24 Notices of Egypt. 
year and in any quantities, it must be evident, that an advantage 
would arise tothe country almost beyond the highest powers of com- 
putation. Such a project, Mahomet Ali is about to execute. I 
have seen nothing any where that will compare with it, in vastness 
and probable utility, or that, considering all the circumstances, has 
required more boldness in the undertaking. 
You doubtless recollect, that of the seven branches by which the 
Nile formerly discharged itself into the sea, two only remain, those 
of Damietta and Rosetta, and that the point of separation is about 
fifteen miles below the city of Cairo. I must now refer you to the 
accompanying plan of the improvements, which is from one furnished 
on the ground, by Monsieur Lenon, the chief Engineer.* 
A represents the river before branching: 66 the Rosetta, and cc 
the Damietta branch. It is proposed to make a dam across at E 
and e, sufficiently high to raise the waters to the level of the banks, 
and as the valley land immediately adjoming the Nile, as well as the 
Mississippi and Ganges, is higher than that more remote, it is evi- 
dent, that if the stream could be brought to such an elevation, it will 
be an easy matter to carry it to any part of the interior districts, both of 
the Delta and towards the mountains. In effecting this however, 
very great difficulties present themselves. Not only is the bottom 
of the Nile composed of loose and shifting materials, but the banks 
are also composed of a loam’so friable, that as we are now dropping 
down the stream, our attention is constantly drawn to the plunging 
of the earth on either side, as it is undermined by the increasing cur- 
rent. Any attempt to build a dam, as is done in our country, would 
be immediately followed by a washing away of the banks and con- 
sequently by a loss of labor; the slight nature of the materials, re- 
quires that they should be treated with the greatest tenderness. The 
engineer commences then, by digging the canals FF and ff, each 
1300 feet in width and 32 feet deep, being a few feet deeper than the 
bottom of the river itself: a cross slip L, J, being left at the upper 
end, till the workmen are ready to admit the water. Across these 
canals at G and g, a dam is to be constructed, 41 feet in height and 
128 in width or thickness, with sluices sufficient in number and size 
to admit of the passage of the entire river. When these are com- 
* A reference to Bouriennes Life of Napoleon will shew, that the idea is not ori- 
ginal with Mahomet Ali: it is not however the greatness of the conception, but 
the hardihood in determining to execute it, that astonishes one. 
