Читать книгу The Historical Child - Oscar Chrisman - Страница 34

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The desert stretching across Africa from the Atlantic Ocean on the west extends into Western Asia and in its whole extent it is broken only in one place and that is the long, narrow valley made by the Nile river. In this valley snow and frost are unknown and the chief characteristic of the climate is its combined warmth and dryness. There is but little rainfall throughout this region and yet there is abundance of moisture, which comes from the annual overflow of the Nile, and which overflow also greatly enriches the soil. The deserts surrounding Egypt and the cataracts of the Nile at its southern border isolated this country so that it was not readily disturbed by outside peoples. This isolation, with the warm climate and the productive soil, gave just the conditions necessary for the development of mankind in its early times and thus arose a people in this region which developed into a great nation, extending from about 5,000 years before Christ down to its overthrow by the Persians in 525 B. C. The country was divided into Upper Egypt, the principal city of which was Thebes, Middle Egypt, with Memphis as the principal city, and Lower Egypt, which included the Delta, its chief city being Heliopolis.

From the cataracts on the South to the Mediterranean Sea the Nile pursues its course for over five hundred miles, till within sixty miles of its mouth it divides into branches and forms the part called the Delta. The cultivable land, depending upon the extent of the inundation, averages about five and a half miles in width, varying from two miles in its narrowest part to ten and three-quarters in its widest part, including the river. On the west of the valley is a range of hills, which protects it from the sand of the desert, and on the east, between the Nile and the Red Sea, is also another range of hills. Lying at the foot of the hills is a strip of sand, sometimes as great as two and a half miles in breadth, which is not reached by the inundation and consequently remains a waste. The demarcation between this waste and the fertile soil is very marked, so as to be readily noted. The rock in these hills varies, at the southern extremity being found the granite, from which were cut out their monoliths and made into obelisks and collossi; further north is found sandstone of various colors, and from which were built the palaces and temples of that region; and following this district is a part wherein there is a limestone formation, in which region are found the pyramids, mostly composed of this stone.