COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 23 



how to bore wells, and the desert of Thebes, for instance, may be said 

 to be covered by them. The subterranean water which enters into 

 consideration is of a two-fold nature. It is found firstly in the sand 

 and gravel layer, and being connected with the river, its level rises and 

 falls with the latter ; the second kind is near the surface, and is the 

 water that has penetrated from the surface irrigation and from the 

 percolation from the canals. In places where the mud alluvium which 

 separates these two water layers is very thick and impenetrable, the 

 movement of these two kinds of water are independent of one 

 another. Along the extended course of the Nile enormous quantities 

 of water percolate into the depth and follow the underlying course of 

 sand and gravel along the line of inclination of the bedrock. The 

 Government willingly allows to make use for irrigation of this sub- 

 soil water which collects in large quantities, the only stipulation being 

 that the boring must not be nearer than 75 metres to the Nile or the 

 nearest canal. 



All these tube-wells are called, without distinction, " artesian 

 wells," although they are almost exclusively worked by means of 

 pumps, and only very seldom (as in the oasis of Chargeh) by the 

 water's own pressure. 



As far back as 1904 a number of European companies, for 

 instance, the Artesian Boring and Prospecting Company, the Swiss 

 Technical Bureau, and the Nile Delta Artesian Boring Company, 

 were engaged in the making of artesian wells, but experience has 

 shown that the boring of wells is not remunerative for Europeans, 

 as the necessary small capital outlay of ^200 to ;400 can easily be 

 obtained by the Arabs, and these perform the work cheaper. 



It is a different aspect when companies not only bore wells, but 

 also undertake the irrigation; for such purposes a larger capital is 

 required, and therefore this kind of enterprise has remained in the 

 hands of the foreigners. 



Such was the underlying idea of Arno Werther in Cairo, who 

 bought up the above three boring companies and floated under the 

 style of the Upper Egypt Artesian Boring Company, A. Weber and 

 Co. , a new company for carrying out the combined objects. 



The bore-wells on the estates of large landed proprietors having 

 shown excellent results for a number of years, the Upper Egypt 

 Boring Company, established by A. Werther, of Cairo, in 1909, with 

 a capital of ^250,000, mostly German, endeavoured to give the 

 small land holders the benefit of this system. The company supplies 

 the peasant by means of modern machines with the necessary water 

 for cultivation purposes, against rate of payment consisting of one- 

 third of the crop, but never less than 6TOO piastres, and the company's 

 claims are guaranteed by a mortgage on the crop and land. In 

 accordance with arrangements made with refineries, the work was 

 chiefly undertaken in the neighbourhood of these, where the 

 fellaheen had undertaken to grow sugar cane. The company does 

 not engage in the reclamation of sand deserts. 



The water-lift existing in the works of the company is 13 metres, 

 its charges are E3% for irrigating one feddan of cotton, ;E4 for 

 one feddan of sugar cane land. 



So far the development of the company has not fulfilled the 

 optimistic prophecies, and even a change in its management will 



