35 



In the province of Assiian there are two canals on the left and four 

 on the right bank of the river. These supply all the basins in that 

 province during the flood season. The only area watered throughout 

 the vear is a narrow strip bordering the Nile and other water courses 

 carr3dng a supply at all times. In the province of Keneh there are 8 

 canals taking water from the west bank of the river and 13 diverting 

 water from the east bank. In the province of Girgeh 11 canals divert 

 water from the left and 5 from the right bank. 



Among those on the left bank is the great Sohagia Canal, one of the 

 oldest water channels in Egypt. It supplies 340,o0(» acres of land. 

 At its lower extremity the Yusef Canal begins, being a continu- 

 ation of the Sohagia. So ancient are these channels that the}^ have 

 lost much of their resemblance to the canals of to-day and are now con- 

 sidered natural channels. They are very tortuous, and run at but 

 slicj-htlv hio-her levels than the Nile. At its head the Sohagia is 230 

 feet wide on the bottom, 278 feet wide on top, and carries a maxi- 

 mum of 18 feet of water in depth. Its discharge is about 15,000 cubic 

 feet per second. The canal is separated by embankments from the 

 first basins it supplies. In the basins farther north the canal 

 embankments are omitted. Here the canal is not a l)Oundary line 

 between basins, but flows through each. The length of the canal is 

 about 60 miles. Just below its point of diversion from the river an 

 immense masonry head gate has been erected. It is many times too 

 larpfe for the volume of water carried bv the canal, and it would look 

 much more in keeping with the surroundings if the canal were two or 

 three times larger. The head gate contains 21-1 archways, each of 

 which is nearly K) feet wide. The foundation, which rests upon sand 

 and gravel mixed with Nile mud, is 131 feet wide and 6^ f^et thick. 

 The superstructure is of brick, except the corners and other exposed 

 parts, which are of stone. The piers are 6i feet thick, and arc about 

 20 feet high from the foundation to the springing line of the arch- 

 ways. The discharge is regulated by raising or lowering dashboards 

 by means of a winch carried on a car running along the top of the 

 structure. The basins filled by the canal are emptied at an escape 

 not far from Assiut. Until recentlv thev were drained bv simrjlv 

 making a cut in the basin dike, permitting the water to flow back into 

 the Nile. This was a very dangerous and destructive practice and has 

 been reformed by the installation of a masonry escape. 



In the province of Assiut two canals divert water from the left and 

 eight from the right bank of the river. On the left bank there are 

 also six laterals of the Ibraimia Canal. The Yusef Canal is now 

 supplied by the Ibraimia at the town of Dirut, 51 miles north of Assiut. 

 The Ibraimia Canal was never supplied with a head gate until recently, 

 when the construction of the Assiut dam made it necessary that the 

 discharge of the canal be controlled at Assiut, where inniiense masonry 



