AGRICULTURE IN THE NILE VALLEY 75 



fragments of sunt or palm wood, palm lea\'es or dhurra stalks. The 

 sanitary conditions within the walls are in general indescribable, 

 and one wonders how the small human animal survives amid such 

 surroundings. Sunshine is one of the best and most potent of 

 prophylactic agencies however, and the daily work in the fields is 

 of the healthiest when once it is begun, and so a fair proportion 

 reach maturity. 



Roads, there are none, strictly speaking, outside of a few main 

 arteries. Paths follow the tops of canal banks and dikes and these 

 suffice, since wheeled vehicular traffic is almost non-existent. One 

 meets along these paths an almost endless succession of camels, 

 buffaloes, cattle, donkeys, sheep or goats, driven, led, ridden or 

 coaxed along by humanity of all sizes and sexes. The mud walls 

 of the villages serve as an enclosure for the nightly safe-keeping 

 of flocks and herds, and all paths leading toward villages become 

 thronged as evening approaches. Tired oxen that have been at 

 work in the fields all day, camels from transport duty or from 

 some of the sakiyahs, and the rest of the rabble seemingly from 

 any and every direction and occupation. 



There is an air of excitement about it all as though it were a 

 totally new feature of village life instead of a regular custom since 

 the time of the Pharaohs, but bye and bye it is all finished safely 

 and satisfactorily, the last arrivals just manage to get within the 

 walls; the village gates are closed, the noise and hubbub dies 

 down and nothing is heard thereafter but the barking of the village 

 dogs upon the house tops. 



