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THE CITT OP CAIRO. — EGYPT. 281
The famous Nilometer—Nile-measurer — is located upon
this island. It did not strike me as any thing very wonderful.
It consists of a square well, in the center of which
is a graduated pillar, divided into cubits, and surrounded by
circular stones with inscriptions upon them. Along the
arches are passages from the Koran in sculpture. The
whole is surmounted by a dome. The Nile begins to rise
the latter part of June, reaching its maximum about the
25th of September. It is watched, during this period with
intense interest, because, if rising too high, it produces
inundations, destroying crops ; and if not high enough, filling
the canals and reservoirs, the means of irrigation fail,
causing infertility and famines. The yearly rise is from
twenty to forty feet, depositing over the fertile valley a rich
sediment of nearly two inches in thickness. It is to be
hoped that before our Stanley leaves Africa, the sources of
the Nile will no longer be geographical problems. Strabo,
the ancient geographer, mentions the Nilometer. Diodorus
informs us that it was in use during the period of the Pharaonic
kings ; and Herodotus speaks of its measuring the
Nile waters when he visited Egypt twenty-three hundred
years ago. Though not a vestige of rain has fallen now
for nearly six months, the river at the present time is very
high and muddy. During inundations the rise is proclaimed
daily in the streets of Cairo. The rainy season
lasts about three months.