Hakim often visits oases, for there are many big springs along the south slope of the Atlas Mountains where Hakim's people follow their flocks. Sometimes dates from these oases come to the United States. Farther out in the desert, the oases are smaller, sometimes having only a few date trees around the spring.
Would you like to visit an oasis and see a long camel caravan come in across the sands? Would you like to hear the Arabs tell how narrowly they escaped from sand storms and robbers, and how they lost the water bottles, and how, in the end, the camels brought them safely through? 431. Egypt—Egypt. is the largest oasis in the world. It is a long, green strip in the brown desert. (Fig. 31.) The strip is green because the Nile, flowing in from central Africa, brings water which makes irrigation possible. This makes green fields and green trees.
You can stand on a bare, dry, brown hill on the east side of the Nile and look across a mile or two of green valley beyond which are bare, brown hills again on the west side of the flood plain. The narrow green strip is full of people. In it one village almost touches the next one. To the west of this green strip, for hundreds and thousands of miles, lies the empty desert, where no one lives except in the oases, and which a few men cross at the peril of their lives. On the east the desert reaches to the Red Sea, and beyond this sea is another dry country, Arabia. (Fig. 31.) It is easy for men to irrigate the valley of the Nile. Each year there is a season of heavy rains along the headwaters of the river in Central Africa. This makes the river overflow its banks, and flood the level plain on each side. A thin layer of very rich earth is left when the muddy water has gone down. This fertilizes the plain better than the best of fertilizers that we make in our factories.
As the floods go down, the men of Egypt wade in the shallow water, sowing wheat and barley. The seed falls in the water and settles into the mud. As the water dries up and soaks into the earth, the seed sprouts. The young grain grows in the damp earth and ripens into a good crop in the blazing sun. On this account very many people can live in the oasis of Egypt. (Fig. 40.) The largest part of this oasis is near the mouth of the Nile, where the river spreads its many mouths over a wide delta. (Fig. 415.) What other rivers with deltas have you studied? 432. Ancient Nile delta is a fine place for men to grow crops and it is rich with fields. For thousands of
years, the Nile valley has been green with fields that have fed millions of men. Wheat ships from Egypt helped to feed Rome in the days of that empire 2000 years ago. But even long before the days of the Roman Empire, 4000 years ago, the Nile valley produced rich crops. At that time kings called Pharaohs ruled in Egypt, and built cities, tem ples, and great pyramids. Pictures and writing were painted and carved on the walls of many of these build ings, some of which still stand. After years of study, men have learned how to read these writings, and from them to know the history of Egypt. Thus we have learned that in those ancient days the Egyptians had books and libraries, and a regular mail by camel train to Babylon. Do you know some Bible stories about Moses, Pharaoh, or Joseph, who lived in this country long ago? During all the centuries since, the river Nile has carried much freight. The cur rent carries boats down-stream to the northward. When sails are hoisted, the northeast wind blows the boats up-stream against the current. To-day the Nile boats are as busy as they were four thousand years ago. However, there is this differ ence. To-day most of the boats are steam boats, and the white men who run them are Englishmen, not Romans, for England has ruled Egypt many years.
433. Egypt to-day.—When the Roman Empire ruled Egypt, the Romans took the Egyptians' wheat as tribute, and sent it to Rome. That was cheating, not trade. Nowadays the English and other European traders buy their cotton and early 'vege tables from the Egyptians, and pay for them with coal, cloth, machinery, or other manufactured goods.
The natives of Egypt are called fellahs. They are big, strong, black people who make their living by farming. They raise wheat, corn, rice, beans, millet, and vegetables. The English have built a dam across the Nile at Assuan. This holds back the flood water, so that the people can irrigate more land and raise two Or three crops a year.
Steamers of many nations stop at Alexandria, the great port of Egypt. Travelers often leave the ship there, going up to Cairo, the capital, by railroad, and thence over to Suez, where they can meet their ships again, on their way to India or the Farther East. Cairo is the largest city in Africa.
No other country of North Africa is so lucky as to have a river Nile. That is why Egypt has about as many people as have all the. other African countries north of the Sahara put together.