THE RISING OF THE NILE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2319, 12 June 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE RISING OF THE NILE.

Notwithstanding the somewhat misleading title.of the Wefaen-Neel, or com|jletion of the Nile, given to the annual lestivul iu August, and all the pomp and pageant, that is made to surround it, the river rarely reaches its greatest height till the Coptic New Year's Day, which corresponds with the 10th and 1 llh of September in oar calender. So that the period of excitement is prolonged considerably after that it has been pretty well ascertained that the overflow will not at any rate be too scanty, and that the Niie is pledged to spread its regenerating flood over the greater part of its expectant valley. The suhject of speculation only chances in July.' The question " How much has the Nile risen to-day?" which every fellah asks his neighbour when the call of evening prayer has sounded, whether in the Saoed or the Delta, means " Will the Nile rise high enough?" In mid August it sometimes springs from an anxiety int:> quit; the oppposito direction, and expresses the apprehension that the overflow of the King of Floods may possibly be too abundant. That water, likefire,is an excellent servant hut a terrible master is a proverbial piece of wisdom that no one has learned to feel more accutely than the Egyptian fellah who has seen the element break the bounds that infinite labour and art has been set to curb its exuberant spirits. It was Heroditus who called the land of the Pharaohs the "Gilt of the Nile"—a designation which is quite as appropriate now as i: was in the days of the old story teller ; hut experience hsis shown that a -'good Nile" can be too generous and the bursting of dykes, the washing away of embankments, the drowning of cattle and human beings, have on occasions followed the excesses of Father Nile when he has not known when to stay his hand. This was so in the years 1863,1869, and 1874, when great mischief was done by a too " hiwh Nile:" while in those days the opera don' of come, and the drafting off of thousands of agriculturists to the scene of devastation from their proper work at home increased the su.u of human misery in Egypt. This, however, is fortunately oidy on occasions: and the picture once drawn by the romancing traveller in which the river washes the feet of the Libyan moun. tain and White Mokattam hills, and turns every village into a Venice, and every fellah into a gondolier, inaccurately represents the Nile in his ordinary dealings with its children. The Nile Valley, at the time of inundation is, in most years, more like a 3Wamp than an archipelago. After the Nile has withdrawn, and the fields, have begun to dry, the Strilawee, or winter season, begins in earnest. This is the most important period of the year for agricultural operations, especially in Upper Egypt; wheat barley, lentils, beans, peas, clover, <kc, being raised on the rich alluvial soil that the overflow has made. The lands so inundated are called the" rai" lands; those that are too high for the inundation to reaoh

are culled the '• slmrakee" lands, The lutter,, never receiving any ruin, in Upper Egypt ut any rate, owe their crops entirely to artificial irrigation. Sint. these hinds are-commonly made to lii'itr three and sometimes) four crops iii succession,, whereas the "rei" lands only produce ono crop, which is sown in -October or early November and reaped the following March, April or' May, Wheat is put in as soon as the water is turned into mud. While the soil is stijl mire the primitive plough is passed, once ov,ir it and the seed sown broadeast. Barley is sown in November and harvested in May, when it is pulled up by the roots like maize, and not subjected to the sickle like wheat, Beans are kow'u in October' and gathered in March, Clover sown immediately utter . the inundation ripens in two months, and in some landfi'as runny' as four crops of this prime nai.'e#ity for cattle of all sorts are grown within the twelve months, The plough (mihrat) of Joseph's time serves to scratch the sliuiy, stone-less soil. It consists ot a pole, a handle, and a share—all of wood, the latter only lifting tipped with iron. Harrowing is accomplished by a palm brunch dragged by cattle over the surtHce. Sometimes the wooden hoe (migmphet) suffices to turn the soil and prepare it for the seed. "The earth is tickled j with a hoe, mid luuulis with a harvest."