52 Beport of the Billiarzia Mission in Egypt, 1915 



history the Nile at these times inundated the whole of the valley. 

 As the population increased, huge dykes were built parallel to 

 the banks of the Nile, and from these other dykes were made 

 stretching from the river to the hills to form large compartments 

 or basins. During the flood the turbid waters of the river were 

 led into these basins by artificial canals, and allowed to saturate 

 the soil thoroughly and to deposit their rich mud on the surface. 

 When each basin was properly irrigated, the water was allowed to 

 pass on into other basins at a lower level, and eventually to return 

 into the Nile when the flood had sufficiently receded to allow this. 



According to Willcocks and Craig, this system of " basin " 

 irrigation was in operation over the whole country through the 

 times of the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, and Romans, down to the Arab 

 Conquest in the seventh century. Between 700 a.d. and 1800 a.d. 

 the dj'kes were uncared for and irrigation was abandoned over the 

 greater part of the delta. The population gradually dwindled 

 from 12,000,000 to 2,000,000. In 1821 Mohamed Ali changed the 

 whole system by excavating a number of deep canals capable of 

 drawing off the waters of the Nile at low level during the summer. 

 This allowed of the cultivation of a summer crop and thus brought 

 about the introduction of cotton upon a large scale. An area of 

 over 3,100,000 acres is now perennially irrigated in Lower Egypt. 

 In 1874, a quarter of a million acres in Upper Egypt and the whole 

 of the Fayum were similarly converted from basin to perennial 

 irrigation. The completion of the Assiut and Assouan barrages 

 have been steps in the conversion of further large areas. At the 

 present day the whole of Lower Egypt under cultivation is 

 irrigated from canals which run throughout the whole year, while 

 in Upper Egypt 964,000 acres are now also perennially irrigated, 

 while 1,287,000 acres still receive their waters in basins through 

 canals running only in flood. During a low flood the amount of 

 water available is not sufficient to keep the whole area under 

 cultivation. Those lands thus thrown out of cultivation are termed 

 " Charaki " and are exempted from taxation (p. 53). With the 

 extension of perennial irrigation the amount of " Charaki " is being 

 continually diminished. 



The extension of perennial irrigation has resulted in a marked 

 increase in the prosperity of the people. The population has again 

 risen to over 12 millions. At the same time, perennial irrigation 

 appears to have encouraged the spread of bilharziosis. The disease 

 is much more common at the present day in the Delta and in the 

 Fayum than in those parts of Upper Egypt still supplied only with 



