190 Sir Benjamin Baker [June 6, 



for the Ibrahimiyali Canal, with nine arches and sluices, to control 

 the high floods and prevent damage to the canal and the works 

 connected therewith. 



Aswan. 



Asyiit, as already observed, is about 250 miles above Cairo. The 

 great dam at Aswan is 600 miles above the same point. Between 

 Asyut and Aswan the remains of many temples exist, of far greater 

 interest and importance than those at Philae. The latter ruins, how- 

 ever, have attracted more attention in recent days, because, being 

 situated immediately above the Dam, the filling of the Reservoir will 

 partially flood Philae Island during the tourist season. 



It would be idle to speculate as to who first thought of construct- 

 ing a reservoir in the Nile valley, or who first arrived at the con- 

 clusion that the site of the present Dam above Aswan was the best 

 one. Mr. Willcocks, one of the ablest engineers of the Public Works 

 Department of Egyj^t, who was instructed by Sir William Garstin to 

 survey various suggested sites for a dam between Cairo and Wady 

 Haifa, unhesitatingly decided that the Aswan site was the best, and 

 the majority of the International Committee, who visited the sites in 

 1894, came to the same conclusion. This conclusion had, however, 

 been anticipated by Sir Samuel Baker more than forty years ago, 

 from mere inspection of the site without surveys. In suggesting a 

 series of dams across the Nile to form reservoirs from Khartoum 

 downwards, he wrote : " The great work might be commenced by a 

 single dam above the first cataract at Aswan, at a spot where the 

 river is walled in by granite hills. By raising the level of the Nile 

 60 ft., obstructions would be buried in the depths of the river, and 

 sluice-gates and canals would conduct the shipping up and down 

 stream." This siugle dam, proposed by Sir Samuel Baker forty years 

 ago, is in effect the one which is now on the point of completion. 

 Mr. AVillcocks' original design consisted practically of a group of 

 independent dams, curved on plan, and the arrangement of sluices 

 and dimensions of the dam differed considerably from those of the 

 executed work. There is no doubt that the single dam, 1^ miles in 

 length, constitutes a more imposing monumental work than a series 

 of detached dams, and that it also offered greater facilities to a con- 

 tractor for the organisation of his work and rapid construction ; and, 

 further, the straight dam is bettor able to resist temperature stresses 

 from extreme heat without cracking. Two dams across the Nile, the 

 old l)arrage and the Asyut Barrage, have already been described ; 

 and it will be hardly necessary to say, therefore, that the Aswan 

 Dam is not a solid wall, but is pierced with sluice openings of 

 sufficient area for the flood discharge of the river, which may amount 

 to 15,000 tous of water per second. There are 180 such openings, 

 mostly 23 ft. high by 6 ft. 6 in. wide; and where subject to heavy 

 pressure, when being moved, they are of the well-known Stoney 

 roller pattern. 



