Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1896-06-20

the Blue Nile i4.OOoO00 cubic meters
OF water daily.
KhartOum is situated at the junction
Of the White Nile and the Blue Nile
| Thus. the water that flows by the city
/ IL derived from two sources But tine
people drink only the water ~ the Blue
| Nile because that Of the White Nile is
80 charged with decayed organic mat
! ter and deadly microbes ms 10 be dead
/ Is for human consumption. Ii is. IN
( fact, merely the drainage Of mairrial
swamps The White Nile obtains a
small part Of the water from the melt
| .ng Of the snow on the peaks OF kuwen
I zOri-those Mountains OF the Moon de-
/ fined In ancient Ptolemaic charts and
only restored 10 modern maps by stan
| ley. The bulk Of its supply. however
I Is the oozing Of a gigantic sponge
formed over a vast plateau by innn-
/ merable streams and morasses. This
| plateau is somewhat like that 81 Min
nesota, with it's countless lakes COR
| tributing to the current Of the MisSiS-
sippi BY throwing mp a bank not
more than a foot high across one Of
| the marshes Of the White Nile. the
| Abysinnian king could hold back an
amount of water equal to the whole
quantity now utilized for irrigating the
| Nile delta
Even the defeated Mahadists are
I In a position 10 hold Egypt nj ransom
at any time by threatening 10 eut IN
! ber water supply. Tho situation is
certainly remarkable but II IL likely to
be altered before long by the carryfug
out Of an engineering project now IN
der consideration The plan rs the
| idea ~ an American named Cope
| Whitehonse He has discovered that a
great natural depression exists 20 the
west Of the Nile valley and about sew
enty miles southwest Of Cairo. This
| depression, which IN 1870 feet below the
| level Of the Mediterranean. might b..
| utilized ms n reservoir for holding a
supply Of water during the season OF
| low Nile.
The depression referred to Is known
as the Wadi Raiyan. Mr.. whitehouse
cannot be said 10 have discovered the
/ wadi. but he was the first TO ascertain
the fact that 1t was below the level Of
the sea. He was led to the discovery
by ciew quite extraordinary. which
| was nothing more nor less than n map
preserved In a monastery on Mount
Atho. and believed to have been draft
ed by monks during the Middle Ages.
The map itself was puzzle more aim
cult Of solution than the famous cipher
given by the Able Farm TO Monte
Christie, but certain things set down
upon II led Mr.. Whitehouae TO the CON
eluslon that the Wadi Raiyan had been
the location Of an ancient reservoir for
holding the surplus waters Of the Nile,
The casual observer, who knows no
more Of Egyptian history than IL 10 BE-
found In the Anthony and Cleopatra"
OIL Shakespeare, must be struck with
the enormous difference between that
wealth which lavished gold on coffin
lids and the miserable Egypt of to-day.
whose peasants during FIVE months II
the year earn an average wage of little
less than 2 cents a day. The ancient
source OF wealth, according 10 the
Bible story Of Joseph and the descrlp.
lions Of Greek historians. lay IN res.
eryolr situated in depression TO the
west VI the Nile valley. This depres-
sion. now satisfactorily identified nj
the wadi Raiyan. scang =, 80
put there for this very purpose being
at convenient distance behind the