1895.] on The Nile. 415 



water at our disposal when we had profitably used all that 

 we already had, and while mighty volumes were daily flowing 

 out to the sea, it could not be said that we were doing that. The 

 first great work to be studied was the Barrage. We were warned on 

 all sides to have nothing to say to it, as it was thoroughly unsound ; 

 but we felt sure we must either make it sound or build an entirely 

 new one, and we resolved on the former. The work had failed 

 because it was faulty in design, the floorings and foundations not 

 being sufficiently massive, and faulty in execution from the dishonest 

 use of bad materials and from bad workmanship. The bed of the 

 river consists of nothing more stable than sand and alluvial mud for 

 at least 200 feet deep. It was out of the question to think of getting 

 down to solid rock. It was not, as we thought, very safe to excavate 

 very deeply close to the existing works, so we decided not to try it, 

 but merely to strengthen and consolidate the foundations, built as 

 they were on sand. I have said that the work consisted of two great 

 bridges over the two branches of the river. We could not shut up 

 either branch entirely ; but we decided to strengthen and complete 

 one-half of each bridge each season, which meant four seasons' work. 

 While the river was still in considerable flood each November, we 

 began to throw out great embankments of earth about 200 feet from 

 the bridge ; one up-stream, the other down-stream of it, beginning 

 at the short end, and ultimately enclosing one-half of the river as in 

 a pond. This used to take three months' hard work. Then we 

 pumped the water out of this enclosure, and laid bare the very bed 

 of the river. Then we laid a massive stone flooring, 5^ feet thick, 

 extending 100 feet up-stream, and as much down-stream, of the 

 bridge. This was very difficult and hard work. It was kept going 

 day and night, without intermission, from March till the end of June. 

 Then we cut great holes in our embankment, cleared out our 

 machinery, and prepared for the arrival of the flood at the beginning 

 of July. Each year one-half of one bridge was finished, and the 

 whole was completed at the end of June 1890. 



In connection with the Barrage were completed the three great 

 canals to carry off all the river supply from above it. So that 

 practically now the Low Nile is emptied every season at the Barrage 

 and diverted into these canals, and no water at all escapes to the sea. 

 The natives wade everywhere across the river north of this point. 

 Since it was completed, the Barrage has given no trouble. It holds 

 up every year 4 metres, or 13 feet of water. The three trunk canals 

 were all supplied with locks 160 feet by 28 feet, and adapted for 

 navigation. The whole of these works cost about 800,000/. The 

 annual increase of the cotton crop, compared to what it was before 

 1884, is never less than two and a-half millions sterling, which has 

 not been a bad investment for Egypt. 



Turning to Upper Egypt, my colleague, Colonel Ross, directed 

 his attention very closely to the adjustment of canals overlapping 

 one another, passing under and passing over one another ; so that in 



