DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0033
ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO.
with hot, sultry afternoons, spent in delicious indolence on the deck of a dahabeah,
gliding downward with the current; with cool evenings, when the stars come out in
the deep blue of an Egyptian sky, to shine with a lustre unknown in our northern
latitudes ; less pleasantly associated with restless nights, when the boat has been
moored near one of these machines, and the incessant noise combines with rats,
mosquitoes, fleas, and innumerable other plagues of Egypt to banish sleep.
More common than either is the shadoof, a primitive contrivance consisting only of
a long pole working on a pivot, a lump of clay, or a stone fixed at one end, a bucket
at the other. For hundreds of miles up the Nile the river is lined with these shadoofs ;
men, women, and children, either absolutely naked, or with only a strip of cloth round
their loins, spending their whole lives in lifting water out of the bountiful river to
irrigate their fields. No wonder that the ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile, and
that it needs all the force of Mohammedan iconoclasm to prevent the fellaheen of to-
day from worshiping it too. The very existence of Egypt, as we shall see hereafter,
is absolutely due to the river. Were its beneficent current to fail, or its mysterious
inundation to cease, Egypt would again become a part of the desert from which it has
been reclaimed, and which hems it in on either hand.
The distribution of water over the soil is effected by means of trenches leading into
small channels, these again into yet smaller gutters. Each plot of land is divided into
squares by ridges of earth a few inches in height. The cultivator uses his feet to regu-
late the flow of water to each part. By a dexterous movement of his toes, he forms
a tiny embankment in one of the trenches, or removes the obstruction, or makes an
aperture in one of the ridges, or closes it up again, as the condition of the crop requires.
He is thus able to irrigate each square yard of his land with the utmost nicety, giving
to it just as much or as little water as he thinks fit. This mode of cultivation is very
ancient, and was probably referred to by Moses, when, contrasting the copious rainfall
and numerous fountains of Palestine with the laborious irrigation of Egypt, he said,
" For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from
whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a
garden of herbs : but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and
valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven."1
Though the trains on Egyptian railways are probably the slowest aud most irregu-
lar in the world, yet some progress is made, and, in the course of a few hours, it
becomes evident that our destination cannot be far distant. The broad expanse of
verdure narrows as the Delta approaches its southern apex at Cairo. The tawny line
of desert which bounds it on either side draws nearer. The Libyan and Mokattam
ranges of hills, which inclose the Nile Valley, come into view. Then, those who know
whereto look for them, may make out, through the quivering haze, at a distance of ten
or twelve miles, the most extraordinary group of buildings in the world. In approach-
ing almost any other object of interest for the first time—-St. Peter's at Rome, for
instance, or Mont Blanc—there is a brief interval of hesitation and doubt before its
definite recognition. But at the very first glance, without a moment's pause, we
exclaim, The Pyramids / They are at once the vastest and the oldest buildings on the
earth. They were standing, perhaps were even already ancient, when Abraham came
down into Egypt. Their origin was lost in the recesses of a remote and legendary
} Deuteronomy xi. 10, n.
29
with hot, sultry afternoons, spent in delicious indolence on the deck of a dahabeah,
gliding downward with the current; with cool evenings, when the stars come out in
the deep blue of an Egyptian sky, to shine with a lustre unknown in our northern
latitudes ; less pleasantly associated with restless nights, when the boat has been
moored near one of these machines, and the incessant noise combines with rats,
mosquitoes, fleas, and innumerable other plagues of Egypt to banish sleep.
More common than either is the shadoof, a primitive contrivance consisting only of
a long pole working on a pivot, a lump of clay, or a stone fixed at one end, a bucket
at the other. For hundreds of miles up the Nile the river is lined with these shadoofs ;
men, women, and children, either absolutely naked, or with only a strip of cloth round
their loins, spending their whole lives in lifting water out of the bountiful river to
irrigate their fields. No wonder that the ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile, and
that it needs all the force of Mohammedan iconoclasm to prevent the fellaheen of to-
day from worshiping it too. The very existence of Egypt, as we shall see hereafter,
is absolutely due to the river. Were its beneficent current to fail, or its mysterious
inundation to cease, Egypt would again become a part of the desert from which it has
been reclaimed, and which hems it in on either hand.
The distribution of water over the soil is effected by means of trenches leading into
small channels, these again into yet smaller gutters. Each plot of land is divided into
squares by ridges of earth a few inches in height. The cultivator uses his feet to regu-
late the flow of water to each part. By a dexterous movement of his toes, he forms
a tiny embankment in one of the trenches, or removes the obstruction, or makes an
aperture in one of the ridges, or closes it up again, as the condition of the crop requires.
He is thus able to irrigate each square yard of his land with the utmost nicety, giving
to it just as much or as little water as he thinks fit. This mode of cultivation is very
ancient, and was probably referred to by Moses, when, contrasting the copious rainfall
and numerous fountains of Palestine with the laborious irrigation of Egypt, he said,
" For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from
whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a
garden of herbs : but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and
valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven."1
Though the trains on Egyptian railways are probably the slowest aud most irregu-
lar in the world, yet some progress is made, and, in the course of a few hours, it
becomes evident that our destination cannot be far distant. The broad expanse of
verdure narrows as the Delta approaches its southern apex at Cairo. The tawny line
of desert which bounds it on either side draws nearer. The Libyan and Mokattam
ranges of hills, which inclose the Nile Valley, come into view. Then, those who know
whereto look for them, may make out, through the quivering haze, at a distance of ten
or twelve miles, the most extraordinary group of buildings in the world. In approach-
ing almost any other object of interest for the first time—-St. Peter's at Rome, for
instance, or Mont Blanc—there is a brief interval of hesitation and doubt before its
definite recognition. But at the very first glance, without a moment's pause, we
exclaim, The Pyramids / They are at once the vastest and the oldest buildings on the
earth. They were standing, perhaps were even already ancient, when Abraham came
down into Egypt. Their origin was lost in the recesses of a remote and legendary
} Deuteronomy xi. 10, n.
29