80 OVERFLOWING OF THE NILE. 



the abandonment of a system of irrigation, which is said to be nearly 

 analogous to that which continues to fertilize the land of the Nile during 

 the inundation, the whole level country appears like a series of ponds and 

 reservoirs, and it is not merely the saturation of the ground, but the 

 deposit of mould or soil, which takes place during the overflow, that is 

 so favourable to the agriculture of Egypt. This mud contains principles 

 so favourable to vegetation, that it is used as manure for those places 

 which have not been adequately benefited by the inundation, and on the 

 other hand, when the deposit has been complete the people are said to 

 mingle sand with it to abate its strength. The cultivation of the ground 

 commences as soon as the waters have returned, and where the soil has 

 been sufficiently saturated the labors of agriculture are exceedingly light. 

 The seed is sown in the moistened soil, and vegetation and harvest follow 

 with such rapidity as to allow asuccession of crops wherever water can be 

 commanded. The influence of the river upon the condition and appear- 

 ance of the country, can only be estimated by comparing its aspect in 

 the season which immediately precedes, with that which follows the 

 inundation. Volney has illustrated this, by observing, that the surface of 

 the land successively assumes the appearance of an ocean of fresh water, 

 of a miry morass, of a green level plain, and of a parched desert of sand 

 and dust. It was the feeling generally entertained of their entire 

 dependence upon the river, which led the Egyptians to deify their Nile, 

 which had its appointed priests, festivals and sacrifices ; and even now, 

 under the Moslem religion, the reverence in which the Nile is held, as it 

 is still called the " most holy river," and the ceremonies which take 

 place on its yearly overflow, prove the value which the Egyptians set 

 upon this bounty of nature, and their gratitude for it. 



Glad to meet 



The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks, 

 From thundering steep to steep he pours his urn, 

 And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave." 



THOMSON. 



Although the Nile is, almost without exception, the minister of good to 

 Egypt, there are yet cases in which the excess of its waters have 

 occasioned no small loss both of life and property. In September, 1818, 

 Belzoni witnessed a deplorable scene, owing to the river having risen 

 3| feet above the highest mark left by the former inundation. Ascending 

 with uncommon rapidity, it carried off several villages and some hundreds 

 of their inhabitants. Excepting an unusual rise, in consequence of the 



