toria to tidewater is 1915 feet. Khar-
tnm is 1870 feet above the sea: the
from that point to Cairo the fall is a
trifle under five inches TO the mile.
and from Cairo to the sea 1t averages
about one inch to the mile.
The water has been gauged ever
since history began. At Wady Halfa
are "Nileometres," fixed by the engi-
neers of the kings of the VII. dynasty,
1900 b. c., and they show that the
highest water known in those days
was % feet above the highest record
of modern times.
In high water it takes fifty days for
float to go from Lake Victoria to the
sea which shows current of about
takes 30 days for a float to make the
Journey.
The width of the river varies from
700 feet to six miles. and averages
lhout 5000 feet at mean high water.
The width of the valley of the Nile,
that is the area between the mountains
that inclose it, is from 10 to 30 miles
in Egypt and from four to 10 miles in
Nubia. The cultivated area varies
from few feet on each bank to a
width of nine miles on either side.
The delta is 80 miles wide The area
Trained by the river is about 3000.-
600 square miles.
The 1nnurn llnlnh i,.h ,f H.
II the Nile valley. which produces Two
or three crops a year, is due to the
particles of sediment brought down
from the mountains. the hills and the
tropical jungles and deposited upon
the surface OF The fields during the
annual inundation. This is far rich
er than any fertilizer that can be
round These floods or inundations
come regularly. and the farmers of the
valley have adjusted their lives and
habits 10 them. They are as exact
and arbitrary as our seasons. as the
sunshine of summer and the SHOWS of
winter upon the Iowa farms. To
cqualize the distribution of the water
among the farms the whole country is
divided by low causeways OF earth.
which are also used as roads. into
tracts varying In size from one to 20
acres. and the water flows into them
by bitches dug in the days of Moses
and Joseph.
Lands that cannot be reached by
the inundation through these canals
are Hooded by means of water wheels.
rude structures with buckets or earth.
en- jars attached which are turned by
man, mule or OK power and hoist the
water from one ditch and empty it
into another at higher grade or into
a reservoir from which II may be dis.