Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-06-19

are seen without clothes. So, that all
one absolutely needs in Egypt is
something to eat and as vegetation
grows with very little cultivation, food
is easily obtained.
Mile River Immense.
''The Nile Is one of the great rivers
of the world 1t is little more than
1000 miles in length, or about as long
as the Mississippi. For more than
1000 miles from it's mouth to the
south there is no stream of water en-
tering this river The waters that
supply it come from central Africa,
where they have an extremely heavy
rain fall. The river begins to rise
the latter part Of June and continues
to rise until the latter part of Novem-
Der. Under the old system which ex-
listed up to within twenty-five years.
the Nile was permitted to overflow
the entire valley and when it receded
the crops were planted and before it
became too dry to injure they they had
matured. Now, it is different, the
great dam which has been erected at
the first cataract and the numerous
canals and reservoirs which have
been constructed leading from the
Nile require such large quantities of
water to fill them, that the river does
not now rise to overflow the banks.
When the Nile recedes the gates open
ing from the river into the canals
are closed; also, the gates are shut in
the great dam. and the water Is held
back until it is needed to irrigate the
land for the planting of second nr
third crop or to aid in the raising of
the first crop Under the old system
only one crop could be raised as they
had to wait a long while for the river
to rise and recede before they could
plant They can now raise three
crops on the same land by the new
system of irrigation. The Nile river
parallels the Red sea for distance
of some $50 miles from the mouth
and is only IS to 100 miles distant. [
read an article a few days ago saying
that 5000 years i.go, during Solomon'Es
time, there was a channel between the
Red sea and the Mediterranean and
that the boats of light draft passed
through this channel. I have thought
that the sands of the desert might
have blown in and filed up the valley
of the Nile, and the Nile. might have
cut through the sandy barrier on the
east to the Red sea and in case it had
done so the Suez canal would never
have had to be built as the discharge
of water, 61,000,000 gallons per min-
uate at low water and four or five
times that amount in high water,
would have been sufficient to have re-
opened this channel and made it deep
enough for boats of heavy draft to
pass through
The People of Egypt.
Now word as to the people. Some
writer's say there was tribe of
aborigines who lived in the Nile val
ley in prehistoric times. and that the
people who settled in the country and
are now called the original Egyptians
exterminated this tribe The people
called Egyptians now, came into the
country from northern Africa. Some
writer's say they were a race of ms
groes; others that they We're Berbers
or dark skinned people who We're
not negroes. | am inclined to think
that this latter statement is correct
Their descendants, that we see N
Egypt today, bear very slight re.
semblance to the negro race. These
people were the builders of the great
pyramids: They were the founders ri
| the earliest civilization in the world
They held sway in Egypt for many
centuries and no doubt had to main
tain their hold many times by fight
ing the hordes which attempted tc
overrun the country They held sway
until about $500 B. c., when the
Asiatics overrun the country, under
the lead of the Hyksos or Shepherd
Kings. These people governed fol
something like 500 years. They wert
the rulers when Joseph was sold init
Egypt and when Jacob and his rela
tives settled there. After awhile
about 1900 B. c., the old Egyptian!
arose in rebellion, and overthrow thu
Hyksos Kings, Then came the or
preston Of the Hebrews. A Pharaoh
sat on the throne, who knew not jos
eph,' and the Israelites took their de
parture. The restored Pharaohs rulet
the country until the fourth centur.
before Christ. until Alexander tn
Great conquered Egypt. The Greek
held it up to the first century A. D
then the Romans captured it. In tn
seventh century came the Arabs, VIII
conquered the country and gave tn