IRRIGATION 127 



buildings, and mills ; the engagement of skilled and, 

 therefore, highly paid employes at the heads of the 

 different departments, and lastly luck. We have 

 seen what Africa does for cotton ; let it not be 

 supposed that the sugar-cane is in any sense more 

 immune to the devastation wrought by various 

 pests. Locusts of course do the most damage, 

 and after them a large black beetle covered with 

 reddish brown spots ; but a nocturnal visitation of 

 a school of hippopotami does more to desolate and 

 ruin the undertaking than would result from the 

 simultaneous arrival of several converging tempests. 

 In the winter season, that is to say between the 

 months of May and November, the ground is cleared 

 by means of powerful steam-ploughs — the time of 

 year being thus selected owing to the temporary 

 hardness of the soil produced by the absence of 

 rain. A carefully devised system of canalisation 

 is now carried out, as much for the purpose of 

 quickly ridding the surface of the immense weights 

 of water which fall during the earher period of the 

 rainy season, and which, unless its drainage were 

 provided for, would quickly damage and kill the 

 young plants, as for the purposes of irrigation. In 

 a plantation of even moderate dimensions these 

 canals may total up to many miles in length, and 

 being constructed with a slight fall enable the 

 seven or eight powerful twelve-inch centrifugal 

 steam-pumps which, working together, pour a 

 flood of 25,000 gallons of water per minute into 

 the main canal, to furnish in times of drought 

 a continuous supply of water which is forced 

 through the system until it finally reaches the 



