St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-21
LAKE MGRIS.
The Greateat Ancient Work OF Engineer.
fnw Skill.

Contemporary Review.
The welfare OF Egypt depends on the
annual inundation of the Nile. A very
low inundation causes famine, very
high one disastrous food, and it is not
seldom that the utmost level of the river
little exceeds that which portends FAM
inc or falls little short OF the scarcely less
fatal food-height. There are, moreover,
many tracts in Egypt which the inunda-
tion never reaches, unless the water is
raised by artificial means, and by such
means the inundated lands may again
be irrigated SO as to produce a second
and third harvest. Thus the regulation
of the inundation, the construction of
canals and reservoirs, are the main
methods of benedting Egypt, naturally
an agricultural country. It was to
these objects that the kings of the
Twelfth dynasty turned the force of the
nation. Most of all, Amenemhat III.
executed the greatest work of ancient
engineering skill, the most useful one to
the country ever carried out in Egypt,
the lake Meris. About seventy miles,
measured On the course of the river, to
the south OF Cairo, the low edge of the
western desert opens and forms the en-
trance to an oasis; tertilized by the
waters of the Nile, which are conducted
into it by canal having many branches,
and which finally empties itself into a
great island lake. As we now see this
oasis, the Feiyoom, We observe that
much of its soil is unwatered and un-
productive, though marked by the signs
of ancient plenty. This is because the
great hydraulic work of Amenemhat has
been allowed, since the Moslem rule of
Egypt, to fall into decay and ultimately
to disappear. 1t was only in the present
century that its remains were discovered,
and its true site fixed, by Mr.. Linant,
French engineer, to whose surveys we
also owe the excellent map of Egypt
published in I.epsius's Denkmaler."
The lake Morris lay in the southeast
of the Feiyoom. It is bounded on the
south and east by the natural elevated
cd ge of the oasis, on the other side by
great dikes which may still be traced.
Its shape WAS thus irregular, but some
idea may be formed of its size from the
fact that had it been square each side
would have measured about twelve
miles. Evidently the construction of
this vast work was aided by the natural
shape of the country, and it is possible
that it needed but little excavation yet
the construction Iof the dikes of the
strength necessary to keep vast body
from falling into the lower level to the
northwest must have been work of
prodgious labor. The object of the
lake was to receive the waters of the
Nile, and convey them as it became
desirable over the country around. It
was also turned to good account as a
fish preserve. M. Linant, the discoverer
of the lake Morris, argued strongly in
favor of its restoration. This would in
yolve the destruction of three or four
villages, and the loss of about 10000
feddans, or somewhat more than as many
acres, while it would Immediately render
cultivable 100000 to 100000 teddans, a
space equal to quarter of the land in
Egypt now under cultivation. Yet
more, this vast reservoir would serve as
valuable mesns of drawing off the
waters of the excessive foundations and
emptying them into the lake of El-Karn
at the northwestern extremity of the
Feiyoom. It would thus modify the
dangerous effects of the highest inunda-
tions, and this much might, indeed, he
effected by existing canals and sluice,
which was used for this purpose after
the lake Meris had disappeared. The
simple work of restoration upon the
ancient lines has not the snowy preten>
sions of other modern projects, but it
would far more benefit Egypt by pro-
ducing results which would form means
of measuring the far-sighted policy of
the old King Amenemhat, who, we may
hope, is actually commemorated by his
great work, the name Meris being pos
sibly derived from his prssnomen.