FEATURES, ANCIENT AND MODERN.
The fifth division of Africa borders on the Red Sea. It includes the countries of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt.
Between Abyssinia and the Mediterranean Sea is the low valley of the Nile. This is separated from the Red Sea on the east by a bold, mountainous region. A low ridge of limestone and sandstone hills separates it from the Libyan Desert on the west.
Abyssinia, or Habesh, as the Arabs call it, is a large highland tract in East Africa. It rises from the Red Sea, in a series of terraces, towards the southwest.
Between the highlands of Abyssinia and the Red Sea, lies a flat tract of country called Adal. This tract is very narrow at its northern extremity, but gradually widens towards its southern extremity.
The plains of Nubia and Kordofan form the northern and western boundaries of Abyssinia. There is comparatively little known of its southern boundaries.
The general characteristics of the country are high table-lands, intersected by deep ravines and steep terraces of sandstone.
These ravines have been formed by the action of the rivers upon the rocks. Sandstone, being a comparatively soft rock, would, in the course of ages, be gradually worn away as the waters flowed over it. No doubt the terraces have been formed from the exposure of these rocks to the elements for countless ages.
Above the table-lands rise numerous chains of mountains. These are mostly of volcanic origin. Some of the highest of these summits rise to a height of fifteen thousand feet above sea level. Many of the plains lie at an elevation of from seven to ten thousand feet.
Abyssinia gives rise to numerous rivers. The largest of these are the Blue Nile and the Takazzie, an affluent of the Nile. In the southern part of the country is the Hawash. It flows eastward through a section bearing the same name, and finally enters the salt lake, Assal.
The largest lake of Abyssinia is the Dembea. It is through this lake that the Blue Nile flows.
In the elevated sections of Abyssinia the climate is temperate and salubrious. Along the low coast sections, and in the sections at the north and northwest, the heat is not only excessive but the climate is most noxious.
Taken as a whole, Abyssinia is a very fertile country. It shows, however, as great diversities of products as of climate. This is due to the different degrees of elevation in the various sections.
Wheat and barley are cultivated to some extent, together with various leguminous, or pod-bearing, plants, cotton, coffee, sugar cane, and tobacco. The coffee plant grows wild to a great extent.
Nubia is the modern name of a country once subject to the Khedive of Egypt. It was probably known to the ancients under the name Ethiopia. The boundaries of Nubia are the Red Sea on the east, Egypt on the north, Abyssinia on the south, and the Sahara on the west.
The country is traversed by the Blue Nile and the White Nile.
Nubia has an arid soil. In many places cultivation is possible only along the banks of the Nile. Some portions of the soil consist only of granite and sandstone.
The products of the cultivated sections are numerous. They comprise maize, dates, tamarinds, gums, aloes, and senna. Among the various exports may be noted musk, wax, myrrh, frankincense, black wool, elephant and rhinoceros hides, and ivory. Ostrich feathers, ebony, gold dust, saltpetre, salt, tobacco, coffee, and cotton are also exported to Egypt.
Some curious customs prevail. Taxes are rated by the number of water wheels a man uses to irrigate his land. The more water wheels he uses, the more valuable his land, hence, the higher his taxes. There is no national currency, but the coins of Egypt and Europe are used. The Spanish dollar is also used to a great extent. Glass beads, coral, shirts, and cloth are used in barter, and take the place of currency. In Kordofan, the value of goods is reckoned by the number of cows they are worth.
The most primitive system of measurement prevails. Maize is sold by the handful; eighteen of these make what would correspond to one of our larger measures. In measuring cloth, the distance from the elbow to the fingers is employed as we would use a foot rule or a yardstick.
The costumes of the people are peculiar. They consist of turbans, and linen and woolen garments. The men arm themselves with lances, and shields made from the tough hide of the hippopotamus.
The customs of the people are somewhat singular. They are averse to eating meat, and practice the rites of the Mohammedan faith. They live in low huts built of mud or stone. They care little for strangers, and do not wish to engage much in commerce. They are fond of music, and in their leisure moments play upon a guitar of five strings. It is a simple instrument, having a sounding-board made of the skin of a gazelle.
There are few attractions in Nubia beyond the numerous temples and other ancient remains of the Egyptians.
