40 



after being- deposited. After a day or .so in the sun these become dry 

 and hard and are of no value in the bank of the ditch. On an averasre 

 one man can excavate about 3 cubic yards of earth a da}^ if the lift be 

 not too great. For this service he is paid about 15 cents, which admits 

 of the cleaning of a canal at the rate of 5 cents per cubic yard. This 

 is the cheapest method of performing the work under Egyptian con- 

 ditions. It costs about 15 cents per cubic yard to clean a canal with a 

 steam dredge, owing to the higher price of labor necessary to run the 

 machine and to the cost of coal. The large canals are usually cleaned 

 after the water has been drained out and they have dried. When it is 

 impossible to drain them completely the unpleasant features of the 

 work are greatl}^ increased. 



WATER-RAISING DEVICES. 



As has been before stated, most of the water for irrigation, except 

 in that portion of Egypt which still retains the ancient basin system, 

 flows below the level of the land to be irrigated, the necessary lift 

 varying with the stage of the river. The native machinery for lifting 

 water has been designed to work regardless of this fluctuation. AVhile 

 none of this machiner}- is efficient, it serves for the irrigation of a large 

 area. The .shaduf and the .sakij-eh are used when the fluctuation is 

 great or where the lift is over 5 or 6 feet. Both are of ancient origin. 

 They can be applied to almost an}- lift, are easy to construct, and do 

 not require many repairs. 



But little is known regarding the lifting machines used by the ancient 

 Egyptians. Probably the first devices invented bv them were nmch 

 more primitive and not as efficient as those used to-daj. Man}' of 

 these machines have become obsolete because it was found that they 

 did not have as wide a range of application as have the devices now 

 generally employed. It may be that the scarcity of the material from 

 which the lifting devices were built has largely afi'ected the change in 

 design. 



THE SHADUF. 



The shaduf consists essentially of two vertical supports about 5 

 feet apart connected by a horizontal crosspiece some 5 feet from the 

 ground, a pole hung on this crosspiece like a well sweep^ and a bucket 

 su.spended from this pole. In many places the uprights supporting 

 the crosspiece are made of small .sheaves of corn.stalks stiffened with a 

 coat of Nile mud. Sometimes the mud is used alone. The pole is hung 

 6 inches beneath this cros.spiece, as shown in PI. XII. This pole is 

 not balanced, but is supplied with a counterweight on the shorter end, 

 which extends away from the water. Su.spended from the other end 

 is a long pole to which a bucket is attached. This bucket is usually 

 made of leather stiffened near the top by a wooden hoop. Its capacity 



