May 24, 1894] 



NA TURE 



81 



The water requirement, then, is 3,661,000,000 cubic 

 metres. We have already seen that 65,000,000,000 reach 

 the sea each year. But it is not enough to know this 

 yearly amount, we require to know the amount available 

 after the flood each year. Taking the worst, Mr. 

 Willcocks shows that the quantity available for storage 

 in November, December, and January amounts to 

 6,100,000,000 cubic metres, practically twice the quantity 

 wanted. 



Next the water has to be stored above the place where 

 it is wanted. .Since the southern boundary of Egypt is 

 below the second cataract that is out of the question ; the 

 only three possible sites for the dam are at Kalabsheh, 

 Assuan, and Silsila. And now a very important question 

 comes in : the slope of the Nile, except at the cataracts, is 

 so gradual that holding up water to any height by a dam 

 will flood a long reach of the river valley up stream of 

 the dam. The dam must be high to store a sufficient 

 amount of water, and naturally the higher the dam the 

 longer will be the flooded region. Thus a dam at 

 Silsila submerges the whole valley to the first cataract 

 including the town of .Assuiin. A dam at Assuan 

 floods the valley up to Korosko (199 kilometres) ; a dam 

 at Kalabsheh floods the valley still further south. 



It is to be gathered from Mr. Willcocks' report, and Mr. 

 Garstin's (the Under-Secretary) note upon it, and the 

 recommendation of the Technical Commission, the 

 English and Italian members of which were Sir B. 

 Baker and Signor Torricelli, that the .Assuan site is the 

 best. The foundations of the dam can be built in the dry 

 and on hard igneous rock. The estimated cost of the 

 dam is a little over ^1,600,000. 



The proposed dam is thus described by Mr. Willcocks : 

 " The design for the work consists of a solid unsubmerg- 

 ible dam pierced with 100 undersluices 10 m. x 2 m., and 

 constructed on solid rock. The piers between the 

 undersluices are 3 metres wide, and every set of ten sluices 

 is separated from the next by abutment piers 10 metres 

 in width." The undersluices are regulated by Stoney's 

 patent balanced roller gates. 



The dam will be worked as follows : During the flood 

 ill the sluices will be open, and the flood waters, with all 

 their contained fertilising mud, will be discharged through 

 the undersluices. When the flood has passed, and the 

 comparatively clear water supply has begun to flow, the 

 lower undersluices will be gradually closed so that the 

 water will begin to rise and flow through the higher 

 sluices. When the water has risen to a height 3 or 

 4 metres above the floors of the higher sluices, or 10 

 or 1 1 above the floors of the lower ones, the latter will be 

 entirely closed, and the river will discharge through 

 the upper sluices, which will be gradually closed until the 

 water gains its full level. 



When the reservoir is emptied the reverse process will 

 be followed ; the higher sluices will be opened first, and 

 then the lower ones, until the tirhe is reached when the 

 next annual flood is due. 



It is next of importance to see how this stupendous 

 scheme bears upon Egypt financially. It is pointed out 

 that the value of the reclaimed lands may be estimated 

 roughly at ^46,000,000, the increase in the value of 

 yearly rental at ^3,700,000, and of the yearly produce 

 ^12,000,000. 



It will be perfectly clear that if only half of these values 

 are realised the scheme will work wonders for the pros- 

 perity of Egypt, and that it would be a crime not to go 

 on with it. 



Rests then the great drawback, that wherever the dam 

 is erected a portion of the upstream valley will be 

 swamped. All the world has heard of the possible drown- 

 ing of Philoe provided the dam be built at Assuan. Hut 

 this cry could scarcely have been started by archaeologists, 

 for as a matter of fact Phite is only one temple site out 

 pf very many lying between Assuan and Korosko. Since 



NO, 1282, VOL. 



5°] 



none of them have been completely explored, it is hazard- 

 ous to state that it transcends the others in scientific im- 

 portance, although certainly it isuneclipsed as a beautiful 

 spot. 



