XXXIV 



INTRODUCTION. 



branch below the barrage large numbers of Widnah (Siluranodon) were taken, this 

 being the first time I found this fish at all common. 



After leaving the barrage my original scheme was modified, and instead of remaining 

 in the Delta during the flood it was thought advisable to work at some place above the 

 barrage during that period, returning to the lakes later on. Accordingly I started 

 work at the town of Beni Souef in the beginning of August. Unfortunately the 

 rise was a very bad one, the level reached at the end of August being 2 metres lower 

 than in the year preceding. This accounted for the rather meagre results obtained, 

 examples of only twenty-five different species being collected. After the so-called false 

 rises are over and the Nile commences to rise properly, there are still temporary 

 checks of short duration, and, according to the fishermen, these have an effect both 

 on the number and variety of the fishes obtained. This applies especially to the fish 

 of the genus Mormyrus and its allies, which are always more numerous directly after 

 a fresh rise. 



rig. 15. 



-ht^±±f} 



The methods employed here are the gouraffa, foul-hooking, and the casting-net, but 

 at the regulators which control the supply of water from the large canals to the smaller 

 ones a net is used known as a u shilbe," which is set below the regulator to catch the 

 fish which are carried through in the rush of water. It is a pocket-shaped net about 

 18 feet long (see diagram, fig. 15, a), with a 3-inch mesh near the mouth and a ^-inch 

 mesh at the bottom. It is attached to a strong wooden frame, and the whole is 

 kept in place by strong ropes (fig. 15, b), fastened to the masonry on each side of the 

 regulator. It is hauled out and emptied about every half-hour. 



Trips were made to various places, including Wasta, 30 miles to the north, and 

 Bibeh, 25 miles to the south. Towards the end of September I left Beni Souef for 

 the province of the Fayum, which is situated in the Libyan desert and is an oasis 

 celebrated for its great fertility, due entirely to the Bahr Yusuf (Joseph's Canal), a 

 channel about 200 miles long, which leaves the Nile near Assiut and flows through 

 a narrow opening in the Libyan hills into the Fayum, where it breaks up into 

 numerous branches, some of which discharge their superfluous water, during flood- 

 time, into the Birket Karun, a large lake in the north-west of the province. 



