PART FOUR

The Shining Fields
of Mud

ALLUVIAL SOILS IN

DRYING CLIMATES

Glorious mud! —
MICHAEL FLANDERS AND DONALD SWAN, “The Hippopotamus Song”

I know the Nile. When he is introduced into the fields, his introduction gives life to every nostril.

—Stela ascribed to Djoser in the Temple of Khnum