It is its extreme fertility which has made Egypt prosperous, and
throughout the world's history it has been a granary for the nations,
for while drought and famine might affect other lands, Egypt has
always been able to supply food to its neighbours.

How does this come about? Let me try and explain.

Thousands of years ago, when the world was very young, the whole land
was covered by the sea, which is plainly shown by the fossils
embedded in the rocks, and which lie scattered over its highest
deserts.

As the sea receded, the Nile, then a mighty river, began to cut its
channel through the rock, and poured into the sea somewhere about
where Cairo now stands.

As the ages passed the river cut deeper and deeper into its rocky bed,
leaving on either side the mountains which hem in its narrow valley,
and at the same time depositing along its banks and in the delta
forming at its mouth the rich alluvial mud which it had carried with
it from the heart of Africa.

In this way the Egypt of history has been formed, but, surrounded as
it is by sandy wastes, and often swept by hot desert winds, no rain
falls to bring life to the fields, or enable the rich soil to produce
the crops which are its source of wealth.

Nature provides a remedy, however, and the river which first formed
the land is also its life-giver, for every year the Nile overflows its