Egypt occupies a position in Northeast Africa. It extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the first cataract of the Nile. The name "Egypt" was derived from the Greek. It is as old as the age of Homer. In the ancient languages Egypt was called by a name signifying "Black Land." This name was given to it, no doubt, from the color of the soil.
Egypt may be regarded as the bed of the Nile. The cultivated portions of it extend only to the limits of the yearly inundation.
In the days of antiquity the Nile had several mouths. Five of these mouths have, in the course of ages, become filled with silt. The whole alluvial district which these mouths enclosed formed the ancient Delta. The ancients believed that the whole of this alluvial deposit had been gained from the sea.
The basin of the Nile, or Egypt proper, is formed by the ranges of the Arabian hills on the east and the Libyan on the west. The eastern chain of these mountains is about one thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Egypt is separated from Nubia by a low hilly region. This region is about fifty miles broad from north to south. It is composed of granite rocks. The same formation of rocks extends up the shore of the Red Sea, nearly to the opening of the Gulf of Suez. It stretches inland over a tract of some thirty miles in extent.
In this section of Egypt the scenery is wild and picturesque. The course of the Nile is frequently interrupted here by cliffs or broken masses of granite rock. It is in this way that the magnificent, yet disastrous, cataracts of the Nile are formed. The granite section of Egypt terminates at Assouan. Much of the material used in building the great monuments of Egypt must have been brought from this section.
Upper Egypt is bounded by two ranges of hills. Both these ranges run northward. The Arabian range is on the right, the Libyan on the left, of the river. Sandstone prevails to a great extent in both these ranges. It is a durable rock, easily cut. It was used very extensively in the erection of ancient temples. The ancient city of Thebes was built of it.
The sandstone rocks in a large section of Egypt are covered with moving desert sands. In the lands which border the Nile they are covered with the alluvial deposit which the river brings down in its course.
PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.
All along the valley of the Nile the scenery is tame and monotonous. The sandstone is easily worn away by the action of the waters, and this in a measure accounts for the table-lands, which are of frequent occurrence. It would also account for the vast amount of alluvial deposit, most of it being worn-out rocks.
The fertile valley of the Nile differs widely from the desert regions which enclose it. This is true not only of the botanical life, but of the zoölogical life as well.
Many of the European trees and plants are found in Egypt. The date palm, sycamore, acacia, and tamarisk are some of the trees peculiar to its climate. The papyrus, which the ancients used largely in the manufacture of paper, and the lotus, or water lily of the Nile, are peculiar to Egypt.
Of late years the cultivation of the papyrus plant has been neglected. Specimens of it are now rather rare. Sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and tobacco are cultivated in its place.
Gourds and melons are found in abundance. Wheat and barley were extensively cultivated by the ancients. These are still cultivated, and maize and durra have been added. The latter is a coarse, strong grass. It grows to a height of from four to eight feet. It has thickly crowded panicles. The grain is round, and about the size of a mustard seed. Durra may be regarded as the principal corn plant of Africa. It yields an abundant product. It is even more productive than maize, but the meal from it does not make good bread. Used like rice, it makes an excellent pudding, or may be used in other forms for food. The stalks and husks are coarse, but make excellent fodder for horses and cattle. The grain, too, is often given to them.
Egypt is very deficient in timber land. Pharaoh obtained cedar from Lebanon and ebony from Ethiopia, as our Bible history tells us.
Space will not allow us to linger over either modern or ancient Egypt. The latter is more fascinating than the former. It will be interesting for us to take our Bibles and, looking over the Old Testament, acquaint ourselves with the stories of Moses, Joseph, Pharaoh, and other characters of the days of ancient history.
Did space permit, we might dwell upon the ancient occupations, as glass blowing and pottery, and upon the various implements connected with them. The bellows, siphons, chisels, presses, balances, levers, and harpoons would awaken our interest and curiosity, if we could but look into some museum of Egyptian relics.
The weapons of war, too,—the spears, clubs, maces, swords, daggers, bows, and hatchets,—would seem to us not only strange, but formidable. No less interesting would be the pictures of war boats, and the galleys used upon the Nile.
We might delight to run our fingers over the ancient harps, lyres, and guitars. The drums, flutes, cymbals, and tambourines would have fascinations for most of us, making us wish to test our musical ear.
There are many books, however, that can satisfy our curiosity over the lives of the ancient Egyptians, and we shall be fascinated by all we may find time to read.