DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0279
CHAPTER XXX.
gikgeh and abydos— fertility and desolation.
We halted at Girgeli, for a visit to the ruins of Abydos,
some ten miles distant. Abydos was the reputed burial-
place of Osiris, one of the most sacred of the gods of ancient
Egypt. According to Strabo, it "formerly held the first
rank next to Thebes;" and Mr. Wilkinson infers from its
ruins, that it " yielded to few cities of Upper Egypt in size
and magnificence." Our route thither lay across a plain
which, in extent and fertility, rivals that of Thebes, and
which is under much better cultivation, being studded with
villages, and entirely appropriated either to crops or to
grazing. For the irrigation of this vast area, the main
dependence is upon the annual overflow of the Kile, when
the water is let in by canals, so as to flood the whole plain
for a range of thirty miles by ten, the villages being pro-
tected by dykes. There are few sakias or shadoofs; and,
indeed, the soil does not need them, for its crops are
already as strong and luxuriant as consists with a good
quality. As we rode along, we passed on the one side
immense plantations of wheat which the reapers were just
harvesting, while, on the other hand, was wheat just forming
in the ear. The sight of crops at different stages, side by
side, reminded me of the promise, that he that soweth seed
shall overtake him that reapeth,—rwhen the diffusion of the
gospel and the gathering of its fruits shall go hand in hand.
Large plantations of beans and barley, used as fodder for
21
gikgeh and abydos— fertility and desolation.
We halted at Girgeli, for a visit to the ruins of Abydos,
some ten miles distant. Abydos was the reputed burial-
place of Osiris, one of the most sacred of the gods of ancient
Egypt. According to Strabo, it "formerly held the first
rank next to Thebes;" and Mr. Wilkinson infers from its
ruins, that it " yielded to few cities of Upper Egypt in size
and magnificence." Our route thither lay across a plain
which, in extent and fertility, rivals that of Thebes, and
which is under much better cultivation, being studded with
villages, and entirely appropriated either to crops or to
grazing. For the irrigation of this vast area, the main
dependence is upon the annual overflow of the Kile, when
the water is let in by canals, so as to flood the whole plain
for a range of thirty miles by ten, the villages being pro-
tected by dykes. There are few sakias or shadoofs; and,
indeed, the soil does not need them, for its crops are
already as strong and luxuriant as consists with a good
quality. As we rode along, we passed on the one side
immense plantations of wheat which the reapers were just
harvesting, while, on the other hand, was wheat just forming
in the ear. The sight of crops at different stages, side by
side, reminded me of the promise, that he that soweth seed
shall overtake him that reapeth,—rwhen the diffusion of the
gospel and the gathering of its fruits shall go hand in hand.
Large plantations of beans and barley, used as fodder for
21