446 



NATURE 



[March 7, 1895 



ihroagb the Cairo streets until it reaches i6 cubits on the gauge. 

 At this point the Khalig el Masri, the old canal that flows 

 throogh the heart of Cairo, is opened — up to this point it is 

 dry, and full or empty it is little mure than a sanitary abomin- 

 ation at present : but in former days it occupied an important 

 place, and when the Kile water was high enough to flow down 

 its bed, it wa^ looked on that ihe flood had fairly set in. and 

 that the kindly fruiis of the earth mi^ht be duly expected. 



The head ol this canal is on the right bank of the river, just 

 south of Cairo. The water enters a channel some 30 feet wide, 

 with a high wall on its left, and a sloping bank on its right or 

 southern flank. Tlie water then flows under the pointed arch 

 of an old stone bridge. The bed of the canal is cleared so 

 that it would flow in at a gauge of about l:^\ cubits, but an 

 earthen bank is thrown acrcsi it about 4 feet higher. 



There is no more interesting ceremony in Kgypt than the 

 annual cutting of the Khalig, as the opening ceremony is called. 

 It takes place between .\ugust 5 and 15. Days before prepara- 

 tions are being made for the festival. Tents with innumer- 

 able lamps are placed along the wall on the one side. Frames 

 for all manner of fireworks are ereced un the sand-bank on the 

 other side. .\ll ihe notables are there in full uniform, or in 

 canonical;. The Khedive himself, or his reprcienlative, the 

 Sheikh ul Islam (the highest dignitary of the Muhanimedan 

 faith), the Sheikh el Bekri, the Sheikh es Sadat, all the learned 

 scribes of the great university of the Azhar, the Cabinet 

 Ministers and Under-Secretaries, the Sirder of the Army 

 and his stafi, the Judges, and the Financiers. 



The Egyptian troops are turned out, salutes are fired, and 

 about eight o'clock in the warm summer night the classes all 

 assemble under the gaily. lighted tents, the masses crowd round 

 the frames for the fireworks, the street is lined with harem 

 carriages full of closely-veiled figures, though it is not much 

 that they can see fiom their broughams. Out in the river, just 

 opposite the canal's mouth, is moored an old hulk of a certain 

 sea-going outline, which has been towed up from Uoulak during 

 the day, and is an emblem of the time when (he great republic 

 of Venice sent an envoy to witness the ceremony. This boat 

 is full of lamp«, and fireworks loo. As the night deepens the 

 excitement increases. The populace on the bridge and the 

 opposite bank are shouting, yelling, and dancing wildly round 

 the fireworks. On the other side arc the gay uniforms and 

 lighted tents, from whence we can look over the w all dow n on the 

 dark water, where you see brown figures plunging in and waist- 

 deep digging with their hoes at the embankment that blocks 

 the canal's mouth. 



Long before midnight the fireworks have gone out, and left 

 the splendid stars to themselves ; the grandees have all gone to 

 bed, but the people keep up the revelry, and in the morning, by 

 7.30, every one has come bick. Then but little of the bank is 

 left uncut ; a few more strokes of the big hoes will do it, and 

 the brown skins and ihe brown water reflect the bright sunlight 

 from above. Then the Sheikh ul Islam solemnly thanks the 

 .\lmighty, .Mlah the All-powerful, the .*\ll-merciful. He im- 

 implores His blessing on the flood, and at a signal the bank is 

 cut, the waters rush in, and with Iheui a crowd of swimmers. 

 A bag of silver piastres is scattered among them, and the 

 ceremony is at an end. 



There is a pretty legend, worth telling, of the cutting of the 

 Khalig. Amr, the Muhammedan General, look Cairo in a.d. 

 640. Long before then there had btcn a heathen ceremony, 

 and a virgin was yearly sacrficcd to the god of the river. When 

 the season came round, .\mr was called upon as usual to sacri- 

 fice Ihe girl He sternly refused. That year the Nile flood 

 wasa failure. You can fancy how the indignant heathen popu- 

 l.ilion must have raged ai the invader, and said, " We warned 

 you what would happen if you didn't propitiate the river gc«l." 

 Cannot we fancy, also, how .Vmi's wild Aiab soldiers must have 

 had their faith sorely tried, and how they must have felt pu/itlcd 

 i» to whether in this strange new country, with all those demon- 

 built temples and pyramids, obelisks and sphinxes, it might not 

 be as well to make friends of the local gods. Could Allah 

 really help them here? .Xgain the Nile flood came round. 

 This time surely Amr would sacrificcthegiti, and save the land. 

