58 THE 1RR1GA T10N AGE. 



of the Nile above Cairo by scientists and explorers, the conclusion has 

 been reached by many that the six cataracts from Ossouan to near 

 Khartoum, in the river Nile, were not, as has been supposed for ages, 

 the work of nature, but of ancient and scientific engineering for the 

 purpose of both irrigation and navigation, engineering at once bold in 

 its conception and colossal in its execution. That it had also been 

 most successful in its results was evinent from the remains of irriga- 

 tion canals still stretching over many degrees of longitude on both 

 sides of the river, as well as by the ancient records of nourishing cities 

 located where now only barren wastes are found inhabited by roving 

 tribes of Arabs. These canals and these ruins are by no means con- 

 fined to the valley of the Nile proper, but they reach to the very con- 

 fines of the great desert. Gordon speaks of them as pervading the 

 whole Soudan, as well as what is now desert on the northern side of 

 the Nile; from the Mediterranean to the latitude fifteen degrees north, 

 if not further, aud many degrees of longitude west as well as east of 

 the Nile proper. Scientists were led to this belief that the cataracts 

 were not the works of nature, from the fact that they were nearly equi- 

 distant from each other along the course of the river. The total dis- 

 tance from the first cataract at Assouan to Khartoum is 720 miles. The 

 division of this space by six the number of cataracts will give 120 

 miles between each, which is the almost exact distance between the 

 two cataracts. Also the fall of the river, being eight inches to the 

 mile, would give a needed height to each dam of 80 feet. Exactly, in 

 short, the calculation which would now be made by any irrigation en- 

 gineer, Last, but not least, the great square granite blocks, stretch- 

 ing out for over 2,000 yards across the river, are still visible at low 

 Nile. These blocks are composed of a formation that can not be found 

 at any part of the Nile except at the cataracts or rapids. From these 

 facts modern scientists and engineers have come to the conclusion that 

 the cataracts or rapids were not the works of nature, but were enor- 

 mous dams constructed by man, and for the purposes above described. 

 But the proof of the dams having existed where the cataracts or rap- 

 ids now are does not rest simply on the inference of experts upon the 

 appearance of the river and its cataracts. Qhite recently there have 

 been found ancient writings that speak of this fact. And among the 

 various inscriptions found is one at Sikilis to the effect that the Nile 

 watered vast regions above Semnah, but that the rock gave way, and 

 that ever after the river ceased to water the region above. Truly the 

 land of the Pharaohs was watered by the artificial application of 

 water. 



It is not our intention in this article to go into the history in de- 

 tail of the art of irrigation, in all the various ancient countries of the 

 world, and only so far as it is necessary to show that the art was 



