DISCOVERY 



321 



within a lo-mile course to the Sea of Galilee. At this 

 point it is certain that many hundreds of thousands of 

 horse-power can be generated. 



" The second power-house in the system would be 

 constructed at the outlet of the Sea of Galilee, where a 

 barrage can be thrown across the Jordan as it issues 

 from that huge basin. This would hold the waters of 

 that sea at least at high-water mark. Possibly it may 

 be found that the level could be brought two or three 

 feet higher without serious damage to the shore privi- 

 leges. Here again many hundred of thousands of 

 horse-power could be generated. 



" In the 60 miles (as the crow flies) from Galilee to 

 the Dead Sea the drop is about 600 feet. The waters 

 of the Jordan may well be diverted at this point from 

 the winding channel and carried down by canals on 

 either side of the valley at proper levels for irrigation 

 purposes. There is no richer or more neglected land in 

 the world than would thus be opened for cultivation. A 

 considerable body of this water must be carried 30, 

 40, or even 50 mUes for use in the lower valley and can 

 be used at every drop to generate more electricity. 



" Three considerable perennial streams flow into the 

 Jordan and the Dead Sea from the east below Galilee, 

 the Yarmuk (Hieromax), the Zerka (Jabbok), and the 

 Arnon. Here again large irrigation opportunities pre- 

 sent themselves and incidentally water-power privileges. 

 The first two of these and other smaller streams from 

 east and west should be led into the two canals carried 

 down the sides of the Jordan Ghor at high levels. 

 Possibly a total of a dozen barrages across the mouths 

 of wadies coming down into the valley could impound 

 all extra fresh waters and receive the spill-over from 

 the canals during the rainy season (November to AprO). 

 The plan would be to use up entirely the fresh water 

 of the Jordan system, so that eventually none of it 

 shall flow into the Dead Sea. By the power generated, 

 water could be pumped to reservoirs at high levels on 

 either side of the Jordan Valley, thus greatly extending 

 the irrigation of rich soils never yet brought under 

 continuous cultivation. 



" In all this we have only the ordinary scientific 

 handling of a river system for highest agricultural 

 and water-power purposes. But in discussing the 

 Jordan VaUey we have the absolutely unique situation 

 of a river rising but a little above sea level and spending 

 its complete course in descending (' Jordan ' means 

 ' the descender ') to the depth of 1,300 feet below the 

 sea level. At one point this strange depression ap- 

 proaches the inexhaustible reservoir of the Mediter- 

 ranean within 25 miles, five of which lead through the 

 rich alluvial plain of Acre to the foothills of Galilee, 

 leaving only 20 miles of tunnelling through soft lime- 

 stone to the Jordan watershed, whence the waters of 

 the Mediterranean can be carried down the 1,300-foot 



descent to the Dead Sea through a straightened 

 river-bed by a system of barrages by which to extract 

 from the descending mass of waters the last degree of 

 horse-power possible. 



" When, some years ago, the experiment was 

 broached of letting the Mediterranean waters into the 

 Jordan depression by a canal via the Kishon Valley and 

 filling up the whole valley of the Jordan and then cut- 

 ting through the intervening barrier from this inland sea 

 to the eastern upper prong of the Red Sea for ship 

 canal purposes, paralleling the Suez Canal, the whole 

 project, after careful investigation, was given up. The 

 engineers, granting that levels and cuttings were quite 

 practicable, brought in the verdict that, so great was 

 the evaporation in the deep Ghor of the Jordan Basin, 

 no plan could be devised that would let in water fast 

 enough to fill it up. This being the case it is clear 

 that the Mediterranean water can be thus turned into 

 this deep depression up to the limit of its evaporating 

 possibilities. This can only be determined by experi- 

 ment, but there cannot be any doubt that the amount 

 of electrical fluid thus to be generated would surpass 

 many times over the total capacity of the Niagara 

 tunnels." 



THE DROUGHT OF 1921 



" Considering the year as a whole, it is seen at once 

 that 1921 was, in certain areas, a year of unprecedent- 

 edly small rainfall. Sufficient data exist to construct 

 maps showing the percentage of the average rainfall 

 occurring in the British Isles in each year back to about 

 1850. Since then there is no doubt that the only years 

 which are in any way comparable with 1921 were 1854, 

 1864, 1870, and 1887. The last-mentioned was by 

 far the driest year hitherto known to have occurred 

 in the British Isles. The year 1858 was also dry, 

 especially in England and Wales, but not quite as dry 

 as any of the other years mentioned." 



Records of more than 75 years' duration indicate that 

 " for London 1921 was the driest year for at least 148 

 years, and as London was by no means the driest district 

 relative to the average, it may be justifiably inferred 

 that in 1921 a considerable part of the south-east of 

 England had the least rainfall for at least a century 

 and a half, and probably for a still longer period, 

 though complete statistical proof is wanting." — From 

 The Drought of 192 1. (From Quarterly Journal 0/ the 

 Royal Meteorological Society, vol. xlviii.) By C. E. P. 

 Brooks, M.Sc, and J. Glasspoole, B.Sc, A.I.C. 



THE PROVINCE OF DARFUR 



In The Geographical Journal (2s.) for November 

 an interesting account is given of the modern history 



