The quotation from Herodotus, a Greek who traveled in Egypt, is about how the Nile River enabled ancient Egyptian civilization to develop and succeed. What specifically was the rivers gift?

Water is the basis of life. The Nile was a particularly good river for a civilization to grow around because it followed a predictable flooding every year that deposited fertile soil along its banks, perfect for planting crops. The Nile also is wide, deep, and slow moving which is good for transporting things on boats.