1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



75 



an average of 1 1 ,000 men were employed 

 for more than three years, of whom 900 

 were Italian stone masons, and they laid 

 an average of 3 , ooo tons of masonry each 

 working day. 



It is intended to utilize the water of 

 the cataracts, now running entirely to 

 waste, in a great electric plant like that 

 at Niagara Falls, to supply heat, light, 

 and power to the towns on the upper 

 Nile, which will doubtless attract manu- 

 factories, for plenty of labor is to be 

 had ; but, of course, the greatest utility 

 of the dam is to extend the irrigation 

 system and bring under cultivation the 

 desert, which comes down to the river 

 on both sides. 



Now that the dam has been completed , 

 however, it will be necessary to construct 

 a system of canals and pumping appa- 

 ratus to convey the water where it is 

 needed. Messrs. Aird & Co. have a 

 contract for this work at a cost of 

 $10,000,000 on similar terms that is, 

 they are to be paid in installments as 

 rapidly as the contract is carried out, 

 and it is estimated that at least ten 

 years will be necessary for that purpose. 



Various enthusiastic estimates are 

 made as to the area of desert that can 

 be reclaimed and the revenues that will 

 be derived by the government and the 

 wealth that will be added to the nation, 

 but it will be many years before expec- 

 tations can be realized, and, so far as 

 the cotton problem is concerned, the 

 demand for the Egyptian staple will in- 

 crease more rapidly than the supply. 

 Egypt produces from 1,000,000 to 

 1,200,000 bales. As soon as the water 

 from the dam can be utilized the crop 

 will jump up perhaps 50,000 or per- 

 haps 100,000 bales, and gradually in- 

 crease until the total reaches 1,500,000 

 bales of 500 pounds each. There it 

 must stop for years until the irrigation 

 system is still further extended. 



A considerable portion of the land to 

 be improved belongs to private parties, 

 who, of course, will have to pay their 

 share of the cost of the improvements 

 indirectly, if not directly. The gov- 

 ernment has already sold a tract of 

 160,000 acres to a syndicate, which will 

 build an irrigation system to bring it 

 under cultivation and sell it for an ad- 



vance. Most of the government land is 

 sold at auction. A bureau under the 

 minister of finance has charge of such 

 affairs, and when a man wants to buy a 

 tract of land he enters an application 

 there for it. This fact is advertised in 

 the official newspapers, and bids for the 

 same piece of property are invited from 

 other people. The applicant may be 

 the only bidder. In most cases he is, 

 but the fact that there can be competi- 

 tion is a protection against speculators, 

 and nobody can obtain a large tract 

 without exciting attention and compe- 

 tition. 



During the last year 6,594 acres were 

 sold in 161 transactions. The largest 

 lot was 1,200 acres. The remainder 

 averaged less than 30 acres. The un- 

 sold available government land now 

 amounts to 158,464 acres, and is valued 

 at $16,655,000, which indicates the ex- 

 traordinary effect of the introduction of 

 irrigation. The proceeds of the 6,594 

 acres sold during the year 1902 amounted 

 to $1,116,000, which is an average of 

 $175 an acre. 



Poor men who want to buy land can 

 borrow money for that purpose from the 

 National Bank of Egypt at a low rate of 

 interest upon a government guarantee. 

 This benevolent feature of a paternal 

 government has done a great deal of 

 good, although it was adopted only three 

 years ago, in October, 1900. More than 

 34,000 fellaheens, as the peasant farmers 

 are called, have taken advantage of it 

 and have borrowed more than $2, ooo, ooo 

 at 3 per cent interest. The bank makes 

 the advances, but the government, 

 through the agency of its tax gatherers, 

 collects the interest and principal when 

 due at the same time as a part of the 

 land tax. Thus the bank, being re- 

 lieved of the necessity of maintaining 

 an expensive staff of subordinates, is 

 able to advance small sums at a rela- 

 tively low rate of interest. The insig- 

 nificant amount loaned to each enables 

 it to distribute a comparatively small 

 sum among a great many people. More 

 than one-half of the loans thus far made 

 have been for less than $150, and most 

 of them were payable in five years. 



The Bank of Egypt having declined 

 to invest more than the $2,000,000 al- 



