DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0048
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
of sand which bounds Egypt on every side. The line of fertility and barrenness is
not, however, continuous and unbroken, Wherever a depression in the soil or an
extention of irrigation brings the waters of the Nile to a point in advance of the
ordinary limit of cultivation, there the desert " rejoices and blossoms as the rose."
THE NILOMETER.
In one of these projecting points of fertile soil, immediately before we reach the site
of the ancient city, is a garden, in the midst of which stands a venerable sycamore
tree, hollow, gnarled, and almost leafless with extreme age. It is enclosed by
palisades, and is regarded with veneration by the Copts as the place where Joseph,
Mary, and the infant Saviour rested on their flight into Egypt. The fact that there
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of sand which bounds Egypt on every side. The line of fertility and barrenness is
not, however, continuous and unbroken, Wherever a depression in the soil or an
extention of irrigation brings the waters of the Nile to a point in advance of the
ordinary limit of cultivation, there the desert " rejoices and blossoms as the rose."
THE NILOMETER.
In one of these projecting points of fertile soil, immediately before we reach the site
of the ancient city, is a garden, in the midst of which stands a venerable sycamore
tree, hollow, gnarled, and almost leafless with extreme age. It is enclosed by
palisades, and is regarded with veneration by the Copts as the place where Joseph,
Mary, and the infant Saviour rested on their flight into Egypt. The fact that there
44