The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-07

Cairo, Egyptian ancient Egyptian
proverb says. The Nile is Egypt and
Egypt is the Nile" Standing by the pyr-
amids OF Gizeh and looking across the
Nile valley one realizes the significance
of the pr0verb. A narrow strip OF dark
green runs Ike a ribbon between the
brown slopes II the desert. From the
heart of Africa comes the likelihood of till
able and tenantable Egypt. If the river
should cease to flow, the eucrOaching
sands OF Sahara would soon blot out from
the map the 1900 square miles of allu-
vial land that, from a practical stand
point, constitute the whole of Egypt
That there is no danger of such a catas-
trOphe is due to the fact that the Nile is
supplied at its sources from equatorial
lakes fed by Abyssinian rivers. Unlike a
number of American rivers whose volume
IS lmpOTta II TO agriculture and naVigd-
ton. the Nile rises in region where the
forests have not been cut for lumber.
biologists say that a prehistoric fis-
sure in the earth extending from the
southern shore of the Mediterranean -
what is now the first cataract of the Nile
brought a flow Of salt water into what
is now Egypt. Sediment from rivers flow
ing from higher ground into this fissure
gradually filled its bottom, raising il to
higher level. Volcanic disturbances in
central Africa so changed the surface OF
the earth that the courses of tropical
streams were changed, and an enormous
head of water found an outlet toward the
lNItU FROM l4e tahes anu SWdnfS OF the
south. The high plateaus have been, since
that time, drained toward the Mediter-
ranean and fresh water has flowed for
thousands of years through the trough
once filled with "A salty flood All of this
took place before the beginning of the
history of the human race. The marvel
ously fertile soil of Egypt has yielded
crops since the beginning Of agriculture
As far back as the reign Of the earliest
Egyptian King Menes, irrigation has been
To he for 70
if tradition speaks the truth.
Upon the Island of RhOda. upon the
shores of which Moses was found by
Pharaohs daughter. the Egyptian of to-
day shows the traveller the Nilometer
which registers the daily stages OF the
river al Cairo. These records have been
kept for 3l00G years He is rising or
'he is falling" say the Arabs. Although
the explorations Of its sources have re-
Vealed the causes Of the rising and fall
ing of the Nile, the stream is still spoken
Of by the Arabs almost as if it were
deity.
Tie year, divided in other countries
into seasons. is divided here by the fluc-
tuations Of the Nile. The months of in
undation, or Mill, are from August to
November. The winter. or Shitwi, is De-
Cember to March. The lowest season is
the summer. called SELF. from April to
the end of July. In the Nile valley there
is no occasion for the CaTtOOnist or hui
morist to discuss the lingering Of winter
in the lap OF spring. Nor does Self lin
ger in the lap of Mil The rising and fall
ing Of the Nile is much more regular than
the coming and going of the seasons.
where they are reckOned according to the
position Of the sun and the temperature,
or according to the rainfall
In America the rivers rise i'm the late
winter or early spring. as a rule, and al
ways during a period of heavy rains.
When the Ohio or Mississippi is out of
the banks the cause OF the flood is evil
dent. Father Nile rises at the time when
other rivers are depleted. and comes
pouring out of a burning desert, under
blazing sun to fertilsZe the fields OF Up
per Egypt. Tt is easy 20 understand why
the Egyptians who had never penetrated
the interior beyond the desert regarded
the annual flood as an inexplcable mys-
terry.
The feIlah stops upon the shores of
the river. the banks Of a canal or an ir-
from the Nile i'm his followed hands.
The tourist who dresses for dinner at his
hotel drinks filtered Nile water. unless he
prefers wine or bottled water from Europe.
Every animal and every plant in the Nile
valley is dependent upon the same source
for its supply of moisture. There are no
wells or springs The great river. three
fifths Of a mile wide al Cairo. where it
is fiecked by the whit sails of boats that
suggest the pattern of the barges of the
Pharaohs. has TO affluents below the
mouth of the Atabara, which is loo miles
from the sea.
Throughout this much of its entire
length. which is 4O62 miles, or but fifty
miles less than that of the Mississippi,
the river flows through d desert trans