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Ancient Egypt, its monuments and history (2218)
Ancient Egypt its monuments and history - 2218 Author:American Sunday-School Union Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: uninjured and legible. The north-westerly is the most favourable and pleasant wind, and the southerly the most disagreeable and noxious. The latter prevails duri... more »ng April and May, and is known by the name of the Khamseen. It is described as like the blast of a furnace, dry and of intense heat. A worse kind of wind, though not so frequent, is the simoom. This blows from the south-east. The atmosphere, while it rages, is changed to a red tinge, the sun becomes of the colour of blood, sand and dust are set in violent motion, and though it seldom lasts more than half an hour, it is always a severe and trying visitation. It is, of course, more painful in the open desert than in the cities of Egypt. Whirlwinds are not infrequent, and sand and dust are sometimes borne aloft by them to the height of five or seven hundred feet, and borne down again with such impetuosity, as to overturn and bury any object which may come in their path. Some idea may be given of the fertility of Egypt by the statement, that the earth produces flowers and fruits during every month in the year. In November, the seeds of wheat are sown as the Nile recedes within its banks ; the narcissus, the violet, the ragged robin, come out into blossom, and it is the time for gathering the dates and the sebesten plums. In December, the trees lose their foliage, but the wheat, herbs, and flowers cover the earth, and give it the aspect of a pleasant spring. January is the time for sowing lupins, beans, flax, and chapter{Section 4other seeds; the orange tree and the pomegranate come into blossom ; the ears of wheat show themselves in Upper Egypt, and in Lower Egypt they gather the sugar-cane, senna, and clover. ' In the month of February, the fields are completely covered with verdure. Rice is now sown and barley reaped. ...« less