Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/379

 EGYPT

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EGYPT

north-west, so that the highest level is in the south, near Luxor, where the oldest (lower Eocene) strata appear, and valleys (Biban-el-Molilk) take the place of the cliffs, undoubtedly for the same reason as in the Arabian Desert (see below).

East of the Nile the limestone formation originally presented much the same appearance as in the Libyan counterpart. This appearance, however, was changed by a high (6000 to 7000 feet) range of crystalline rocks (granite, gneiss, diorite, porphyry, etc.) which sprang up along the Red Sea, lifting and tilting both the lime- stone formation and the sandstone beds (which extend farther north on the eastern than on the western side of the river), thus creating numerous deeply eroded valleys. Some of these run north and south, but most of them slope down to the Nile. The Wadi Hammamat (the Rehenu Valley of the Egyptians) runs almo.st straight across the desert from Keft (Coptos) on the Nile in the direction of Koseir (Leucos LimCii of the Greeks) on the Red Sea. In spite of this the Arabian Desert still preserves its general appearance of a table- land. The open plains, of course, are almost devoid of vegetation, but numerous plants can be seen in the valley after rain, and the}' thrive in the sheltered ra- vines among the hills where springs occur. Near As- suan a spur of the eruptive range just mentioned runs in a western direction to the Nile, e.xtending clear across the bed of the river and thus occasioning the so-called first cataract.

The formation of the present Valley of the Nile, in Egypt proper, dates from the Pliocene times, when it first appeared as a fiord into which the water of the Medi- terranean Sea flowed at least as far asKeneh (Caenepolis) and perhaps even as far as Esneh (in the older Miocene times, the valley did not exist at all, the Arabian and Libyan Deserts forming one continuous table-land). Intimately connected with the formation of the valley are the sands and loams occurring to the south of the pyramids of Gizeh, as is shown by numerous Pliocene fossils they contain (Baedeker, Egypt, p. 1). The silicified wood which abounds in the district of Mo- ghara, west of Wadi Natriin (see above), belongs to the Miocene times, as do also the marine limestones of the Plateau of Cyrenaica, north of the Oasis of Siweh, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Desert and on the shore of the Gulf of Suez. The so-called petrified forests near Cairo consist of stems of trees silicified by the action of the siliceous thermal springs which bub- bled forth amid the network of lagoons existing in these parts in Oligocene times. Tho.se forest trees are still more common in the Fayum, where innumerable bones of extinct terrestrial and marine mammals and reptiles have been found in sands of the same geologi- cal age (Baedeker, loc. cit.).

Deposits of alabaster are to be found in the neigh- bourhood of El 'Amarna. where the alabaster quar- ries of Hetnub were worked by the Egyptians from the time of the Fourth Dynasty. The cultivated plains of the Delta and the Nile valley consist of recent alluvial deposits, ranging from fine sand to the finest silt laid down by the water of the annual inundation. Under these lie coarser yellowish sands and gravels of Pleistocene age, which here and there reach the surface in the Delta as islands of sandy waste among the rich cultivation of the surrounding country" (Baedeker, Egypt, p. xlix). Gold-bearing quartz and iron ore are plentiful in the eruptive range of the eastern desert both in Nubia and in Egypt, and gold mines were ex- ploited there by the pharaohs. No workings of iron ore have been fovmd (Breasted, "Hi.story of the An- cient Egyptians", 122, 142, 1.54, 155).

Flora and Agriculture. — Since the remotest antiq- uity Egypt has been famous for its fertility. The black soil, really a gift of the Nile, annually enriched by a fresh layer of silt, requires but little care in tilling and plotighing. Hence the primitive character of the agricultural implements — the plough, in particular,

which is precisely the same now as it was 5000 year." ago, a pole to which is fastened a piece of wood bent inward at an acute angle and shod, at least in later periods, with a three-pronged piece of iron. There is no trace of large forests similar to our own having ever covered the valley proper of the Nile in quaternary times, much less the Libyan and Arabian ranges, but the Delta still has, and may have had in the past, large groves of palm trees. So far as we can judge from the paintings of the early tombs, the whole cul- tivable land was laid out in fields, orchards, or gardens. The fields gave rich crops of wheat, barley, millet {Sorghum vulgare), fla.x, lentils, peas, and beans. The orchards were stocked with trees which, as a rule, were planted as much for the shade they afforded as for their refreshing fruit. There were palms of two species: the ordinary date-palm and the dum-palm, the latter growing in Upper Egypt only. Oranges and lemons were peculiar to Lower Egypt, while sycamores, tam- arisks, acacias of various kinds, the vine, the pome- granate, and the olive were common ; oleanders, roses, carnations, and geraniums were, as they still are, the principal decorative plants. In the kitchen gardens grew cabbages, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, which the Israelites seem to have regretted no less than the excellent fish (Num., xi, 5) and the fat fleshpots (Ex., xvi, .3) of the land of bondage Reeds of various kinds grew abundantly in the marshes in Lower Egypt especially; the most important reed was the papyrus; its stalks served to make boats (Is., xviii, 2), ropes, sandals, clothes, and baskets. It was in such a basket that Moses was put by his mother and exposed in the flags by the river brink (Ex., ii, .3). But it was especially as a writing material that the papjTus became famous. Its large, fibrous stalks, being first stripped of their rind, were sliced length- wise. Two layers of such slices were disposed at right angles on one another and fastened with a sort of glue under some pressure, and the sheet of paper was ready for use as soon as it dried. When written upon, the sheet was rolled up with the writing inside, and the title of contents was then added on the back end of it. In ancient Egypt the tuft of papyrus was the coat of arms or symbol of the Northern Kingdom. This reed, so common in Egj^jt up to the first centuries of our era, has now completely disappeared from that coun- try, very likely on account of the high tax which the Roman emperors imposed on its cultivation. It ex- ists still, however, on the upper course of the Nile, and, according to Bruce, the Abyssinians still make boats of its stalks. Among the many other aquatic plants must be mentioned the lotus, a water-lily, of which two species, the Castalia scutifolia (XyinpluTa cccru- lea), with blue flowers, and the Castalki mystica (Nijmplura lotus), with white blossoms, are often found figured on Egyptian monuments, particularly on columns. The flower of the lotus was the emblem of L^pper Egypt, as the tuft of papyrus was of Lower EgJTit..

The inundation of the Nile is of the utmost impor- tance to Egypt ; it isnoexaggerationtosay that but for its annual recurrence the rich valley would .soon become a desert similar to those of Libya and Arabia. The overflow is due principally to the torrents of rain that fall almost uninterruptedly in Abyssinia during the four months of summer and swell the Blue Nile (Astapus), which discharges into the Nile proper, or White Nile, at Khartilm. The rise of the Nile begins in Egypt a few days before the summer soLstice, that is between the 10th and 20th of June; but the inundation does not begin until fully two months later. It reaches its maximum height about the autumnal equinox when it begins gradually to subside until the vernal equinox, so that the whole process of inundation lasts about nine months. The maximum height of the water varies in different places, decreasing as the area cov- ered by the inundation increases. The mean differ-