THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



73 



river. The widest point is located about 40 miles above 

 Cairo. At Assuan the valley is only i, few hundred 

 yards wide. There are three large dams on the Nile. 

 The one at the head of the delta is perhaps one of the 

 most striking in the world. The one at Assiut, 250 miles 

 above .Cairo, is of nearly the same design and will not 

 be discussed separately. The dam at Assuan, which 

 has just been completed, is of a new type. The ancient 

 system of irrigation in Egypt was perfected during the 

 12th dynasty, about 4,000 years ago. 



The delta is a network of canals and drains. The 

 water in the canals runs a few feet below the surface 

 of the ground and it is all lifted by devices which have 

 been invented by the natives. There are a number of 

 fine, large pumping plants in the delta, but a large part 

 of the water is still lifted by baskets swung by two 

 sturdy natives or by a cylinder furnished with a wooden 

 screw, turned by hand. As one ascends the river the 

 character of these devices change. The country in the 

 neighborhood of Cairo is full of interest to the traveler. 

 The great dam 12 miles" down stream is an object visited 

 by tourists who have but little interest in irrigation. 

 The valley is dotted with small villages, where the 



THE ROSETTA BANOP. 



From Mainland West of Nile Looking; East, Wooded Land in Distance 

 on Delta, Lock in Foregroudd. 



farmers who till the .surrounding lands live during high 

 water. The village of Taibia, to which I shall refer 

 later, is on the road from Cairo to the pyramids of 

 Gizeh, 7 miles away. 



The great dam at the delta was begun early in the 

 last century by the French. The khedive would not 

 consent to its construction until the engineer agreed 

 that a fort should be erected along the dam. There ar? 

 two branches of the dam, one across the Rosetta and one 

 across the Damietta arm of the Nile. Each dam con- 

 tains three forts, one at each extremity and one in the 

 center. Running north from the line of the dam in 

 the delta- is one of the largest canals in Egypt. The 

 head-works are of substantial masonry and the canal 

 furnishes water to practically all the land lying between 

 the arms of the river. 



As one crosses the river and reaches the farming 

 land, the natives' houses along the Nile may be examined. 

 Some of these people do not live in villages but reside 

 on their farms. As soon as one gets back into the dis- 

 tricts which are annually flooded, village life only is 



possible. The farmer labors in his fields almost in- 

 cessantly along these high lands. His only tool is a 

 kind of hoe having a handle but a little over two feet in 

 length. This compels him to assume an attitude whicti 

 alone would not be an inducement for a native of the 

 United States to become an Egyptian farmer. 



The flow of the Nile is nearly the same each year. 



LOADING COTTON OFPOS1E CAIRO. 



It is a much steadier stream than any of the large 

 rivers of the United States. The high water mark of 

 the Mississippi at St. Louis may be 250,000 cubic feet 

 per second or it may reach to nearly a million. The 

 Nile never exceeds 450,000 cubic feet per second and 

 seldom falls below 300,000 cubic feet per second during 

 the period of ilood. The river varies from 1,500 feet to 

 a mile in width. It has many -small channels and 

 numerous islands are found along its course. Some of 

 these islands are cultivated, while others are simply 

 sand bars. As one ascends tho 'Xile, boats may l>e 



PERSIAN WHEEL OR SAKIEYEH. 

 For Raising Water (or Irrigation. 



seen laden with cotton and other farm products. 

 Pleasure boats are ascending the river and farmers are 

 transporting straw, pottery, and other commodities from 

 upper Egvpt to Cairo and Alexandria. At a number of 

 points the Nile spreads out over a broad, sandy bed. 



