Romance of the Barrage 125 



most probably on a smaller scale. It is 

 quite true of Egypt to-day, as it was twenty- 

 five centuries since, that she owes every- 

 thing to that great river, perhaps the most 

 historic in the world. 



Those who have travelled through 

 Egypt, and particularly those who know 

 it intimately, are well aware of the 

 wonderful work which has been accom- 

 plished by British engineers in that 

 country. There are something like 

 14,000,000 of Egyptians living on the com- 

 paratively narrow margin of irrigated land 

 on either bank of the Nile. Go a little way 

 in either direction from the river, and the 

 desert is entered, yet that fringe of land 

 consists of some of the most fertile soil in 

 the whole world. Its fertility is entirely 

 due to the Nile, and particularly to modern 

 enterprise which has harnessed this great 

 river to serve the needs of man. 



There can be no question but that for 

 something like seven thousand years this 

 remarkable stretch of fertile country has 

 been irrigated by the Nile. A wonderful 



