, and the hum of wild bees is heard above the
other sounds of the fields. Palm groves lift their feathery plumes
towards the sky, and mulberry-trees and dark-toned tamarisks shade the
water-wheels, which, with incessant groanings, are continually turned
by blindfolded bullocks. Villages and little farmsteads are frequent,
and everywhere are the people, men, women, and children, working on
the land which so richly rewards their labour.

The soil is very rich, and, given an ample water-supply, produces two
or three crops a year, while the whole surface is so completely under
cultivation that there is no room left for grass or wild flowers to
grow. Many crops are raised besides those I have already mentioned,
such as maize, barley, rice, and flax, and in the neighbourhood of
towns and villages radishes, cucumbers, melons, and tomatoes are
plentifully grown. Formerly wheat was Egypt's principal crop, but
since its introduction by Mohammed Ali in A.D. 1820, _cotton_
has taken first place amongst its products, and is of so fine a
quality that it is the dearest in the world, and is used almost
entirely for mixing with silk or the manufacture of sateen. Cotton,
however, is very exhausting to the soil, and where it is grown the
land must have its intervals of rest.

No sooner is one crop gathered than yokes of oxen, drawing strangely
shaped wooden ploughs, prepare the land for another; and the newly
turned soil looks black against the vivid clover fields, in which
tethered cattle graze; while large flocks of sheep of many colours, in
which brown predominates, follow the ploughs and feed upon the
stubble, for the native is as economical as he is industrious.

Peopled by a race of born farmers, and in soil and climate provided by
Nature with all that could be desired for crop-raising, only rain is
lacking to bring the fields to fruition, and from the earliest times a
great system of irrigation has existed in Egypt. It is curious to see
in many directions the white lateen sails of boats which appear to be
sailing over the fields. In reality they are sailing on the canals
which intersect the country in all directions, and by means of
thousands of water-wheels and pumps supply the land with water. Though
the Nile overflows its banks, its inundation does not cover the whole
land; so great arterial canals which are filled at high Nile have been
constructed throughout the country. From these, smaller canals branch
right and left, car