‘Where he might soon forget the human race,
And, hating no one, love but only her.’
It was well for the noble poet, whose fame will grow when that of our Poet Laureate and his brother rhymesters will have collapsed, that the elements did not hear his prayer and accord him his heart’s desire. But a fellow might do worse than put up at the Mena Hotel, of which I, alas! only saw the outside. One ought to stop some time at the Pyramids. Mr. Pollard, who devotes considerable space to them—the last authority on the subject—says the rocks upon which they are built, ‘and the stones with which they are constructed, abound with small fossil shells, which, from their resemblance to money or coins, have caused this limestone to be called nummulite. Other round, small shells, closely resembling lentils, are also found; the Arabs say that they were the food of the masons turned into stone. The flora is interesting, though limited: an anthromis bearing its strong characteristic scent, but without petals; a very pretty small plant of the herbage family; and an umbelliferous plant smelling strongly of aniseed, were all much appreciated by the camels and snails.’
While I was there I saw no flowers, nor heard of any. They had all withered under the scorching sun.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE RIVER NILE.
At length I gaze on the Nile—that marvellous river, the sources of which, though many have tried to find them, have only been discovered in our day. The history of Egypt is the oldest known to us. A large portion of its history can be constructed from the native records of the Egyptians, and those records are all to be found on the banks of the Nile. Four thousand four hundred years before Christ, Mena, the first King of Egypt of whom we have a record, founded Memphis, having turned aside the course of the Nile and established a temple service there. In the reign of Ammenehat, 2,300 years before Christ, special attention was paid to the rise of the Nile, and canals were made and sluices dug for irrigating the country; the rise of the Nile was marked on wells at Semnah, about thirty-five miles above the second cataract, and the inscriptions are visible to this day. A thousand years later Seti I. is said to have built a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. Under the Roman Emperor Trajan the Nile and Red Sea Canal was reopened. Egypt proper terminates at Syene: the territory south of that town and each side of the new Nile is called Nubia. All Egypt depends upon the Nile; where the Nile does not flow all is barrenness—nothing but sand and rock.
The area of the land in Egypt available for cultivation is about 11,500 square miles; the Delta contains about 6,500 square miles, and the Nile Valley about 5,000. The country seems to have been taken possession of by a people from the East about 5,000 years before Christ. They found there an aboriginal people, with a dark skin and complexion. The Egyptians generally called their land black (Kanit), and the term is appropriate, if we consider the dark rich colour of the cultivated land. In the Bible Egypt is known as Ham. All nations have held the land, and have sent their people thither. But it is a curious fact that the physical type of the Egyptian fellah is exactly what it was in the earliest dynasties.
The river Nile is one of the largest rivers in the world. It is formed by the junction of two great arms, the Blue Nile and the White; one rises in Abyssinia, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea; the other, the true Nile, has its fountain-head in the Victoria Nyanza, a huge basin far below the level of the country. The course of the Nile has been explored about 3,500 miles. From Khartoum to Cairo the Nile falls about 400 yards; its width in its widest part is about 1,100 yards. After entering Egypt, the Nile flows in a steady stream always to the north, and deposits the mud which is the life of Egypt. The breadth of the Nile Valley varies from four to ten miles in Nubia, and from fifteen to thirty in Egypt. The width of the area of cultivated land on each bank of the river in Egypt is never more than eight or nine miles. The inundation caused by the descent of rain on the Abyssinian mountains commences at the cataracts in June, and in July makes a great show. The rise of the Nile continues till the end of September when it remains stationary about three weeks. In October it rises again, and attains its highest level. When I saw it in November the waters had subsided, and the peasants were hard at work, making the best of their opportunity.
The ground was still too wet for ploughing, but gangs were turning up the soil with hoes, and sowing the seed. It seemed to be simple work, under the blue sky and the bright sun. There was no need for high farming; Nature did everything, and the toil of the labourer was richly rewarded. It made me think of what Douglas Jerrold said of Australia—that it was a country so fertile that ‘if you but tickle her with a hoe she laughs with a harvest.’ And the harvest is wonderful. Commercially, the Nile is a fortune to Cairo. It is estimated that if all the land watered by the Nile were thoroughly cultivated, Egypt, for its size, would be one of the richest countries in the world. Till the Cairo Waterworks were established, the people of Cairo depended solely on the water of the Nile; and in Cairo, as in Jerusalem, the water-carrier is still to be seen, bearing on his back a large black goatskin filled with water from the river. At the Cairo railway-station he is always in evidence watering the platform and keeping down the dust. The short legs of the goat cut off at the knee stick out in a most grotesque manner when the skin is full and round. The neck forms the spout, and is held firmly in the left hand, to enable the carrier to sprinkle the contents where desired. The weight of some of these large skins must be very considerable. The skins used for wine are identical in form with these.
In ancient times there were near Cairo no less than seven branches of the Nile; only two now remain. Very busy are the people who have to do with the Nile in the vicinity of Cairo. A large open space at the end of one of the bridges is selected for the collection of the octroi duties levied upon all food and produce entering the city. Here the fellaheen assemble daily, with their camels and asses laden with produce, or with droves of buffaloes and oxen, and flocks of sheep and goats. The scene there is almost picturesque and animated. Another bridge carried over a wide canal, which forms an important backwater to the hill, connects the western shore. From this point roads radiate north, west, and south, each shaded by avenues of the acacia, so common in Egypt. The Ghizeh road is the southern one, following the course of the river, always alive with boats with large triangular sails, always redolent of busy life.