170 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. iv 



the veins of the Nile. A great quantity of water is 

 shed out by them, but yet insufficient to flood the 

 land of Egypt. When the date of the sacred 

 festival comes round, the priests throw into these 

 fountains a public offering, while the magistrates 



8 offer gifts of gold. From this point the Nile, 

 obviously displaying the fresh energy it has gained, 

 flows onward in a channel of profound depth, but 

 is restrained by mountain barriers from spreading 

 widely beyond its banks. Only when it reaches 

 Memphis is it released ; and separating into 

 numerous channels, it roams over the champaign. 



In order to regulate the supply, canals are con 

 structed by hand, and thus the water is distributed 

 over all Egypt. At first near its bank the stream is 

 simply divided ; by and by the waters extend till they 

 assume the aspect of a wide, swollen sea at rest. The 

 extent of the country flooded, which embraces the 

 whole land of Egypt to right and left, deprives the 



9 current of all its force. The height of the Nile s 

 rise determines the expectation of growth for the 

 year. The farmer is never out in his reckoning ; the 

 fertility of the land answers unfailingly to the measure 

 of the river s increase. It spreads a coating of soil as 

 well as water over the thirsty, sandy ground. As it 

 comes down swollen, it deposits all its sediment in the 

 dry, gaping cracks, and spreads over the parched soil 

 all the rich mud it has brought down. It thus renders 

 a double service to the land first, by overflowing 

 it, and then by coating it with slime. And so any 



10 portion that it does not reach lies waste and unsightly. 

 If the inundation is unduly high, it does damage. 



The river possesses this wonderful character 

 istic : while all other rivers wash away and exhaust 

 land, the Nile, though so much larger than the 



