17 



ally a piece of land was being- leveled; crude wooden scrapers drawn 

 b}^ oxen were alternately tilled from the hig-her places and emptied 

 into the depressions. Some farmers had tinished plowing and were 

 driving oxen attached to heav}^ framework drags to break the clods 

 and smooth the surface of the fields. 



The journey from Cairo to Assuan can be made either by rail or by 

 water. By rail one sees the canals and irrigated fields and the different 

 methods emplo3'ed in tilling the soil and cleaning water channels, B3' 

 boat the diversion works at the heads of canals, the water-raising- devices 

 and irrigation structures near the river can best be studied. The 

 journey by water has some advantages over the trip by rail. The 

 boats have regular stopping places, where the surrounding country can 

 be studied, and as the valley is in no place more than 9 miles wide, a 

 considerable portion of the farming land between the river and the 

 desert can be examined in a few hours. 



Leaving Cairo in the morning by rail, Assuan is reached the next 

 afternoon. The road runs south, on the west side of the river, parallel- 

 ing the Ibraimia Canal as far as Assiut; it continues then to Nagi 

 Hamadi, 373 miles from Cairo, where the river is crossed. The 

 southern terminus of the road is at Chellal, 6 miles south of Assuan. 

 Probably the most interesting part of the trip, to one making a stud}' 

 of irrigation and agi'iculture. is between Cairo and Assiut, a distance 

 of 240 miles. The broad Ibraimia Canal parallels the railroad for 

 some distance below Assiut. During the winter it is dry for a short 

 time, when the channel is hurriedly cleaned. Laborers carrying 

 baskets, which are filled by means of the hoe, swarm the Ijanks and 

 bottoms of the canal. The side slopes are formed accui-ately and 

 smoothed w4th that instrument in a wa}' seldom equaled in the United 

 States. There are no plow marks along the l)anks and runways for 

 teams are unnecessary, while the bare feet of the laborers tend to 

 smooth rather than scar the surface of the ground. The material to 

 be excavated has been cross-sectioned and each man or company of 

 men is required to remove a certain volume. (See PI. IIL) The 

 more industrious make the better wages. 



The regulating works at Dirut can best be examined by stopping at 

 the station for a few hours. These are representative of the l)est 

 regulators in Egypt. Two large and two small canals begin at this 

 place. The former are the Bahr Yusef and the Ibraimia canals, while 

 the latter are the Dalgawi and Dirutieh canals. Running direct from 

 the Nile and supplying water during the flood is the Saheliyeh Canal. 

 The masonry works run from the point where this canal enters the 

 channel above the regulators to the Ibraimia, thence to the Dirutieh, 

 thence to the Bahr Yusef, and end just beyond the point where the 

 Dalgawi Canal has its head. The works are substantially built and are 

 maintained in good condition. One man can operate the gates of any 

 277.52— No. 130—0.3 2 



