372 
METEOROLOGICAL EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION. 
in other words, more than decuples the area from which an 
appreciable quantity of moisture would otherwise be evap¬ 
orated ; for after the Nile has retired within its banks, its 
waters by no means cover one tenth of the space just men¬ 
tioned.* The fresh-water canals now constructing, in connec- 
* The authorities differ as to the extent of the cultivable and the culti¬ 
vated soil of Egypt. Lippincott’s, or rather Thomas and Baldwin’s, Gaz¬ 
etteer —a work of careful research—estimates “ the whole area comprised 
in the valley [below the first cataract] and delta,” at 11,000 square miles. 
Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible , article “ Egypt,” says: “ Egypt has a 
superficies of about 9,582 square geographical miles of soil, which the Nile 
either does or can water and fertilize. This computation includes the 
river and lakes as well as sundry tracts which can be inundated, and the 
whole space either cultivated or fit for cultivation is no more than about 
5,626 square miles.” By geographical mile is here meant, I suppose, the 
nautical mile of sixty to an equatorial degree, or about 2,025 yards. The 
whole area, then, by this estimate, is 12,682 square statute or English 
miles, that of the space “ cultivated or fit for cultivation,” 7,447. Smith’s 
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography , article “^Egyptus,” gives 
2,255 square miles as the area of the valley between Syene and the bifur¬ 
cation of the Nile, exclusive of the Fayoom, which is estimated at 340. 
The area of the Delta is stated at 1,976 square miles between the main 
branches of the river, and, including the irrigated lands east and west of 
those branches, at 4,500 square miles. This latter work does not inform us 
whether these are statute or nautical miles, but nautical miles must be 
intended. 
Other writers give estimates differing considerably from those just 
cited. The latest computations I have seen are those in the first volume 
of Kremer’s BEgypten, 1863. This author (pp. 6, 7) assigns to the Delta an 
area of 200 square German geographical miles (fifteen to the degree); to all 
Lower Egypt, including, of course, the Delta, 400 such miles. These num¬ 
bers are equal, respectively, to 4,239 and 8,478 square statute miles, and 
the great lagoons are embraced in the areas computed. Upper Egypt 
(above‘Cairo) is said (p. 11) to contain 4,000,000 feddan of culturf dche , or 
cultivable land. The feddan is stated (p. 37) to contain 7,333 square piks, 
the pik being 75 centimetres, and it therefore corresponds almost exactly 
to the English acre. Hence, according to Kremer, the cultivable soil of 
Upper Egypt is 6,250 square statute miles, or twice as much as the whole 
area of the valley between Syene and the bifurcation of the Nile, accord¬ 
ing to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . I suspect that 
4,000,000 feddan is erroneously given as the cultivable area of Upper 
Egypt alone, when in fact it should be taken for the arable surface of both 
