1895.] on The Nile. 411 



Muliammedan faith), the Sheikh el Bekri, the Sheikh es Sadat, all the 

 learned scribes of the great university of the Azhar, the cabinet 

 ministers and under-secretaries, the sirder of the army and his staff, 

 the judges and the financiers. 



The Egyptian troops are turned out, salutes are fired, and about 

 eight o'clock in the warm summer night the classes all assemble 

 under the gaily-lighted tents, the masses crowd round the frames for 

 the fireworks, the street is lined with harem carriages full of closely- 

 veiled figures, though it is not much that they can see from their 

 broughams. Out in the river, just opposite the canal's mouth, is 

 moored an old hulk of a certain sea-going outline, which has been 

 towed up from Boulak during the day, and is an emblem of the time 

 when the great republic of Venice sent an envoy to witness the cere- 

 mony. This boat is full of lamps, and fireworks too. As the night 

 deepens the excitement increases. The populace on the bridge and 

 the opposite bank are shouting, yelling and dancing wildly round the 

 fireworks. On the other side are the gay uniforms and lighted tents, 

 from whence we can look over the wall down on the dark water, where 

 you see brown figures plunging in, and, waist-deep, digging with their 

 hoes at the embankment that blocks the canal's mouth. 



Long before midnight the fireworks have gone out, and left the 

 splendid stars to themselves ; the grandees have all gone to bed, but 

 the people keep up the revelry, and in the morning, by 7 . 30, every 

 one has come back. Then but little of the bank is left uncut ; a few 

 more strokes of the big hoes will do it, and the brown skins and the 

 brown water reflect the bright sunlight from above. Then the 

 Sheikh ul Islam solemnly thanks the Almighty, Allah the All- 

 powerful, the All-merciful. He implores His blessing on the flood, 

 and at a signal the bank is cut, the waters rush in, and with them a 

 crowd of swimmers. A bag of silver piastres is scattered among them, 

 and the ceremony is at an end. 



There is a pretty legend, worth telling, of the cutting of the 

 Khalig. Amr, the Muhammedan general, took Cairo in a.d. 610. 

 Long before then there had been a heathen ceremony, and a virgin 

 was yearly sacrificed to the god of the river. When the season came 

 round, Amr was called upon as usual to sacrifice the girl. He 

 sternly refused. That year the Nile flood was a failure. You can 

 fancy how the indignant heathen population must have raged at the 

 invader, and said, " We warned you what would happen if you didn't 

 propitiate the river god." Cannot we fancy, also, how Ann's wild 

 Arab soldiers must have had their faith sorely tried, and how they 

 must have felt puzzled as to whether in this strauge new country, 

 with all those demon-built temples and pyramids, obelisks and. 

 sphinxes, it might not be as well to make friends of the local gods. 

 Could Allah really help them here? Again the Nile flood came 

 round. This time surely Amr would sacrifice the girl, and save the 

 land ? No ; he would not. The people rose up in rebellion. Amr 

 stood firm. But he wrote to the Kalif Omar for orders (Omar, whose 



