FOR EMBANKING THE WATERS OF THE NILE. 195 



and especially in the valley of the Nile itself, a second period 

 of irrigation, extending from, the beginning of March to the 

 middle of July, could be ensured. By such a system the 

 slack season of "Low Nile" might be turned to profitable 

 account, and a second crop might be secured either of the same 

 kind of produce, or different varieties, overlapping one another. 

 Major R. H. Brown, Inspector-General of Irrigation for 

 Upper Egypt, has shown hoAV this result might be achieved,* 

 and it can only be done by means of regulating weirs. 



The advantages of such regulating weirs as that now 

 proposed had for several years become apparent to those 

 acquainted with the physical conditions and requirements 

 of Egypt; and in lb73 the distinguished French engineer, 

 Linant de Bellefonds, suggested the Silsileh " Gate of the 

 Nile," a narrow gorge tAventy-five miles below Assouan, as 

 a suitable site for such a weir. Somewhat later, another 

 Frenchman, Count de la Motte, further developed the idea, 

 and proposed a. reservoir at the same site.t Owing, how- 

 ever, to financial difficulties, nothing Avas done until 1889, 

 when Mr. Prompt, Member of the Railway. Board, pressed 

 upon the Government the necessity of studying the subject ; 

 and in consequence, Mr. W. AA^illcocks, who, in conjunction 

 with fSir Colin Scott-Moncriefi", carried out the reconstruction 

 of the barrage for regulatmg the Nile floods in Lower Egypt, 

 was instructed to investigate the whole question. The 

 report of Mr. Willcocks embodies the result of four years' 

 examination, extending from the Second Cataract to Cairo, 

 and includes a survey of the remarkable basin known as the 

 Fayim, the advantages of Avhi{;h had been repeatedly urged 

 upon the Government by an American engineer, Mr. Cope 

 Whitehouse. Finally, Mr. Willcocks fixed upon the rapids 

 of Phila3 as, under all circumstances, the most favourable for 

 the site of a regulating dam for Upper, Middle, and, to some 

 extent, LoAver Egjq^t; and in this decision he had the support 

 of Mr. Garstin, the Head of the Public Works Department. 

 It is unnecessary here to discuss the relative advantages of 



* Report on Perennial Irrigation and Hood Protection for Egypt. By 

 W. Willcocks, Director-General of Eeservoirs, with note by W. E. Garstin, 

 Under Secretary of State (1894). 



t At Silsileh the ridge of the Nubian sandstone is cut through by the 

 Nile, and the rocks terminate on either hand near the banks. The 

 quarries from Avhich the stone used in the construction of most of the 

 ancient temples north of Assouan has been obtained, are situated on this 

 ridge. 



p 2 



