THE NILE DAMS AND RESERVOIR. 



557 



As remarked in the case of Asyut, the difficulties in dam construc- 

 tion are not in design, but in the carrying out of the works. It would 

 not be too much to say that any practical man standing on the verge 

 of one of the cataract channels, hearing and seeing the apparently 

 irresistible torrents of foaming water thundering down, would regard 

 the putting in of foundations to a depth of 40 feet below the bed of 

 the cataract in the short season available each year as an appalling 

 undertaking. When the rotten rock in the bed was first discovered, I 

 told Lord Cromer frankly that I could not say what the extra cost or 

 time involved by this and other unforeseen conditions would be, and 

 that all I could say was that, however bad the conditions, the job could 

 be done. He replied that he must be satisfied with this assurance, and 



** 



c- 



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Fig. 3. North Side of Dam, looking West. 



say that the dam had to be completed whatever the time and cost. 

 With a strong man at the head of affairs, both engineers and con- 

 tractors who often are suffering more anxiety than they care to show 

 are encouraged, and works, however difficult, have a habit of getting 

 completed, and sometimes, as in the present case, in less than the 

 original contract time. 



The contract was let to Sir John Aird and Co., with Messrs. 

 Ransomes and Eapier as subcontractors for the steelwork, in February, 

 1898, and they at once commenced to take possession of the site of the 

 works, and of as much of the adjoining desert as they desired in order 

 to construct railways, build dwellings, offices, machine shops, stores 

 and hospitals, and provide sanitary arrangements, water supply, and 



