158 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



for the passage of the extensive trade that goes upon and down the 

 river. 



"Now and then, in spite of the tremendous Abyssinian snow 

 mountains which help to swell the volume of the Nile, the overflow of 

 the great river fails, as happened last spring. 



"The earliest record of such a disappointment is 5,000 years old 

 and is engraved on the walls near tne cataract at Assouan. 



"Again in the time of Joseph, the overflow failed, as the Bible 

 records, and famine followed. This year, because of the engineering 

 already accomplished at Assiout and the strenuous exertions of their : 

 rigation department, the hitherto unavoidable sequel of the failure to 

 overflow famine was averted. 



' 'These two mammoth reservoirs each wi th its system of canals, 

 weirs and dams, represent only two-thirds of the great work whose 

 object is to fertilize Egypt. The remaining one- third is the Cairo 

 barrage, the pioneer of all Nile dams. 



"The barrage is more than a mile in length, a handsome paved 

 roadway with embattled walls. Sluices stem the current and hold up 

 at the proper season a wall of water from 20 to 30 feet high. The 

 manipulation of these sluices is so clever that a child, by moving a 

 lever, can regulate a mass of steel supporting the pressure of the Nile. 



"The idea of this barrage is due to Napoleon, who, during a visit 

 to Egypt in 1799, saw and pointed out that where the branches of the 

 Nile part to form the delta was the spot to erect a barrier which 

 should irrigate, by raising the level of the river, the low lands be- 

 tween its arms. 



"Since then one ruler after another has tried to carry out Na- 

 poleon's idea. The great structure, faultily built, was rapidly suffer- 

 ing ruin until in 1882 Lord Dufferin advised the work now being car- 

 ried out. 



"This dam does more to uphold Britain in Egypt than 10 regi- 

 ments of red-coated soldiers. 



"As it stands, the barrage is the most dignified, useful and pic- 

 turesque engineering work in the world. Every means is offered to 

 travelers io get an adequate view of this beautiful structure, with its 

 slim towers and embattled gates, spanning the historic Nile." 



