170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



birds. The valley of the Nile is the winter aviary of the 

 North ; it is a bird thoroughfare. The aquatic birds are seen 

 in great variety and in enormous numbers. Tbe gray goose 

 flies in V-shaped flocks like clouds; the " ruddy goose," 

 with cranes, pelicans, storks and ducks, haunt the shallows ; 

 while on land, quail, plover of several varieties, and flocks of 

 pigeons with small birds, settle upon the seeded ground ; 

 the farmers allow a quarter of all small seeds to the birds. 

 Boys armed with slings stand upon the towers built in the 

 fields, and, with the dexterity of young Davids, throw balls 

 of hard-baked mud continually to keep the birds on the 

 wing. Here the sportsman is welcomed, and, as the birds 

 rise from the slingers' attacks, he knocks down pigeons by 

 the dozen. 



But the great and never-ceasing toil of the Egyptian far- 

 mer is in irrigation. With the subsidence of the river, the 

 crop of whatever kind requires water ; the dews are copious 

 and refreshing, but, to get a full crop, water must be sup- 

 plied to even wheat and clover ; this is done by raising it 

 from the Nile in three ways. On large plantations, and at 

 the great gardens of the wealthy, steam engines are used to 

 pump it into channels, from which it is turned when needed ; 

 but the older method of a well in the river bank, in which a 

 ten to twelve foot wheel with an endless chain of buckets is 

 turned by a vertical wheel moved by oxen is the common 

 way ; this is called a " Sakia." Smaller farmers use the 

 "Shadoof;" two slender posts, thirty inches apart, with 

 a top cross-piece over which a sweep, with a large, wide 

 bucket or basket, lined with cloth or leather, is worked by a 

 man, who with great speed and dexterity dips water, pour- 

 ing it into a channel by which it is conveyed to the crop. 

 His bucket is balanced by a weight made of a lump of sun- 

 baked mud. This simple machine will raise water about 

 eight feet ; when the bank is high, two and three may be 

 used, one above the other. 



The river from the second cataract, a distance of one 

 thousand miles, is lined on both sides with this work, — 

 sometimes they are not more than two or three rods apart 

 for miles ; many are kept at work in moonlight nights. 

 They are not greased, and give a wailing, groaning sound, 



