Nature's operations are, however, so uniform that these calamities
rarely arise. Egypt rejoices, more than almost any other country, in an
equable climate, an equable temperature, and an equable productiveness.
The summers, no doubt, are hot, especially in the south, and an
occasional sirocco produces intense discomfort while it lasts. But the
cool Etesian wind, blowing from the north through nearly all the
summer-time, tempers the ardour of the sun's rays even in the hottest
season of the year; and during the remaining months, from October to
April, the climate is simply delightful. Egypt has been said to have but
two seasons, spring and summer. Spring reigns from October into
May--crops spring up, flowers bloom, soft zephyrs fan the cheek, when it
is mid-winter in Europe; by February the fruit-trees are in full
blossom; the crops begin to ripen in March, and are reaped by the end of
April; snow and frost are wholly unknown at any time; storm, fog, and
even rain are rare. A bright, lucid atmosphere rests upon the entire
scene. There is no moisture in the air, no cloud in the sky; no mist
veils the distance. One day follows another, each the counterpart of the
preceding; until at length spring retires to make room for summer, and a
fiercer light, a hotter sun, a longer day, show that the most enjoyable
part of the year is gone by.

The geology of Egypt is simple. The entire flat country is alluvial. The
hills on either side are, in the north, limestone, in the central region
sandstone, and in the south granite and syenite. The granitic formation
begins between the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth parallels, but
occasional masses of primitive rock are intruded into the secondary
regions, and these extend northward as far as lat. 27°10'. Above the
rocks are, in many places, deposits of gravel and sand, the former hard,
the latter loose and shifting. A portion of the eastern desert is