THE HISTORY OF IRRIGATION. 



1 2th dynasty, 2084 B.C. In the 20th dynasty Seti 

 was the ruling monarch, and is believed to have been 

 the first man who acquired the knowledge of civil 

 engineering and applied his learning particularly to 

 hydraulics, for he introduced irrigation in the valley 

 of the Nile by means of systemic engineering. He 

 built a great reservoir in a natural catchment basin 

 and construdled canals in one vast system. Seti was 

 no doubt the first 

 person to sink an 

 artesian well, for 

 the Greek histori- 

 ans speak of this 

 as ' ' the well from 

 which water flowed 

 over the top." He 

 used the well in 

 supplying water to 

 the great temple of 

 Karnak. Sesostris, fig. i — irrigation 5,000 years ago. 

 one of the most il- 

 lustrious kings of antiquity, who reigned in Egypt 1491 

 B.C., had a great number of canals cut for the purpose 

 of trade and irrigation, and is said to have designed 

 the first canal which established communication be- 

 tween the Mediterranean and Red seas. The oldest 

 monument at Thebes has a representation of a naked 

 fellah under a dom palm tree drawing water from the 

 Nile with a well-sweep or shadoof, a reprodudlion of 

 which is shown in Fig. i, and the fellah of to-day 

 does it the same way, except that two or more usually 

 work together on a large turn beam. 



