596 DIVERSION OF THE NILE. 



diverted from their natural outlet and sent down to the Caspian, 

 the equilibrium between the evaporation from that sea and its 

 supply of water might be restored, or its level even raised above 

 its ancient limits. If the Yolga were turned into the Sea of 

 Azoff, the Caspian would be reduced in dimensions until the bal- 

 ance between loss and gain should be re-established, and it would 

 occupy a much smaller area than at present. Such changes in 

 the proportion of soKd and fluid surface would have some chmatic 

 effects in the territory which drains into the Caspian, and on the 

 other hand, the introduction of a greater quantity of fresh water 

 into the Sea of Azoff would render that gulf less sahne, affect the 

 character and numbers of its fish, and perhaps be not wholly with- 

 out sensible influence on the water of the Black Sea.* 



Perhaps the most remarkable project of great physical change, 

 proposed or threatened iu earher ages, is that of the diversion of 

 the Nile from its natural channel, and the turning of its current 

 into either the Libyan Desert or the Red Sea. The Ethiopian 

 or Abyssinian princes more than once menaced the Memlouk 

 sultans with the execution of this alarming project, and the fear 

 of so serious an evil is said to have induced the Moslems to con- 

 ciliate the Abyssinian kings by large presents, and by some con- 

 cessions to the oppressed Christians of Egypt. Indeed, Arabian 

 historians affirm that in the tenth century the Ethiopians dammed 

 the river, and, for a whole year, cut off its waters from Egypt.f 



* Mr. Spalding, an eminent American engineer, has recently submitted to 

 the Russian Government a detailed plan for opening a navigable canal, by a 

 new route, between the Black Sea and the Caspian. It is proposed that this 

 canal should be deep enough for vessels of any draught, and wide enough for 

 vessels of any width to pass each other in safety, and it is supposed that, owing 

 to the difference in level between these two seas, the area of the Caspian would 

 be extended by nearly one-half. This, it is suggested, would increase the rain- 

 fall in that region which now suffers so much from drought, would tend to 

 mitigate the severity of the winters, and eventually restore to fertility vast 

 tracts already relapsed or fast relapsing into barren deserts. The facilities 

 which such a " New Mediterranean" would offer to commerce are too evident 

 to require exposition, but the material diflSculties of such a work seem almost 

 too great to be overcome even in imagination. 



f "Some haue writte, that by certain kings inhabiting aboue, the Mlus 

 should there be stopped ; & at a time preflxt, let loose vpon a certaine tribute 

 payd them by the Aegyptians. The error springing perhaps fro a truth (as 

 all wandring reports for the most part doe) in that the Sultan doth pay a 



