The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-01-02
THE BAHR JoUSSUF.
a Canal Built by Joseph which Has Never
Ceased Its ONCE.

u Canal Built by Joseph W hich Has Never
Ceased Its Office.
How many of the engineering works
of the nineteenth century will there be
In existence in the year SCOOP Very
few, we fear. and still less those that
will continue in the far-off age to serve
a useful purpose. Yet there is at least
one great undertaking conceived and
executed by an engineer which during
the space of 1000 years has never
ceased its Office, on which the life OF .
fertile province absolutely depends to-
day. We refer TO the Bahr Joussuf-
the canal of Joscph-built, according
to tradition, by the son of Jacob, and
which constitutes not the least of the
many blessings he conferred upon
Egypt during the years of his prosper
Gus rule. This canal took its rise from
the Nile at Asiut, and ran nearly par
allel with it for nearly $50 miles,
creeping along under the western cliffs
of the Nile valley, with many bend
and winding, until at length 1t gained
an eminence. as compared with the
river-bed, which enabled it to turn
westward through a narrow pass and
enter district which was otherwise
shut off from the fertilizing floods on
which all vegetation in Egypt depends.
The northern end stood seventeen
feet above low Nile, while at the south
ern end it was at an equal elevation
with the river. Through this cut ran
n perennial stream. which watered a
province named the Fayoum, endow-
ing it with fertility and supporting .
large population. In the time of the
annual flood great part of the canal
was under water, and then the rivers
current would rush in more direct
course into the pass, carrying with 1t
the rich silt, which takes the place Of
manure and keeps the soil in state
of constant productiveness.
All this, with the exception Of the
tradition that Joseph built it, can be
verified to-day, and it is not mere sup
position or rumor. Until eight years
ago it was firmly believed that the de-
sign has always been limited to an ir-
rigation scheme, larger, no doubt, than
that now in operation, as shown by
the traces of abandoned canals and by
the slow aggregation of waste water
which had accumulated in the Birket
ell Quorum, but still essentially the
same in character.
Many accounts have been written by
Greek and Roman historians, such as
Herodotus, Strabo. Mutianus and
Pliny, and repeated in monkish legends
or portrayed in the maps of the middle
ages, which agreed with the old lore
of the district. These tales explained
that the canal dug by the ancient Is
raelite served to carry the surplus
waters of the Nile into an extensive
lake lying south of the Fayoum, and
so large that it not only modified the
climate, tempering the arid winds Of
the desert and converting them into
the balmy airs which nourished the
vines and the olives into fullness
and fragrance unknown in any part Of
the country, but also added to the food
supply of the land such immense guam
titles of fish that the royal prerogative
of the right of piscary at the great
weir was valued at $250,000 annually.
This lake was said to be $50 miles
round. and to be navigated by a feet
of vessels, while the whole circuIufer-
ence was the scene of industry and
prosperity. -Engineering