Evening star., 1942-07-06
Activity in Egypt
Is Confined 10 Nile
Valley and Delta
Other Sections Are Bare
And Rocky With Greet
Stretches of Sund

Until Egypt became battlefront
the land of Cleopatra summoned
up In many minds romantic pic.
ture Of pyramids, sand dunes ane
palm shaded shores of the Nile. Tt
supplement this travellers impress
sion, the National Geographic So
ciety supplies pertinent informa-
tion about the ancient land where
history again is in the making.
The Nile Valley is Egypt-as fa1
As mans activities are concerned.
OF Egypt's total spread of about
S83 900 square miles, only about
$4,000 square miles equal to the
area Of MarylandD are cultivated
and settled. Almost all OF this land
Is In the Nile Valley and Delta.
Away from the Nile, bare anl
rocky desert, with great stretches
of sand and dunes, characterize the
country. Steep hills border the
Nile, where the stream has become
deeply entrenched in the land
Eastward, Egypt rises to rough
mountains along the Gulf OF Suez
ma Cne REQ sea.
Summer Heat Notorious.
Along the narrow coastal strip
westward Of the delta and Alexan-
dria, scrubby vegetation survives
because OF moisture from the Medi-
terranean. But a few miles back
from the coast rain Is almost un-
known. Alexandria, on the Medi-
terranean, receives to IL inches
Of rain year. Cairo at the head
Of the delta, gets only IL to
inches. Although Egypt's summer
heat is notorious, the mean July
maximum at Alexandria is only 1913
and at Cairo 95.7-and it is q dry
heat.
With the exception OF the rail
line westward from Alexandria to
the Libyan border, all Egypt's rail-
roads follow the Nile or crisscross
Its delta
Alexandria, site of Britains chief
Mediterranean naval base and obvi-
ously one goal of the Axis attack,
stands on a narrow isthmus be-
tween the Mediterranean and the
large Lake Maryut.
Cairo is on the east (right) bank
OF the Nile just upstream from the
point where the Nile divides into the
two Delta streams-the Damietta
teastern) and Rosetta (western)
Niles. Port Said, at the north end
OF the Suez Canal, lies about 30 miles
east Of the Damietta mouth, while
Alexandria is an equal distance west
Of the Rosetta mouth.
Productive Depressions.
Lines drawn between Cairo, Alex
andria and Port Said would form
triangle roughly outlining the Delta.
A few miles west of the lower
Nile. in the region between the river
and the scene Of the present fight
ing, lie several productive below sea-
level depressions which are watered
by wells and springs or by irrigation
canals from the Nile Best known
Of these is the Faiyum Depression,
famous for fruits, cotton and roses
Also in the desert west of Cairo
are series of high, crescent-shaped
sand dunes that creep forward about
so feet year burying whatever may
be in their path.
Were 1t not for the ife-giving
Nile and its broad rich Delta, Egypt
as 1t is-and as it has been known
for thousands of years-could never
have existed.
Almost all Of Egypt's 16,OOO,O 900
people live in the lower Nile Valley
and Delta. Wandering Bedouin
tribes are virtually the only in
habitants of the desolate wastes to
east and west.
Mesh of Canals.
No less impressive than the monu-
ments OF ancient Egypt are the vast
dams (barrages) and mesh of canals
Of the modern irrigation system.
All the river deltas in the world
are named after the Nile Delta,
which is the delta. The word
delta" was first. applied to the
region Of the mouths of the Nile
because Of the resemblance of the
triangular piece of land to the shape
OF the Greek letter delta"
A narrow, fertile strip to 20 miles
wide borders the lower Nile for
hundreds of miles. But it is the
incredibly fertile Delta, 1876 miles
long and 155 miles wide, that pro-
duces most of Egypt's wealth. The
scientific watering of the Delta farms
Cotton is the major crop is the aim
Of the impressive array of dams,
reservoirs and diversion channels
upon which, together with the pre-
cfous land itself, rest the economic
foundations of the country.
British engineers and British CAPT.
tai are largely responsible for the
construction and maintenance of
these prodigious works.
The annual flood of the Nile, whose
clockwork inundation spreads rich
silt over the river bottoms and the
Delta, is the climax of Egypts year.
The lower Nile begins rising in June
and reaches its high-water crest in
August or September.
Defensive Flooding Impractical.
Key to the distribution of the Nile
waters throughout the Delta is the
Delta Barrage l6 miles below Cairo,
at the head of the Rosetta and
Damietta streams. Viceroy Said de-
veloped this barrage in the last CEN
tury as fortress. He kept in mind
the possibility of releasing through
it waters to flood the Delta in the
event of enemy invasion.
But defensive flooding Of the
Delta, crowded with most of Egypt's S
people, is probably impractical as a
military measure today.
Year-round irrigation in the Delta
allows the growth of three crops an
nually. In addition to cotton, sugar
cereals and fruits are grown In
quantity.
Holdings of so acres or less consti-
tute nearly so per cent OF the land
under cultivation in Egypt. More
than so per cent of Egypt's land
owners derive their entire living
from an acre of land or less.
The agricultural workers fellahin)
form about 81 per cent of Egypt's
total pop,llation.