New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-09
OLD AND NEW AT AsSOUAN.

The neighborhood of the First Cataract OF the
Nile has m various times in the last three vi
four thousand years been one OF the most III
tcrestinc places on the globe. Not many Spots
we're more richly endowed by nature with pictu-
rescue and enhancing beauty. The great 1hoth-
mes III. more than thirty-three centuries ago
selected # as the site Of some Of his most NOTE
worthy temples and palaces. and from It's quar-
ries hewed the mighty obelisk that now enricheS
orr own Central Park. The city of Syene was
one of the chief seats Of political power ana
commercial enterprise long before the christian
ere The names Of Philp and Elephantine
cpiiomze whole tones Of Egyptian. Greek ana
Roman history Unhappily they also remind
us of acts Of vandalism within the present CEN
fury unsurpassed in all the story of man
ravages.
Within this present year the place has been
invested with new interest. vastly differing from
but rivalling in Importance any that it bore OF
old. Two monumental acts have been per-
formed at Assouan. The first was the laying
OF the cornerstone of the great dam which IS
there to impound the waters of the Nile The
spot Is fitting Nature seems to have designed
II for such work There. before the lsraeHt-
ish exodus. as if in sublime prophecy Of this
great enterprise Of 1895 Thothmes III built
his temple to Sati. the goddess of the inunda-
ton. and there later. the Roman caesars Duilt
the famed Nilometcr. TO measure the extent or
Salts gift 70 Egypt. Just where now the dam
is to control the foods and to give them out by
measure TO the thirsty lands below. In magni'
tude. too. as well as in bcnchcence. the dam
will s,irpass all the ancient works. 1t will be n
wall Of masonry eighty feet high. eighty feet
+bo 10 n
and it Will hold back the water and raise the
level of the river for one hundred and forty
miles or nearly 10 Wady Halfa. When that
work IS finished, ny the end of the first year OF
the new century. there will be no more fear OF
either food or drouth in Egypt. There is no
extravaganza in reckoning that the fertility and
productiveness Of the country from Assouan to
the Mediterranean will be fully doubled That
will be an achievement far transcendlng any
the ancient priests ever ascrlbed to SAT-.
The other incident was the laying of the cor
norstone of an English church at Assouan. That
TOO. was most significant and proptious. For
apart from all considerations Of creed and sect
there is no denying that the founding of an
/ English church means the planting there oil
English civilization. it means the incoming tc
Middle and Upper Egypt Of English ideas OF
social order and or law ana OF progress MoI'
than thirteen centuries ago the first Christian
church was founded there. in the temple OF Isis
which Ptolemy Epiphanes built on the Isle OF
Phile But 1t did not long endure and fol
weary centuries Christianity and civilization
have alike been banshed from that region
Auspiciously they now return together. I'M
founding of the dam and Of the church were
only n few days apart. The work on both VII
be pressed to speedy completion. And the agrl
cultural and industrial revolution to be wrough
by the dam will be amply matched by tn
social intellectual and moral changes TO b.
wrought by those agencies Of which the churcl
is the inseparable sign. 1t was at Assouan tina
Ancient Egypt marked her highest gories. !
IS at Assouan that Modern Egypt enters int
newness of life. Old and new meet there,
scarcely elsewhere In all the world, and tina
which is new Is better by far than that whicl
is old.