ON DONKEYS TO THE ASSOUAN DAM 133 



" Presently we dropped down in the boats from 



Philae to the dam, and in the huge stretch of water 



Phiia and ^^T^^, lield up by a mile and a quarter of 



the dam masonry, there is surely one of the 

 finest places in the world for a sculling race. I 

 throw the hint out to whom it may concern. 

 Landed at the dam itself, one's first instinct was 

 to look at the other side, and truly the sight is 

 almost awe-inspiring. Of all the great works in 

 Egypt, past and present, this is the greatest and the 

 grandest. Rising 100 ft. in height, it is between 

 80 ft. and 90 ft. wide at the base, and no words can 

 express the hard, massive, everlasting stability 

 which seems to be its most obvious characteristic. 

 The granite from the neighbouring clifls and rocks 

 was there ready to the contractor's hands, and no 

 stone in the world could have been better. A 

 hundred and eighty sluice gates are available, but 

 at this period only a few are open, and as we passed 

 along the top on trolley-cars we had full oppor- 

 tunity of seeing how the whole current supply of 

 the Nile was being let through. Nothing more 

 magnificent than the surging, roaring, boiling 

 mass of water could be imagined. Perhaps some 

 day its driving powers will be harnessed to some 

 useful purpose. I am one of those who, without 

 being much of an Eg}^ptologist, do, nevertheless, 

 take a very deep interest in all I have seen in 



