Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-01-13
JOsEPH'S CANAL IN EGYPT.
An Engineering Work That Is Still Useful
After -Four Thousand Years.

TWILL ~ SAINPAIa lin H.,
An Engineering Work That Is Still Useful
After -Four Thousand Years.
How many of the engineering
works of the nineteenth century
will there be in existence in the
year 10000 Very few, we fear, and
still less those that will continue in
that faroff age to serve a useful pur-
pose. 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 fer
tile province absolutely depends to-
day. We refer to the Bahr Joussuf
the canal Of Joseph-built, ac-
cording to tradition, by the son of
Jacob, and which constitutes not
the least of the many blessings he
conferred on Egypt during the years
of his prosperous rule.
This canal took its rise from the
Nile at Asiut and ran almost 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
it gained an eminence, as compared
with the river bed, which enabled
it to turn westward through a mar
row pass and enter district which
was otherwise shut off from the fer
tilizing floods on which all vegeta-
ton in Egypt depends. The north
ern end stood II feet above low Nile,
while at the southern end it was at
an equal elevation with the river.
Through this cut ran a perennial
stream, which watered a province
named the Fayoum, endowing it
with fertility and supporting large
population.
In the time of the annual flood a
great part of the canal was under
water, and then the rivers current
would rush in more direct course
into the pass, carrying with it the
rich silt which takes the place of
manure and keeps the soil in con-
slant state Of productiveness. All
this, with the exception of the ira
dition that Joseph built it, can be
verified today, and it is not mere
supposition or rumor.
Until eight years ago it was firm
ly believed that the design has al
ways been limited to an irrigation
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 Bir-
ket el Quorum, but still essentially
the same in character. Many ac-
counts have been written by Greek
and Roman historians, such as He
rodotus, Strabo, Mutianus and Pliny,
and repeated in monkish legends or
portrayed in the maps of the mid
die ages, which agreed with the folk
lore of the district. These tales ex-
planned that the canal dug by the
ancient Israelites 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 ana
converting them into the balmy airs
which nourished the vines and the
olives into fullness and fragrance
unknown in any part Of the coun-
try, but also added to the food sup
ply Of the land such immense guam
titles of fish that the royal preroga-
tive of the right of piscary at the
great weir was valued at 925O, 900
annually. This lake was said to be
$50 miles round and to be navigated
by feet of vessels, and the whole
circumference was the scene of in
dustry and prosperity.-Engineer-
ing.