34 



before it reaches the Heu Escape, which was built to empty the basins 

 above the south side of the river, it divides, one branch serving the 

 high lands along the desert and the other furnishing water to the 

 basins near the Nile. The Ijasin boundaries are shown by dotted lines. 

 The canal and basin system on the north side of the river are also 

 shown. There are small areas here and there in Upper Egypt which 

 are irrigated from wells, but the larger part of the land is still flooded 

 by the Nile and enriched by its sediment, as it has been for thousands 

 of years past. 



But this ancient system of irrigation has one great drawback — but 

 one crop can be raised each year, while all other conditions, except 

 the water supply, fav^or the raising of several crops. Recognizing 

 this, Mohanuned Ali in 1837 l)egan reforms looking to the supplying 

 of water to crops during the whole year. The great barrage at the 

 head of the delta was begun in 18-13, as a part of the plans for peren- 

 nial irrigation. The tirst perennial canals were in the delta and the 

 Fa3'um, but the s\'stcm is being gradually extended to the south, the 

 country between Cairo and Assiut l)eing in a state of ti'ansition. and 

 the recent great works at Assuan and Assiut being for the purpose of 

 increasing the area supplied with water throughout the year. 



The returns from the soil have been greatly increased by the adop- 

 tion of perennial irrigation. However, this system is accompanied 

 with certain drawbacks. Only by the old flood-irrigation system can 

 the land receive any considerable amount of rich Nile silt, and Avhen 

 two or three crops per year are taken from the ground the soil deteri- 

 orates (juite rapidly. Artificial fertilizers are necessary, and these 

 are expensive in Egypt. The principal supply of fertilizer at present 

 is from the ruins of old towns and villages. This is simply the Nile 

 deposit which has been used in times past in the manufacture of brick 

 for the construction of houses, impregnated with more or less fertiliz- 

 ing matter derived from the village wastes. Long lines of camels 

 may be seen carrying this material to the farms. (PL IX, fig. 1.) 

 Sometimes it is to be transported 10 or 15 miles or farther, each camel 

 carrying about <iOO pounds, distributed between two wicker panniers 

 thrown across his back. 



THE CANALS OF THE NILE VALLEY. 



As has just been pointed out, there are at the present time two 

 kinds of canals in Egvpt. First, the perennial canals of the delta, 

 which date from the time of Mohammed Ali; the Ibraimia canal, and 

 the canals of the Fayum, built like those in the United States, with 

 the idea of receiving water throughout the 3'ear or whenever crops 

 need irrigation. The water of these canals generally runs lielow the 

 level of the irrigated lands. Second, the flood canals, for filling the 

 basins in Upper Egypt, which leave the river on a much higher level 

 relative to its bed. 



