=Deserts.= On each side of the Valley of the Nile lies a vast desert. That on the east is called the Arabian Desert, or Red Sea Desert, and that on the west the Libyan Desert. The influence of the latter on the climate of Egypt is very great, as for six months of the year the prevailing wind blows from the west. At many places in the Eastern and Western Deserts there are long stretches of sand scores of miles in length, and immense tracts covered with layers of loose pebbles and stone, and the general effect is desolate in the extreme. The hills which skirt the deserts along the Valley of the Nile are usually quite low, but at certain points they rise to the height of a few hundred feet. Nothing grows on them, and more bare and inhospitable places cannot be imagined. The accompanying illustration gives a good idea of the general appearance of the stone hills on the Nile. In the fore-ground are masses of broken stone, sand, rocks, etc., and these stretch back to a gap in the range of hills just below the letter A, whence, between steep rocks, a rough road winds in and out along the dreary valley which contains the sepulchres of the great kings of the XVIIIth, XIXth and later dynasties. Under the light of a full moon the Valley is full of weird beauty, but in the day-time the heat in it resembles that of a furnace. The chief characteristic of Egypt is the great =river Nile=, which has in all ages been the source of the life and prosperity of its inhabitants, and the principal highway of the country. The Egyptians of the early Dynastic Period had no exact knowledge about the true source of the river. In their hymns to the Nile-god they described him as the “hidden one,” and “unseen,” and his “secret places” are said to be “unknown.” The river over which he presided formed a part of the great celestial river, or ocean, upon which sailed the boats of the Sun-god daily. This river surrounded the whole earth, from which, however, it was separated by a range of mountains. On one portion of this river was placed the throne of Osiris, according to a legend, and close by was the opening in the range of mountains through which an arm of the celestial river flowed into the earth. The place where the Nile appeared on earth was believed to be situated in the First Cataract, and in late times the Nile was said to rise there, between two mountains which were near the Island of Elephantine and the Island of Philae. Herodotus gives the names of these mountains as “Krôphi” and “Môphi,” and their originals have probably been found in the old Egyptian “Qer-Ḥāpi” and “Mu-Ḥāpi”; these names mean “Cavern of Ḥāpi” and “Water of Ḥāpi” respectively. [Illustration: The two Nile-gods and their Cavern, and the hippopotamus goddess, who is armed with a huge knife, their protectress.] [Illustration: The Nile-god in his cavern, under the rocks at Philae, pouring out the waters which formed the two Niles.]