Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1922-06-14
EGYPT LAND0F
GLORIES THAT
ARE PASSED

We had known of course of the
great fertility of the Nile valley at
cne time the granary of the world,
but were astonished nevertheless at
the wonderful eXpanse of farming
land which greeted our eyes soon
after our special train left Alexandria
and this feeling of establishment has
increased as we have journeyed near
ly six hundred miles from the mouth
of this famed stream with it's wide
delta to Assuan its first cataract
where the British government has
constructed an immense dam to hold
back a part of the torrent which rush
es down from the mountains from
June to November of each year.
Coupled with the remarkable richness
of the soil is system of irrigation
without a parallel anywhere. Almost
every square foot of land receives its
quota of moisture and thus crop fail
ureS are unknown. The volume of
water taken from the Nile for this
purpose is enormous and despite this
fact at it's period of lowest capacity,
and notwithstanding the great evap-
Grafton during the heated term it dis
charges into the Mediterranean $1,000
cubic feet per second. 1t requires
about four hundred tons OF water 10
irrigate an acre and this degree of
saturation must be provided four or
five times year. The water is raised
IL the most primitive and expensive
manner. Every fifty to one hundred
feet along both sides of the river men
nlo in n
operate "shadoofs" or buckets of a
peculiar shape attached to pole
which is weighted by ball of baked
mud. The first shadoof lifts the
water about six feet and deposits it
in a pool from which a second shad-
roof lifts it another six feet to a sec
ond pool and so on till the water is
raised to the top of the bank. AS
many as five or six stations are fire.
Quently in operation in order to lift
the water where the height of the
bank is considerable. Not all of the
water is raised in this manner. In
some cases the Egyptian water wheel
or "sakish" worked by oxen, water
buffaloes or camels is used. Evident
ly man power is the cheapest or il
would not be employed. The men and
boys are at work at sunrise and work
till sunset, singing as they labor
Their compensation is very small
said to be twenty-five cents per day
1t is strange that windmills are not
erected and pumps installed to dc
away with man power. One wind
mill and pump would lift more water
than thousand men.
The soil is alluvial and ell that is
necessary is to scratch the surface
reduce it to fineness and SOW the
seed. Deep blowing is apparently un-
known Camels and water buffalo
drag the light plows and both are oc-
casionally hitched together to single
plow Boys with hand clod pulver-
izers follow the pillow. Two to four
crops of alfalfa and "bursim" for the
camels are grown annually also small
grains, vegetables, sugar cane and
cotton. When land rose to price OF
four hundred dollars in Illinois we
thought the same eXtravagant. In the
Nile delta it sells for as much as fiji
teen hundred dollars per acre. Every
where the eye travels it rests upon
fields of green separated only by the
irrigating canals which are only a
y -
be seen fields of immense opium pop
pies. To see the abundance OF ma
terial wealth in the Nile valley one
would naturally expect to see lot OF
prosperous farmers, but not so. The
workers are clad in the scantiest OF
clothes and live in adobe huts such as
one sees in the Mexican villages along
the Rio Grande with absolutely nc
comforts. The explanation is that
the lands are owned by capitalists
and the workers are merely employees
who are paid exceedingly small
wages.
A lady friend who has travelled ex-
tensively recently said to us that the
most restful and luxurious trip in the
world was the one on the Nile: We
can verify the statement after spend
ing three days on Nile steamer. The
Nile boats are especially built for the
service. have spacious decks supplied
with easy chairs, large cabins opening
out upon the promenade, ladies social
saloon and mems lounge. They have
three decks, the lower one for the
culinary department and use OF the
crew and two for passengers, accom-
modating around Seventy-three. They
are light draft vessels, as the water
during the tourist season is shallow
We were stuck on sand bars num-
Der of times and it required six and
& half hours to drag us off of one OF
them which we ran upon. The meals
served are excellent and we have ex-
perienced a most delightful time. 1t
has seemed like a houseboat party
with music furnished by the passen-
gers and various games, SO the time
has passed with amazing rapidity.
Stops were made at different points
to visit the monuments, tombs and
temples. To describe these would re-
quire volumes. They are the most
stupendous ruins in existence. Ath-
ems, the Parthenon, the Acropolis and
the temple of Jupiter, wonderful as
they are, are small and insignificant
in comparison with what it to be seen
along the Nile. The Egyptians built
these temples thousands of years be-
for Grecian art and architecture were
known. They represent a civilization
marvellous in its expression in stone
and inscription. Like Jerusalem, her
enemies have destroyed much OF
Egypts early architecture but enough