The ruins besides Phite threatened with destruction 

 have thus been stated by Mr. Somers Clarke in a letter 

 to the Society of Antiquaries : — 



" The dam will create a reservoir of er>ormous extent, not 

 only drowning the island of Philae, but extending southward 

 into Nubia for nearly a hundred miles. When full the waters 

 of the reservoir will rise several feet above the highest level of 

 the pylon of the Temple of Isis at Philas. The rocks surround- 

 ing the island are full of hieroglyphic inscription ; these will 

 spend many months under water, and there is yet much to be 

 discovered in the immediate neighbourhood. At Debot is a 

 Ptolemaic temple, which retains its original girdle-wall, three 

 great standing doorways, the first being the entrance through 

 the girdle-wall, the second being ihedoorway in a ruined pylon, 

 and the third standing m re immediately before the temple. 

 At Dimri are the remains of ancient structures still to be ex- 

 plored. At Kertassi there is, in fair preservation, a small 

 hypjethral temple with Hathorheaded columns; a little south 

 are extensive quarries, part of the surfaces covered with graffiti, 

 chiefly Greek votive inscriptions. Surrounding the village of 

 Kertassi is a great wall enclosure. At Tafeh a small temple, 

 very perfect, is still standing in the middle of the village, and 

 near it are some remarkably interesting specimens of Romin 

 masonry, but built in the Egyptian manner. They are the 

 lower parts of houses, rectangular structures with their internal 

 subdivisions still to be traced. At Kalabsheh is the m >st mig- 

 nificent structure in Lower Nubia. Overhanging the Nile are 

 the remains of a grand quay pierced by two stairways leading on 

 to a great platform. On this is a long terrace of approach from 

 which we rise to another terrace, parallel with the course of the 

 river and lying in front of the pylon. The walls of the temple 

 are ver>' perfect, the roofs only having fallen in. Surroun fin » the 

 temple is a girdle-wall of masonry. The entrance court of the 

 temple is full of graffiti of the greatest historic interest, and 

 between the crannies of the fallen masonry cin be seen many 

 more now inaccessible. •\t .-Vbu I lor are ancient remains and 

 a quay standing by the river side; a place that needs careful ex- 

 ploration. At Dendur are the remains of a temple da'ing from 

 Roman times. The names of many native gods and princes are 

 carved upon the walls. At Koshtemneh are the ruins of a great 

 brick fort, and in one corner of it are the bases of the temple 

 columns. At Dakkeh is a particularity interesting temple. 

 .Stones of an early building of Thothmes III. and Sell I. have 

 been found, but the existing structure was begun under Erga- 

 menes, a native king, and com|ileted under a Koman emperor, 

 presumably .-Vugustus. The pylon is absolutely perfect. This 

 building would be engulfed. At Kobban, opposite Dakkeh, 

 are the remains of a very large rectangular fortress of Egyptian 

 crude brick, some 370 by 350 feet. The remains of a temiile of 

 the middle empire can be traced, and outside are the remains 

 of temples of the XlXth dynasty. At .Mah.irakah are the 

 ruins of a very late temple. Its plan is unique. In addition 

 to the places above mentioned there are traces of buried towns 

 and ol tombs in great abundance. The whole of these things 

 will be submerged, and the inhabitants transported I know not 

 where." 



It has been stated by some that the destruction of these 

 various memorials of antiquity has been regarded by the 

 Egyptian engineers with absolute inditTerence. It is only 

 just therefore to print the following extract from .Mr. 

 Garstin's note dated December 27, 1893, referring to the 

 Assuan dam: — 



" Unfortunately, with every advantage in its favour as to 

 volume of water stored, soundness of foundation, and economy 

 of construction, this site labours under the oVijectioii (which I 

 fear may be found insuperable) of having Phila; temple on its 

 up-stream side. No dam could be constructed on the cataract 

 without inundating a great portion of this temple lor several 

 months every year. I agree with Colonel Ross that no project, 

 which had this effect, should lie admitted, unless it were im- 

 possible to find a reservoir site elsewhere. We cannot say that 

 ihere are no other possible sites. There are Kalabsheh, Phila:, 

 and Gebel Silsila, which are all available, and we cannot there- 

 fore claim that if a dam has to be built, it must necejisarily be 



