328 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



sure is expected to be greatest are lined with iron frames, the castings 

 of which have come from Glasgow and Ipswich. 



The height of the structure from low Nile level will be about 

 sixty feet, and the slope of the stonework on the down side will be 

 two yards in every three, in order to meet the enormous pressure of 

 the water. On the upper side it will be nearly perpendicular. You 

 can readily understand these precautions to secure strength, when 

 you hear that there will be times when the dam will be called upon to 

 withstand the tremendous pressure of a discharge of fifteen thousand 

 tons of water per second. Such an overwhelming avalanche would 

 sweep away like chaff an ordinary structure. The dam will control 

 the great river for one hundred and forty miles. 



At Assiut the giant regulating dam across the Nile approaches 

 completion, the foundation being practically all in position, leaving a 

 portion of the superstructure to be completed. The sluice openings 

 here number one hundred and nineteen, all sixteen feet wide. This 

 dam is somewhat similar in principle to the well-known barrage near 

 Cairo, but the details of construction are entirely different, as the 

 foundations are guarded against undermining by a complete line of 

 cast iron and steel piling above and below the work. The barrage 

 itself is constructed of high-class masonry, instead of brick- work as 

 at the old barrage. 



As a supplementary work to the reservoirs-dam is the new head- 

 work to the Ibramieh Canal, consisting of a regulation of sluices and 

 a lock. To permit of the commencement of this, a division channel 

 has had to be constructed for the Ibramieh Canal, where four to five 

 thousand men are engaged in cutting. The work here is now practi- 

 cally completed. 



The greatest source of delay with which we have to contend has 

 been the annual flood of the Nile. This suspends the work from three 

 to four months, during which everything is covered with watSr. As 

 this recedes repairs have to be done to any damage which may have 

 been effected; but with the exception of some of the rails being dis- 

 placed and a few timber balks being washed away, very little harm is 

 done, and that little is very speedily rectified, and the work renewed 

 with fresh vigor at the point where it had to be abandoned. 



Our army of employees, ranging from skilled engineers, whose 

 salaries run into thousands, down to the humble laborer who makes 

 four shillings per day, during their long stay have built up quite a 

 little city at Assouan. Every effort has been made to further their 

 comfort. Habitable barracks have been erected, and airy dwellings 

 built for the large staff. A hospital has been fitted up, attended to by 

 two doctors, with all the necessary assistants and appliances. In 

 works of this character accidents are occasionally unavoidable, and 



