Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-05

dnSe the best -four in the world and have
Lh1lan corn better than that when forms
ni se part OF the food OF the Nile valley
The day of the pump and the vvindrnt1
mas reached the Nile valley but so far. the
most mos. OF the pumping machinery liz inn
ported from Europe. All the large land
owners are now using steam purlps There
are many estates run by syndicates which
are irrigated by this means. and there are
men who are buying portable engines and
pumps and hiring them out to the smaIis-
farmers In much the same way that thrash
ing machines ARE used I'm the United States
ana canada quite a number of Ameri-
can windmlls are already installed and
almost the whole pumping OF the Nile val
icy might be done by the wind The breezes
from the desert are as strong rs those from
the sea, and they sweep ncruss the Nile
valley with such regularity that wind
pumps could be relied upon 10 do efficient
work
At present the most OF the water raised in
Egypt is by man power or by animals MIL
lions or gallons are lifted by the shadoor.
inns IS long pole balanced on support
From one end Of the pole hangs a bucket.
and from the other a heavy weight OF clay
or stone. about equal TO thu weight of tho
pulls the bucket down into the water. and
py the help of the weight on the other end
raises II and empties 1t into "A canal higher
up He does this all day long for 10 or
10 cents, and IL is estimated that he can
In ten days lift enough water TO irrigate an
acre of corn or cotton. At this rate IL
costs from 81 to SI.50 to give one acre n
good watering. and there is no doubt II
could be done much cheaper ty pumps.
The Sakiyeh
Another rude irrigation machine found
throughout the Nile valley from AIexan-
dria to khartoum is the sakiyeh. which In
moved by blindfolded bullocks. buffaloes,
donkeys and camels.. 1t consis.s OF verti-
cal wheel with string OF buckets attached
n vfr
the water the buckets dip and fill and as
1t comes up they discharge their contents
into canal. This vertical wheel Is moved
by one set horizontal the two running in
cogs. the latter being turned by some
beast of burden. There is usually a boy,
girl or old man. who sits on the shaft and
drives tie beast round.
These sakiyehs screech terribly and their
noise almost breaks the ear drums Of the
tourists who come near them. | remember
q remark that Justice Brown of our Su-
preme Court made while we were stopping
together at the hotel at Assouan, which 10
just opposite the Elephant Island with ono
OF these sakiyehs in plain sight and hear
Ing. 1t was that he should ike to give an
appropriation to Egypt and that largo
enough to enable the people to oil every
saklyeh up and down the Nile valley.
doubt however, whether the fellahs would
use the oil. IL they had II. for they say
that the blnd-folded cattle will not turn
There should be an opening here for
American farming machinery. Egypt IL
raising wheat, cotton and corn. the very
same crops that we produce In large guam
Titles. and our machinery ought to sell we'll.
1t Is not pushed however, and almost all
the farm tools come from Europe. Grea
Britain supplies the most of them, Swtzer
land and Germany have a small share 81
the trade. and after that comes the United
States, as usual, far in the rear. We should
sell these people plows and threshing ma
tocks should be in demand. Just now most
OF the valley is dug over by hand, and
wheat barley and corn are threshed with
fails.
The demand for farm machinery is in
creasing. There was almost twice as much
sold during the first six months OF last
year as during a similar period OF 1905 and
the general prosperity leads to the belief
that this increase win go on. :
Egypt's Watch Market.
There Is now craze among the peasants
OF Egypt to own watches. They want .
cheap article, and in many cases buy q
fresh watch every year. AS result the
Swiss and Germans have been flooding the
country with poor movements, put up In
fancy German silver. nickel and gun-metaI
cases. and are selling them at 81 and up
wards apiece. They are not equal to our
timepieces which sell at 81. Some Of these
watches are advertised as OF American
make. and they sell the quicker that ac-
count 1 doubt not that good American
watch would sell well and displace the Door
stun now sent in by the Swiss.
Our American cotton factors ought TO
study this market. The 12O0),0OO inhab-
itants of the Nile valley dress almost en-
tirely in cotton. and we making goods
in our mills which could be easily sold
here at a profit Our cottons are consid-
cred far better than those OF England or
Germany in the other African markets, and
there is no reason why they should not
have hold here in Egypt. This country
took $30,0OO.OO0 worth Of textiles last year.
Almost twenty millions Of that came from
Great Britain, and most Of the balance
was sent in from France. Austria, Italy
and Germany. Turkey sold goods to the
amount of 81 ,000. ot0. and America came in
with less than $4,000. and that notwith-
standing the greater part of the raw cotton
used by the other countries / have men,
toned was raised in our southern states
We ought to sell Egypt large part Of
her lumber. and We ought to have a share
in the market for coal. There is absolutely
no wood in the country and everything in
that line has to be imported.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.