June i8, 1891] 



NATURE 



153 



cultivators. Colonel Ross, Inspector-General of Irriga- 

 tion, has studied this subject most closely. Even in 

 these deficient years there was water enough in the river 

 if it could only be got on to the land. He has proved 

 that, by a judicious system of canals, sluices, siphons, 

 escapes, weirs, &c., it may be arranged that, even in the 

 worst years, the whole Nile valley shall receive its share 

 of mud-charged water. This involves the construction of 

 no great work like the Barrage (the most expensive does 

 not exceed ^^45,000), but of a great number of works 

 costing from ^5000 to j^i 5,000 each, requiring very care- 

 ful designing, and built often in remote spots, where 

 construction of any kind is difficult. 



These works have been going on now for more than a 

 year. When finished, as I hope they will be in 1893, 

 ihe whole outlay will be about ^600,000. And then, I 

 trust, the lands of Upper Egypt will yield their full crop, 

 however defective may be the Nile flood. 



14. Agricultural Roads.— Y\{\}a\.y. A minor subject, 

 and yet one of great value to the country, deserves notice 

 here — namely, the introduction of agricultural roads. 

 This reform is due to Riaz Pasha. Until two years ago. 

 it would have been impossible to take a cart-load of 

 agricultural produce from any one centre of population 

 to another in the Delta. Comparatively few of the canals 

 were adapted for boats, and the one means of transport- 

 ing cotton to the railway stations or to the river was by 

 camels, which, however well adapted for carrying burdens 

 on the firm sand of the desert, are not suitable for the 

 rich alluvial soil and the sloppy fields of the Nile valley. 

 This is all being changed. The people have willingly 

 accepted a tax never exceeding P.E. 4 or 5 per feddan for 

 one year only, and, with the fund thus raised, a whole 

 network of serviceable roads is being formed sufficiently 

 adapted for this dry climate. 



15. Corvee Abolition. — The above paragraphs describe 

 generally the improvements that have been brought about 

 in the last seven years. Second to none is the boon that 

 has been conferred on Egypt in the abolition of the 

 corvee. Previous to 1885, the whole of the earth-work 

 in the clearance and repairs of canals and embankments 

 was effected by the forced, unpaid, unfed labour of the 

 peasantry. In 1884 this labour amounted to 85,000 men 

 working for 160 days. We were told that this was quite 

 a necessary state of things, that it would be impossible 

 to maintain the irrigation-works otherwise, and that the 

 Egyptian peasant, unlike that of any other country, would 

 not work for wages, and must be forced. We estimated 

 that to redeem this corvee and to pay for all this labour 

 would cost ^400,000. Nubar Pasha, in the face of the 

 greatest financial difficulty and opposition, managed to 

 give an annual grant of ^250,000 for this object. Riaz 

 Pasha, at the end of 1889, found means of granting the 

 remaining ^150,000, and in 1890, for the first time per- 

 haps in all history, there was no corvee in Egypt. 



16. Canal Legislation. — When we began work here, 

 we were much hampered by the want of any canal legis- 

 lation, there being no law corresponding to what is found 

 in India, Italy, and elsewhere, treating of the many con- 

 ilicting questions connected with irrigation. After three 

 years' discussion, a very useful Canal Act now exists, and 

 the only misfortune is that it is not binding on residents 

 of foreign nationality. 



17. Storage of Nile Water.— Lzst\y, as regards our 

 programme for the future, there is abundance to do in 

 carrying out, year by year, solid unpretending reforms ; 

 but, besides these, a very large question is coming to the 

 front. The restoration of the Barrage placed at our dis- 

 posal all the water of low Nile, but the increase in the 

 area irrigated outruns the increase in the water available, 

 and we have to look for means of storing the surplus 

 volume of the flood, and utilizing it when the river is low. 



