EGYPT. 



281 



was fortunate that tin- Klu-divo this year re- 

 mained in Egypt during the sumim-r. Tho 

 danger was seen, nnd the Khedive immediate- 

 ly undertook the responsibility and directed 

 the- works. Every available boat and steamer 

 was at <>i!<v piwscd into service on the 

 Nile ; 200,000 kantars of stones were or- 

 dered t> In- quarried forthwith ami sent to va- 

 rious places; while tho railway and other 

 boats brought polea and timber from Alex- 

 andria, The om'cers of tho army, mounted, 

 kept guard on tho banks night and day, in ad- 

 dition to tin- ordinary watchmen at every 

 hundred yards; and it may safely be stated 

 that eight-tenths of the whole male population 

 of Egypt have been employed for three months 

 watching and strengthening the banks of the 

 Nile, which had been raised in many places 

 from six feet to ten feet, and proportionately 

 thickened and strengthened with the poles at 

 the bends of the river, where the momentum 

 was great, by stones being thrown in, and by 

 being faced with stones where they exhibited 

 any signs of weakness. Boats and large barges 

 were kept ready tilled with stones for instant 

 About noon one day the Nile was seen 

 to have worked its way through the base of 

 the bank probably followed the tree-roots 

 which were growing there; in one minute 

 5,000 men were on the spot, like wasps, basket- 

 ing earth, and in five minutes ten boatloads of 

 stones were alongside, and in two hours all 

 danger was over. Had the water found its 

 way through in the middle of the night instead 

 of the middle of the day, and a breach been 

 made, no human power could have saved the 

 district between there and the sea, with the 

 Nile 12 feet, 15 feet, and in some places 20 

 feet, above the adjacent ground, and with a 

 force or fluid pressure of 100 pounds per square 

 foot at the surface of the river. When all 

 danger was over, the attention to the banks 

 was not withdrawn for ten or fifteen days, as 

 they were highly saturated, and had been sub- 

 ject to the force and saturation of the current 

 of a full Nile for forty days. The Nile of 1868 

 attained its maximum height of 19 feet on the 

 28th of August ; 1869, 29 feet 2| inches, 14th 

 of October ; 1870, 25 feet 6 inches, 14th of Oc- 

 tober; 1871, 23 feet 9 inches, 28th of Septem- 

 ber; 1872, 25 feet 4 inches, 22d of October; 



1873, 19 feet 9 inches, llth of September; 



1874, 29 feet, 7th of October. 



In August, great consternation arose through- 

 out Egypt in consequence of plague having 

 broken out at Leet, and other places near Jed- 

 tlah, brought on, as was reported, by water 

 used for domestic purposes being allowed to 

 filter through an old burial-ground. Quaran- 

 tine of twenty-one days was imposed at 

 Suez npon all vessels touching at any of the 

 Arabian ports, including Aden and also El 

 Wedgi, where vessels were sent instead of being 

 allowed to remain out their time at Suez, and 

 whither a considerable quarantine force was 

 dispatched. Orders were issued forbidding 



any ships belonging to tho Egyptian Govern- 

 ment to call at Jeddtth, or any of the neighbor- 

 ing ports, and trade between them and ports 

 on the Egyptian side was temporarily Mi8|>t-nd- 

 ed. Thanks to the stringent mcahurcs promptly 

 taken by the Egyptian Government, this threat- 

 ening danger was averted. 



At the beginning of December two expedi- 

 tions, each consisting of eight European and 

 twelve Egyptian om'cers and sixty-three sol- 

 diers, were sent out by the Government to the 

 Soudan. They were instructed to explore the 

 country between the Nile and Kordofan and 

 Darfour, and the country south of the equator 

 and west of the Albert N'yanza. 



On December 8th, the European residents 

 of Alexandria sent a delegation to Cairo to 

 present to the Khedive an address, in which ho 

 was thanked for having averted the overflowing 

 of the Nile and thus prevented a terrible mis- 

 fortune. In remembrance of this important 

 event the Europeans of Alexandria were de- 

 sirous to erect a monument to the Khedive, 

 and had already collected for the purpose 

 13,000. In his reply to the address the 

 Khedive referred to the war against Darfour, 

 which country, containing a population of 

 about 5,000,000, had now been incorporated 

 with Egypt, and would, within five or six 

 years, be connected with Egypt by a railroad. 

 He declined the erection of a monument, but 

 preferred to devote the moneys raised for the 

 monument to the establishment of a school 

 open to all creeds and nationalities. 



The long preparations for the establishment 

 of new international tribunals were not yet 

 quite finished at the close of the year 1874. 

 The new courts will be presided over by for- 

 eigners, and foreigners will constitute a ma- 

 jority of tho judges, numbering four out of 

 seven in the Court of Original Jurisdiction, and 

 five out of eight in the Appellate Court. The 

 judges will be irremovable, and will be chosen 

 by the European Governments, unless the lat- 

 ter remit the appointment to the Egyptian 

 Government. These tribunals will decide all 

 cases in which one or both parties are foreign- 

 ers. International will thus be substituted for 

 consular jurisdiction. As to penal proceed- 

 ings, France has insisted on the privileges con- 

 ferred by treaties, and has simply agreed to 

 modify their application. All crimes, except 

 those directed against the tribunals themselves 

 or connected with the execution of their sen- 

 tences, will continue under the jurisdiction of 

 their respective consuls. The new tribunals 

 will have authority to issue declarations of 

 bankruptcy, but these will not affect the civil 

 status of the bankrupts like declarations issued 

 in their own country. 



Nubar Pasha in March notified the foreign 

 consuls that, in consequence of the completion 

 of the breakwater outside of Alexandria harbor, 

 dues at the rate of fourpence per Turkish ton 

 will he levied on all vessels with cargoes 

 entering or leaving tho port of Alexandria 



