Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 272, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1912 — Egyptian “Sabak.” [ARTICLE]

Egyptian “Sabak.”

This I name' is given to a peculiar kind of manure employed in Upper Egypt, hnd found on the sites of ancient Arabian habitations. Even the crumbled walls of the habitations themselves have added valuable, ingredients to the deposits, because the walls were cnuposed of earth intermixed with an abundance of straw. The sites of these ancient dwellingplaces are recognized, in the .first place, by the finding of relics of household articles, and even bits of jewelry. The deposits are found in successive layers, indicating that the sites have been occupied, abandoned, and reoccupied a number'of times. Chemical analysis shows that the deposits of “sabak” are veritable beds of nitrates.