There are two ways in which this may probably be 

 done. The first, which is connected with the name of an 



NO. I I 29, VOL. 44] 



ingenious American gentleman, Mr. Cope Whitehouse, 

 is to divert a portion of the flood into a great natural 

 depression existing west of the Nile valley, and there to 

 form a storage reservoir, to be drawn upon as the water 

 in the river decreases. This has been examined and 

 found feasible, but the expense, probably i| millions ster- 

 ling, is against it. The alternative project is to pond up 

 water in the valley of the river itself above Assouan. 

 This project is being studied at present. There can be 

 hardly any further extension of the cotton cultivation if 

 one or the other of these schemes is not executed. There 

 is room enough in the country to employ both. 



Colin Scott Moncrieff, 

 Under-Secretary of State, Public Works 

 Department. 

 Cairo, March 5, 1891. 



THE SECOND ORNITHOLOGICAL CONGRESS. 



A FULL report of the proceedings of this important 

 ■^*- Congress can only be obtained when the official 

 Comptes rendus are published, for the officers of one sec- 

 tion were unable to attend the meetings of the other 

 sections owing to the fact that all four sections sat at one 

 and the same time. This is the only complaint we have 

 to make concerning the recent proceedings, but as it affects 

 the future of these useful reunions, we feel compelled to 

 make our protest, because, by the simultaneous session of all 

 the sections of a Congress, no man, however interested in 

 the subjects under discussion, can hear all that he 

 wishes to hear ; the visitor has to choose between two 

 meetings, both of which probably possess for him an 

 equal interest. It must be obvious to everyone who had 

 the privilege of attending the second Ornithological Con- 

 gress that a great gathering of specialists such as that 

 which took place last month must require more time than 

 three days to discuss such varied problems as were placed 

 before them at the recent meeting. 



The city of Budapest was happily chosen as the 

 meeting-place of the Congress, and it may well be ques- 

 tioned whether there is any country in the world that 

 could have offered so many attractions to the ornithologist 

 as Hungary. The hospitality of the Hungarians is pro- 

 verbial, the accommodation in the beautiful capital is 

 unlimited, and access thereto is easy. After an enjoyable 

 trip down the Danube from Vienna, the travellers found 

 themselves at the opening conversazione of the Congress, 

 which was celebrated in the Grand Hotel " Hungaria." 

 Here the Hungarian Committee had assembled with all 

 the members of the Congress to welcome the guests, and 

 the inaugural banquet served as a pleasant medium for 

 the introduction of the strangers. On May 17 the first 

 general meeting of the Congress took place in the 

 sumptuous theatre of the Hungarian National Museum. 

 After some words of welcome from the Burgomaster of 

 Budapest, the officers for the Congress were chosen as 

 follows : — Honorary Presidents : Count Bethlen, Minister 

 of Agriculture ; Count A. Csdky, Minister of Public In- 

 struction ; Mr. B. Kdllay, Minister of Finance. Presidents : 

 Prof. Victor Fatio (Geneva) and Mr. Otto Herman, M.P. 

 Vice-Presidents : Dr. Rudolph Blasius (Brunswick), Prof. 

 S. Brusina (Agram), Prof. R. Collett (Christiania), Mr. J. 

 de Csatd (Budapest), Dr. Otto Finsch (Bremen), Major 

 Alex, von Homeyer (Greifswald), Dr. A. B. Meyer 

 (Dresden), Dr. E. von Middendorf (Livonia), Dr. Emil 

 Oustalet (Paris), Dr. Bowdler Sharpe (British Museum), 

 Mr. E. von Szalay (Budapest), Victor Ritter Tschusi von 

 Schmidhoffen (Hallein). General Secretary : Dr. G. von 

 Horvdth. Secretaries: Mr. E. Chernel von Chernel- 

 h.4za. Dr. A. Lendl, Dr. L, Lorenz von Liburnau, 

 Dr. A. Lovassy, Dr. J. von Madardsz, Mr. O. Reiser, 

 Prof. G. Szikla. Hon. Secretaries : Mr. E. de Gadl, Mr. 

 B. de Lipthay, Mr. J. d'Ottlik. Qu^stor: Mr. J. von 



