DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0170
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
might indeed be used for the invasion of their territory by a seafaring enemy. Their
canal had to serve, therefore, other purposes than those contemplated by M. Lesseps.
We have already seen that the north-eastern frontier of ancient Egypt was the one
most exposed to assault. Once in their history, hordes of nomads poured across the
isthmus and established themselves as rulers of the land. By the same route came
Idumsean and Canaanitish merchants to exchange their commodities for those of the Nile
Valley. The monuments afford innumerable illustrations of this, and the histories of
Joseph and his brethern show the nature and extent of the traffic thus carried on. It
was therefore important that a line of fortified posts should be constructed to guard this
frontier against invasion, and at the same time to protect the caravans from the attacks
of marauding Bedouin. But food and water were needful for the laborers employed in
the work of construction, for the garrisons who held these outposts, and for the traders
who met there to transact their business. These supplies could not be found in the
LINE OP ANCIENT CANAL IN THE DESERT.
desert. A canal, therefore, was excavated at least as early as the time of Rameses the
Great, to convey the waters of the Nile to these points. The sand of the desert, which
looks so hopelessly barren, only needs water to make it "rejoice and blossom as the
rose." But sea water, of course, will not serve the purpose. It would only increase, if
that were possible, the sterility which already existed. It must be fresh water. This
being conducted by canals from the Nile, and running through the eastern wilderness,
added a new province to Egypt, and turned the arid waste into a fertile garden. The
great Bahr Yusef, as it is now called, which runs the whole length of Egypt from Cairo
to Farshut, offered a barrier to the inroads of Bedouin horsemen, or, if they made their
way across it, they were in danger of being cut to pieces before they could effect a re-
treat. What had proved so serviceable as a defensive work along the Libyan frontier
would be even more important on the north-east, from which more serious danger was
apprehended. The canalization of the isthmus by the ancient Egyptians was mainly de-
166
might indeed be used for the invasion of their territory by a seafaring enemy. Their
canal had to serve, therefore, other purposes than those contemplated by M. Lesseps.
We have already seen that the north-eastern frontier of ancient Egypt was the one
most exposed to assault. Once in their history, hordes of nomads poured across the
isthmus and established themselves as rulers of the land. By the same route came
Idumsean and Canaanitish merchants to exchange their commodities for those of the Nile
Valley. The monuments afford innumerable illustrations of this, and the histories of
Joseph and his brethern show the nature and extent of the traffic thus carried on. It
was therefore important that a line of fortified posts should be constructed to guard this
frontier against invasion, and at the same time to protect the caravans from the attacks
of marauding Bedouin. But food and water were needful for the laborers employed in
the work of construction, for the garrisons who held these outposts, and for the traders
who met there to transact their business. These supplies could not be found in the
LINE OP ANCIENT CANAL IN THE DESERT.
desert. A canal, therefore, was excavated at least as early as the time of Rameses the
Great, to convey the waters of the Nile to these points. The sand of the desert, which
looks so hopelessly barren, only needs water to make it "rejoice and blossom as the
rose." But sea water, of course, will not serve the purpose. It would only increase, if
that were possible, the sterility which already existed. It must be fresh water. This
being conducted by canals from the Nile, and running through the eastern wilderness,
added a new province to Egypt, and turned the arid waste into a fertile garden. The
great Bahr Yusef, as it is now called, which runs the whole length of Egypt from Cairo
to Farshut, offered a barrier to the inroads of Bedouin horsemen, or, if they made their
way across it, they were in danger of being cut to pieces before they could effect a re-
treat. What had proved so serviceable as a defensive work along the Libyan frontier
would be even more important on the north-east, from which more serious danger was
apprehended. The canalization of the isthmus by the ancient Egyptians was mainly de-
166