Climate.—The atmosphere in Egypt is ex tremely clear and dry, the temperature regular and hot, though the heat is tempered during the daytime for seven qr eight months of the year by the strong wind which blows from 'the north and which enables sailing vessels to ascend the' river against the stream. The winter months are the most delightful of the year, the air beiqg cool and balmy and the ground covered with verdure; later, the ground becomes parched and dry, and m spring the suffocating kham seen, or simoom, frequently blows into the Nile valley from the desert plains on each side of it, raising lofty clouds of fine sand and causing great annoyance, until the rising of the river again comes to bless the land. It rains but rarely, except near the seashore. At Mem phis the rain falls perhaps three or four times in the course of a year, and in Upper Egypt only once or twice, if at all; showers of hail sometimes reach the borders of Egypt, but the formation of ice is very uncommon. Earth quakes are occasionally felt and thunder and lightning are neither frequent nor violent. Egypt is not remarkably healthy, especially in the delta, where ophthalmia, diarrhoea, dysen tery and boils are somewhat prevalent. But many invalids now winter in Egypt, especially in the neighborhood of Cairo, or higher up the river, where the air is dry and pure.
The Nile, Irrigation and Agriculture.—The great historic river Nile, Greek Neilos; Latin Nilus; Hebrew Year or Shihor; Arabic En Neel (black), is 3,400 miles in length, the long est in Africa and one of the great rivers of the world. It divides at lat. 30° 15', just below Cairo, into two main streams, the one entering the sea by the Rosetta mouth on the west, the other by the Damietta mouth on the east. These two streams carry the bulk of the Nile water to the Mediterranean and enclose a large por tion of the territory known as the delta, from its resemblance to the Greek letter A and which owes its existence to the deposits of alluvial matter brought down by the stream. The most remarkable phenomenon connected with the Nile is its annual regular increase, arising from the periodical rains which fall within the equatorial regions and the Abyssinian Mountains. As rain rarely falls in Egypt, the prosperity of the country entirely depends on this overflowing of the river. On the subsiding of the water the land is found to be covered with a brown slimy deposit, which so enriches the soil that with a sufficient inundation, it produces twq crops a year, while beyond the titbits of the inundation there is no cultivation. The Nile begins to rise about the middle of June and continues to increase until about the end of September, overflowing the lowlands along its course, the water being conveyed to the fields by artificial courses where natural channels fail. After remaining stationary for a short time, the river rises again but subsequently begins to subside, showing a markedly lower level in 'Jaauary, February and March and reaching its lowest in April, May and early June. The over
flow water Is now to a great extent managed. artificially by means of an extensive system. of reservoirs and canals, so that after the river subsides it may be used as required. A certain proportion of the fields, after receiving the flow and being sown, can ripen the crop without further moisture; but many others always re quire artificial irrigation. Steam pumps are now largely used in northern Egypt. Latterly the government has tried to Make the farmem less and less directly dependent on the Lion, and the great barrage of the Nile bele* Cairo, the largest weir in the world, is one means to this end, the great dam or barrage at Assouan being another.
The native methods of raising water for irri gation are chiefly by the itikidr, or water and the shadouf. The first consists of a hori zontal wheel turned by one or two oxen, which sets in motion a vertical wheel, around which are hung a number of earthen jars, this wheel being sunk into a reservoir connected with the river. The jars thus scoop up the water and bring it to a trough on a level with the top. Into this trough each jar empties itself in- suc cession and the water is conducted by an in clined channel into the cultivated ground ad joining, which may have been previously divided into compartments of 1 or 2 yards square by raising the mold into walls or ridges of 5 or 6 inches in height Into these compartments the cultivator forms an entrance for the water by depressing a little space in the ridge or wall with the sole of his. foot; and this overlooking of the channels of irrigation and adjustment of the openings from one compartment to the other with the foot is continued till the culti vator is assured by the growth of the plants that each compartment is daily and duly sup plied with its proper, quantity of water. The second means of raising water, namely, the shddouf, consists of a leather bucket slung at one end of a pole which has a weight at the other and sways up and down on a vertical sup port, a contrivance by which the cultivator is enabled to scoop up the water considerably below his feet and raise it with comparative ease to the mouth of a channel on a level with his breast. The latter mode of raising water is of great antiquity and is depicted on the walls of the ancient tombs of Egypt and also in the sculptures of Nineveh. A sufficient rise of the river (the rise varies at different points) is essential to secure the prosperity of the country; and as the water subsides, the chaplet of buckets on the sakieh is lengthened, or several shddoufs, rising one above the other on the river bank, are required. Should the Nile rise above the requisite height it may do great damage; on the other hand if it should not attain the ordinary height, there is a deficiency of crops; but with rare exceptions, the inundations are regular and nearly uniform. See DELTA; IRRIGATION.