The mirror., 1920-12-09

bara and the Blue Nile; the Sobat also
contributes share of the flood water. AT
Asswan, near the borders of Egypt proper,
the Nile food is about IS feet; a "high
Nile" is 81 feet to 80 feet, and embank-
ments are broken down and villages
flooded; a "Low Nile" means a rise of
about III feet, when outlying lands are
not reached by the river.
2 Flood water remains on the fields for
some 20 days. AT Cairo the river reaches
its maximum height at the end of Septem-
Der, falls very slowly during October, and
very rapidly in November. A crowning
success of the British occupation of Egypt
is the control of the Nile flood by means
of great dams or barrages which holds
the water back to prevent its too swift
egress to the sea. The first of these dams
was at Zifta, the point where the river
begins to break into the distributaries of
the delta. The biggest is the famous
Asswan Dam. There is another garage
at Asyut (Siuty).
From the water held back by the bar
RACES canals lead out into distant fields
and fill myraids of smaller canals. The
effect of the dams has, therefore, been to
increase very considerably the area of
land under perennial irrigation. Land
under perennial irrigation yields two or
three crops year; but land under food
irrigation can yield only winter crops,
for November has come before the land
is ready for sowing. Perennial irrigation
thus means much to the economic pros
perity of Egypt.
Temperature increases in range as one
travels down the Nile. Between Lado
and Khartum in the Sudan the range is
only 10 degrees F. or IS degrees F. In
the bordering deserts away from the Nile
the average annual range is as much as
40 degrees F. to SO degrees F., and the
daily range is correspondingly great.
Rainfall is very low in Egypt proper,
and from Berber almost to the sea the
Nile flows across practically rainless
zone. Aswan is dry at all seasons; so is
Cairo, though it has small rainfall of
about is inches annually.
SO important is the Nile, that even the
Egyptian seasons are regulated by it.
From the earliest historical times farmers
in Egypt have recognized three seasons in
the year:
(1) Summer from April to July 80,
when the river is at its lowest.
(2) Flood from about July to the end
of November.
(3) Winter during December, January,
February, and March.
Summewcrops are chiefly cotton, sugar
cane, millet, rice, vegetables and fruit
Flood crops are maize and millet. Winter
crops are wheat, barley, beans, vegetables,
and clover. The white clover known as
bersim is commonly grown for fodder,
and is valuable as nitrogenous crop in
preparation for the planting of cotton.
Trees are not numerous. The char
dStCllStlC tICC Is VI COuISC Tic UdtC pdlIu
which provides food, drink, clothing, shell
ter, and other simple necessaries. The
acacia and the sycamore flourish on the
food plain.
Cultivation in Egypt is still as primi-
tive in its methods as it was in the days
of the Pharaohs. Farms are small, and
the rude plough and hoe meets all the far
mers needs. 1t is only on large estates
that modern machinery has been intro
duced to any extent. Fellaheen-the pea
SAINTS, who work on the land, number
about 81 per cent of the total population.
Carlo, still the largest city in Africa,
has population of about 100000. 1t.
lies at the crossing point of routes up and
down the river, and from the delta and
Palestine.
Alexandra (405, 5,OO0), founded by Alex
ander the Great, in 332 B. c., is the chief