THE praises of this river's water have been uttered by many travelers, who say that it is most delicious for drinking. It runs a course of over three thousand miles.
For many years it was very doubtful where the source was, but of recent years there have been many explorers, who tell us that it is near the equator, and that it issues from the great lake Victoria Nyanza and flows through the Albert Nyanza, flowing north until at Khartoum it receives the waters of the Blue Nile; then after flowing in a northerly direction it empties its waters into the Mediterranean Sea. There are several cataracts in its course.
The Blue Nile rises in the mountains of Abyssinia, which are high and often covered with snow; it is the melting of the snow which makes an overflow of water that causes the river to inundate the land in its course to the sea.
There is something wonderful about this river; if you see it in the month of June, the waters increase every day until September, when they go down again. These waters cover nearly all Egypt like a sea. Wherever they go they deposit a rich soil, and when the waters decrease they leave this behind, so that seeds of various kinds, wheat and barley in winter, cotton and sugar in spring, can be sown without any trouble.
But supposing the waters do not rise, what then? Why then there is a famine. Sometimes, but not often, the waters rise so high, when the snow from the mountains has melted, that even villages are washed away. This is referred to by the prophet Amos.
When the Pharaohs ruled over Egypt, after the flood went down the inhabitants really "cast their bread upon the waters," as it is so beautifully expressed in Ecclesiastes 11:11Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. (Ecclesiastes 11:1), with its special promise, "thou shalt find it after many days." What we sow we shall reap. When the waters rose too high there must have been some pitiable sights, for the villages might be surrounded by three or four feet of water. The poor people in these times often had to watch their walls of mud falling down, and many were drowned, for the pasha (or ruler) of Egypt cared more for preserving his own corn than he did for saving the people.
Do you wonder, that the Egyptians think so highly of their river, for so much depends upon it!—plenty or famine—according to the rise or fall of the waters. This river has been called "The Gift of the Nile." The people have gone so far as to worship it, which was very sad and wicked, to worship the "Gift" more than God who gave it.
But who were the Pharaohs? They were Syrians who invaded Egypt and set up a throne in the valley of the Nile; the conqueror was a king of Phœnicia. It was under him that Joseph ruled in Egypt and when Jacob dwelt there. This new dynasty regarded with favor the descendants of Abraham because he was a Syrian. And God would not have this forgotten.
Afterward the throne of Memphis was overturned by the kings of Upper Egypt, and the new Pharaoh knew not Joseph. Pharaoh is the general name for kings of Egypt, just as Caesar was for the Roman emperors. The word Pharaoh comes from "Phra," the sun, which the Egyptians worshipped. The new Pharaoh was afraid of the Israelites and wished to destroy them by hard bondage and by putting to death all the boys who were born—many were thrown into the river Nile.
On the banks of the Nile "paper reeds" used to grow, but the papyrus plant, as it was called, does not grow so much there now, and certainly is not much cultivated. Paper was made from it, and thus got its name. The Egyptians wrote upon rolls made of their rush papyrus, probably the coating which surrounded the stalk, though this may be questioned. Some of these rolls were very long, one at least ten yards. They have been found in the tombs of Egypt of different lengths.
Some think that the books of Moses were not written on rush paper, possibly on goatskins, or the very oldest on leather. One was discovered in a chest of a synagogue of some Jews 1806 A.D. It was said to measure sixteen yards in length. Another in the British Museum consists of a large double roll very carefully written on forty thick brown skins in one hundred and fifty three narrow columns; it is written in Hebrew.
On the shores of the Nile in many parts the crocodile is found, a huge monster basking in the sunshine, whom it is said the Egyptians used to worship. It is difficult to understand how such a creature should be counted as a god. According to Herodotus, an ancient historian, crocodiles were held sacred with some of the Egyptians, especially with those near Thebes and the Lake Moeris, who looked upon them as very sacred, and the priests trained crocodiles, which rendered them quite tame.
Into the ears of these crocodiles they put crystal and gold earrings, and adorned their fore-paws with bracelets. They gave them appointed and sacred food, treating them as well as possible while alive, and when dead embalming and burying them in the sacred vaults. Another writer named Strabo, when he visited Egypt four hundred years after Herodotus, tells us of a sacred crocodile living by itself in a lake quite tame to the priests. People fed it with cakes and meat. There is no doubt that the crocodile has been tamed by the ancients.
Plutarch also relates how it could be made obedient to the voice and hand of man, opening its mouth and also allowing its feet to be washed. This is wonderful, but the Bible tells us it is possible for every beast to be tamed, in contrast to the tongue (see James), which no man can tame. Is it not strange that "every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
We have just mentioned the crocodile, but it says every kind of beasts and of birds, etc. The Arabs are very fond of taming birds, and will often carry pretty green linnets on their fingers; they are so tame that they will not fly away. And if we speak of the Arab horses, at first they are as frisky as the wild ass, kicking and plunging with their riders, but they soon become gentle and obedient, and show much affection for their masters.
There is a story told of a gentleman going to call on a French family in Barbary. Knocking at the door of the room, he heard the familiar words, "Come in." He opened the door, but shut it in a fright. There were two very undesirable inmates inside; no less than two lions enjoying the freedom of the room quite loose. On a lady coming to the door and assuring him that they were quite tame, and asking him to enter, he felt obliged to do so. He entered and sat down; one of the lions made such friendly advances that it coolly came and put its head on his knee. Think of it! a shaggy head upon your knee.
The lady feeling that her guest was uneasy, as well he might be, called the lion away. The other lion was seated near her. These, lions show us a picture of, the beasts being tamed. They were said to be seven years old, and as seven is considered to be a perfect number, it is a good example of complete taming.
In contrast to the lordly lion, would you like just to take a look at a curious animal found in Nubia on the banks of the Nile. It is neither large nor pretty, but it is tamed on account of its usefulness; it is a kind of lizard and is called a chameleon. It is most remarkable for being able to change its color; some times it is of a dull green color, at other times a yellowish green.
When first caught it is very wild, and makes quite a commotion, hissing and struggling like one in a temper, trying to get away; but as discretion becomes the better part of valor, it soon becomes tame, and then its usefulness begins, especially in hot, countries, for when the flies are troublesome the little creature may be held in your hand, when it will dart out its long tongue and catch them in great numbers. It is rather a troublesome creature with its own family, for if several chameleons are shut up together they will bite off one another's legs and tails. Certainly not agreeable companions, and somewhat of a picture of bad temper.
Here is another little anecdote. On one occasion when some soldiers were crossing swamps near the Nile there were crocodiles lying hidden amongst the papyrus. Two men were bitten by them early in the day, and afterward there were six more men who were bitten, and these died from the effects of their wounds. One can imagine what a fright the poor soldiers were in after this, and how they watched the moving of the reeds, but no further catastrophe happened at that time.
Another interesting and exciting time was when an officer, who was reading, suddenly looked up and espied a large snake seemingly about to make for the bed on which he was lying, its body and head being raised. His attention was drawn to it through the look of horror of a servant who had just entered the room. The officer retreated over the back of the bed, and the snake paid for its temerity with its life by being shot.
Along this part of the Nile, near a place called Kidopo, there are elephants and hippopotami. The natives make traps for them. They make a deep hole in the ground and cover it with sticks and sand, so that the animals may be trapped into them. One morning an officer, who was feeling very unwell, was riding on a donkey, one of those somewhat uncertain animals, when he collapsed into one of these muddy holes. He was released by some soldiers from his unwelcome position. And here another chapter will not be out of place.