banks, re-fertilizing the soil, and filling the canals and reservoirs
with water sufficient for the year's needs, without which Egypt would
remain a barren, sun-baked land, instead of the fertile country it is.

The first view of Egypt as it is approached from the sea is
disappointing, for the low-lying delta is hardly raised at all above
sea-level, and its monotony is only broken by an occasional hillock or
the lofty minarets of the coast towns.

[Illustration: AN IRRIGATED FIELD.]

Formerly the Nile had several mouths, and from many seaports Egypt
carried on its trade with the outside world. To-day only Rosetta and
Damietta remain to give their names to the two branches by which
alone the Nile now seeks the sea. These interesting seaports, mediæval
and richly picturesque, are no longer the prosperous cities they once
were, for railways have diverted traffic from the Nile, and nearly all
the seaborne trade of Egypt is now carried from Alexandria or Port
Said, the northern entrance to the Suez Canal, and it is by either of
these two ports that modern visitors make their entry into Egypt.

Alexandria is interesting as the city founded by Alexander the Great,
but with the exception of Pompey's pillar and its ancient catacombs
has little attraction for visitors. The town is almost entirely
Italian in character, and is peopled by so many different races that
it hardly seems Egypt at all; boys, however, would enjoy a visit to
the Ras-el-TÄ«n Fort, which figured so largely in the bombardment of
Alexandria, and away to the east, near Rosetta, is Aboukīr Bay, the
scene of a more stirring fight, for it was here that, in A.D.
1798, Nelson destroyed the French fleet,[1] and secured for Britain