River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-09-07
CANALS IN LOWER EGYPT.
The Great Aids They CfTer to s rabi
in the Present War

i5UuuUl llIue5.
As a battle field the delta of the Nile
Ioffers pecaliarities which viii not be
found, perhaps, in any other region of
the globe. Many low-lying countries
are liable to be flooded by the sea if
dikes and banks be broken by accident
or design; but in the case OF Egypt this
liability exists only for q certain period
of each year, the time and duration of
which can be predicted with absolute
certainty. The rise and fall of the Nile
is as sure As that of the ocean tides,
| though the tidal period is not twelve
Ihours, but Z. year. 1t is only for GER
tain number of weeks before and after
high Nile that Arab will possess the
power of flooding Lower Egypt by cut
lting the banks of the river itself or of
some OF the main canals. During the
greater part of the year the water is
below tho level of the lands, as the fell
| aheen know to their cost, the necessa-
ry irrigation having to be performed
by sakiehs, shadoofs and other con-
trivanees for raising water to the re-
CURED height. Unfortunately, the
period during which the country can
be flooded viii include the next few
/ IIlOlASLos Af0lAb hAlC ptbob WILL W fCttlo
the earliest time at which the Nile at
tanned its maximum height was on the
9th of August, 1868, and the latest on
the Goth of October, 1872. A range of
nearly two months is thus exhibited;
but it must be remembered that the
level of high Nile is very nearly con-
slant for some weeks, so that, Tor all
practical purposes, the variation in
time would be included within much
smaller limits. Taking the average of
fifteen consecutive years, the official
returns of the Egyptian government
show that the Nile had risen fourteen
| feet above low water mark the first
| week in August, and nineteen feet in
the third week, twenty feet in the first
week of September, and twenty-five feet
in the first week in October, and that it
had fallen to nineteen feet again in the
| first week of November, and TO twelve
in the first week of December. A very
high Nile, such as that of 1874, may
rise no less than twenty. five feet above
lowwater level, and the heights of the
several months enumerated above
would be, of course, correspOndingly
| increased.
Generally, the level of the lands i'm
mediately adjoining the river may be
taken at about seventeen feet above
low-water level, while, as the ground
slopes at an inclination of some five
inches mile from the river toward the
desert, the complete flooding of the
country may be said to be secured if
the protecting banks be once broken
or suffered to be washed away by the
rapid erosive current of the high Nile.
A cross section of the country, such
as the one taken by the Egyptian staff
in 1874, from east to west on a line
twelve miles north Of the pyramid,
shows this very clearly. The high Nile
of 1874 stood at this point sixty-six
feet above the level of The Mediter-
ranean the level of the ground at the
river is, however, only fifty-eight feet
above the same datum hence, had the
banks given way stream of water
eight feet deep would have flowed lit
orally from the liver over the lands.
| Nor is this all, for as already remark
ed, the ground slopes down from the
river inland In the present case the
land near the desert ON the left bank
of the Nile is but ffty-one feet above
| Vic 4hSulbCl dtlCdtl3 bilu III tIlC llSiIb
bank only forty-one feet.
Not merely the river, but the in
Vulnerable canals, constituting net
| work of waterways over the whole
country, offer facilities for mischiev-
Gus flooding of the country, The
section above referred to cuts in It's
course no less than fifteen canals, in
| Guiding the Bassaousieh. the Cnark-
| ieh and the Ismailien, or "Sweet Water"
| Canal the best known of all on account
of its vital Importance to the Sue2
| Canal. To retain the water in these
canals high banks have been construct
ed, as an instance of the Nile itself.
The ground where the line of section
crosses the Ismalieh canal, for ex-
ample is but fifty-two feet above the
level of the Mediterranean, while OBJ
viously, by closing the lower outlet
sluices or by making and earthwork
dam ocross the canal the water might
be made to rise to the height of the
water in the adjacent Nile, which, as al
ready stated, stood in 1874 no less than
sixty-six feet above the Mediterranean.
| A head of fourteen feet Of water would
| thus be available to flood the lands in
this district. Some two miles north of
the line of cross section above referred
to is the apex of the Delta, where the
Grand Barrage of the Nile and the
| head. works of three most important
canals irrigating the Delta are situated
! The canal on the west side, traversing
/ the Province oil. Behera, is of high in
terest at the present moment. as it is a
| feeder ofthe Mahmoudien Canal, which
supplies Alexandria with its water. The
| Behera Canal has a mean width at its
| mead works of one hundred ane eighty
| feet and q depth of from twenty feet to
twenty feet at high Nile. If the
| food stream of the Nile were allowed to
enter the canal uncontrolled the tor
rent would rush d 'wn and devastate the
| lands below. Even with depth of ten
| feet of water in the canal the dischatge
has been found by measurement to b.
no less than one hundred and twelve
tons per second, or one third of that of
| the whole summer flow of the Nile itself.
With double that depth the velocity
and momentum of the rushing waters
would he enormous and the con-
sequences could hardly fail to be felt
at Alexandria itself, though 100 miles
| ulSldIbs lAO DcHCld Cdl1di 10
atIveiy modern work, proposed by Me-
hemet Ali and constructed under the
superintendent of French engineers.
At point near the village of Benz
Salameh, on the left bank of the
Rosetta branch of the Nile and about
twenty-fv miles distant from its in
take, near the apex of the delta, the
Behera joins the more ancient Khat-
! atbeh, canal The Khatatbeh again
Joins the Mahmoudieh canal about
sixty-seven miles further on, and as
the length of the Mahmoudieh from
the junction with the Khatatbch, near
Domanhour, to Alexandria is ab.ut
thirty eight miles, the total length of
| this line of waterway from the Grand
Barrage of the Nile. at the head of the
delta to Alexandria is about one hun
dred and thirty miles. The Mahmou-
| dieh has direct communication with
the Nile at Afteh, about nine miles
east of the junction with the Khatatbeh
and at this point pumping engines on
| a large scale have been supplied TO
| teed the canal at low Nile.
| At high Nile the level of water at the
head works of the canal averages
about Sc feet above the level of the
| Mediterranean, while the level of the
lands at the same point is about 90 feet
above the same. At Khatabeth the