200 PEOF. E. HULL, LL.D., F.R.S., ON THE PROPOSED SCHEME 



The estimates of the engineers as to the requirements of 

 storage in the proposed reservoir are as follows : — 



For Upper Egypt . . 1,160,000,000 cubic metres. 

 „ Middle Egypt .. 950,000,000 „ 

 „ Lower Egypt .. 1,551,000,000 „ 



Total .. 3,661,000,000 „ 



Such in brief are the proposals, and such the expected 

 advantages of the proposed scheme. Egypt has ever been 

 the country of great public works, and the Assouan embank- 

 ment, and the system of irrigation connected therewith, will 

 not fall short of any hitherto attempted. By such an under- 

 taking the British occupation will have conferred on the 

 country an enormous benefit in addition to others already 

 enjoyed. As regards ways and means there ought to be 

 little difficulty in raising the money for carrying out the 

 works; the financial condition of Egypt is sound, and its 

 credit stands high. The amount required maybe distributed 

 over several years, and it has been shown that the profit 

 returns will allow for a large outlay. The part played by 

 irrigation in adding to the productiveness of the laud-surface 

 of the globe is little known outside the circle of experts. 

 For many countries it is a question between irrigation or 

 barrenness. Such are those of the valley of the Indus in 

 India, the whole of Egypt, the great plains of Turkomania 

 north of Persia and east of the Caspian, the plains of 

 Northern Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, and parts of 

 California, the western coast of South America, and a great 

 portion of the Australian continent. The rainfall in Cairo is 

 about 1-4 inches per annum; yet agricultural land within a 

 radius of twenty miles of its suburbs sells as high as £80 per 

 acre, a price which may well call forth the envy of the 

 British land-owner.* The ancient Egyptian flung a beau- 

 tiful maiden to the crocodiles, when the time for the rise 

 of the Nile waters began, in order to propitiate the god 

 of the river for a full flood. The statesmen and engineers 

 of these days adopt a more certain, as well as a more 

 merciful, course for eff'ecting the same object; namely, by 

 building embankments and larrages, and distributing the 



* Sir Colin Scott-MoncriefF : Lecture I, p. 5. 



