THE LELET-EN-NUKTAH. 517 



and it is said that even still many piously disposed 

 persons spend the greater part of that night on the 

 river bank in watching and in prayer. The next great 

 festival connected with the inundation is that of 

 the Cutting of the Canal (Y6m-wefa-el-bahr) which is 

 regarded as a ceremony of great importance, and 

 generally takes place, according to the state of the 

 river, about the i5th or i6th of August, accompanied 

 by great national rejoicings. It consists of cutting through 

 the dam, which closes the entrance to the canal, and 

 is carried out in the presence of a vast concourse 

 of people under the direction of the Governor of Cairo, 

 who arrives on the spot escorted by bodies of troops and 

 other attendants. This pageant is supposed to represent 

 the official recognition of the fulfilment of the annual 

 blessing, which the inundation of the Nile confers upon 

 the land and the people of Egypt. 



The inundations of the Nile may now be regarded 

 as being pretty clearly ascertained, to originate first in 

 the great equatorial rains, which in the region of the 

 Central African lakes accompany and follow the 

 vernal equinox; these are, secondly, intensified by the 

 torrential rain-bursts in the zone of single rainy 

 seasons, and by the monsoonal rains, which follow the 

 passage of the sun up to the time of ^the summer 

 solstice. 



The sun as we know, on reaching the tropic of 

 Cancer, about Lat. 230 28' N. on June 22, begins to 

 recede towards the south ; but the rains still for a time 

 continue to advance, and it is generally supposed that in 

 July they reach as far north as about Lat. 1 7 beyond 

 which the rainfall is as we have said, very intermittent 

 and uncertain, and in some years fails altogether. But 



