I 

 THE NILE AND EUPHRATES 



In some parts of Egypt, as for instance at Mariout, which 

 is some fifteen miles from Alexandria, the wild flowers are 

 probably more beautiful than anywhere else in the world. 

 Amongst the corn and barley, which can be there grown 

 without irrigation, masses of scarlet Poppies and Ranunculus 

 are mingled with golden-yellow Composites, bright purple 

 Asphodels, and hundreds of other Eastern flowers. The 

 result is a rich feast of colour indescribable and satisfying to 

 the soul. 



So that these deserts under the hand of man rejoice and 

 blossom as the rose. 



Why is it that, as Disraeli has pointed out, civilization, 

 culture, science, and religion had their origins in the desert ? 

 The answer is not difficult to see : for there is a dry, healthy 

 climate ; the severe strain of a long day''s journey is varied 

 by enforced leisure, when, resting at his tent-door, the Arab 

 is irresistibly compelled to study the stars and to contemplate 

 the infinite beauty of the night. It seems also to have been 

 in the desert of the old world that man first learnt to culti- 

 vate the soil. In fact, it was only by irrigation on great 

 tracts of alluvium, such as were furnished by the Nile and 

 Euphrates, that the enormous populations of Egypt, Baby- 

 lon, Nineveh, and the other great monarchies could be 

 maintained. So that city life on a big scale first developed 

 there. 



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