 No ; he would not. The people rose in rebellion. Amr stood 

 firm. liul he wrote to the Kalil (Jmar for orders (tJmar, 

 whose name you will remember has come down in history as the 

 destroyer of the Alexandrian library). Omar approved of his 

 conduct, but sent him a paper to throw into the Nile. On the 

 paper was written, "From Abd Allah Omar, I'rincc of the 



NO. 1323, VOL. 51I 



Faithful, to the Nile of Egypt. If thou flow of thine own accord, 

 flow not ; but if it be .\llah, the one the mighty, who causeth 

 thee to flow, then we implore him to make thee flow." .\mr 

 threw the paper into the water, and the Nile rose forthwith 

 exactly as it was wanted. .Since that day no girl has been 

 sacrificed ; but a pillar of earth is yearly left to be washed 

 away in the middle of the canal, called the bride or the girl. 



Such, as I have briefly described it, was the irrigation of Fgypt 

 until this century, when it fell under the rule of Muhammed .\li, 

 a very sagacious and strong if a very unscrupulous ruler. He 

 saw that the country could produce far more valuable crops 

 than cereals. The European market could be supplied with 

 these from the fields of Europe, but Europe could not produce 

 cotton and sugar-cane. Egypt had the climate, had the soil, had 

 the teeming population ; but these crops required water at all 

 seasons ; nor would it do to flood the fields to any depth, for 

 just at the flood season the cotton crop is ripening. There was 

 plenty of water in the river ; but how was it to be got on to the 

 land ? Perennial irrigation was a fresh departure. As I have 

 said, the Nile rises about 25.I. feet. A canal then running 12 

 feet deep in flood has its bed 13J feet above the surface of the 

 Low Nile. Either the Nile water had to be raised, or the beds 

 of the canals had to be lowered, in order that one should flow 

 into the other, and after that the water had to be raised from 

 the canal on to the land. Muhammed -\li began by lowering 

 the canal beds of Lower Egypt, an enormous work considering 

 the great number of the canals ; and as they had been laid out 

 on no scientific principles, but merely to suit the fancies of 

 Turkish pashas or village sheikhs, and as those who had to ex- 

 cavate them to this great depth had only the slightest know- 

 ledge of levelling, the inevitable result followed — the deep 

 channel became full of mud during the flood, and all the exca- 

 vation had to be done over again. Incredible as it may seem, 

 this great work was done year after year. It was a great serf 

 population ; if they were not fighting Muhammed Ali's battles 

 in Arabia and Syria, they might as well be digging out the 

 canals. No one thought of paying or feeding the workmen. 

 The bastinado was freely applied if they attempted to run 

 away. If they died under the labour, there were plenty more to 

 come. But of course the work was badly done. The water 

 might enter the canal ; but as the bed was not truly levelled, it 

 did not follow that it would flow far. Then, as the river daily 

 fell, the water in the canals fell too, and lessened in volume as 

 the heat increased, and more was required. At last — in June, 

 perhaps — the canal was dry, and the cotton crop that had been 

 sown and watered, weeded and nurtured, since March, was lost 

 altogether. 



Then some one advised Muhammed -\li to throw a dam 

 across the liver, and so raise the water, and the result was the 

 great liarragc. 



About twelve miles north of Cairo the Nile bifurcates, and 

 finds its way to the sea, by the Rosetla and Damietta branches. 

 -\cross the heads of these two branches were built two stone 

 bridges, one of 71, the other of 61 arches, each 5 metres or 

 16 4 feet span. These arches were intended to be fitted with 

 gates ; by lowering which, all the water would be dammed up, 

 and diverted into three great trunk c.inals, taken out of the 

 river just above these bridges. One to the right or east of the 

 Damietta l>ranch was to supply water to all the Provinces of 

 the Eastern delta, one between the two bridges was to supply 

 the splendidly fertile central delta, the third to the left or West 

 of the kosetta branch was to water all the Western delta down 

 to Alexandria. 



There was no intention of water storage at the Barrage, 

 but it was merely with the object of controlling the supply. 

 While there w.is water enough in the river, by closing the 

 gates it could be kept to a unilorm level, and sent down the 

 three trunk canals, fioji which it was to branch, into many 

 minor ones. .\s the river went down, gate after gate would be 

 closecl, and so a constant supply could be kept in the canals. 

 The idea was thoroughly sound. The execution was feeble. 



Mougel Bey, the French engineer in charge of the work, 

 had no doubt many dilTiculties to contend with. The work 

 went fitfully on for many years, thousands of men being forced 

 to it one year, and carricl olT to a campaign the next. But at 

 last it was surticiently nnished to allow of an opening cere- 

 monial in 1861. Gales h.id been fitted into the Kosetta 

 branch arches, never into the Damietta. 



The Central canal had been dug in tolerably satisfactory style. 

 The Weslei n canal, too, bad been dug, but passing I h rough a strip 



