The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-12-22

r WANT to tell you about some gi-
gantic projects which the English
are considering as to the upper
Nile. That mighty stream has now
Its whole course through British
territory. It rises in Lake Victoria.
in the British province OF Uganda. and
flows through that province into the
Anglo Egyptian sudan. IT winds Its
way through the Sudan. traversing the.
old land OF Nubia. and then goes on
down through Egypt. which is practi.
cally n dependency of Great Britain. to
the Mediterranean Sea From it's source
to Its mouth 1t flows through about
thirty degrees of latitude, and It's
course has length OF more than 1900
niles. The British control not only the
main stream, but most of its tributa-
ries, and they own the great lakes OF
Victoria and Albert Nyanza, as fur as
the Nile outlets are concerred. Tha
only other nation which has anything
to do will! the stream is the Abyssinian,
In whose highlands the Blue Nile and
htbara have their sources. The control
OF these two rivers is. moreover, so reg
ulated by treaties that they cannot DO
touched except by British consent, so
that the Nile may be called an English
river, and may be looked upon as in
the hands of one of the richest. most
able and most successful OF the deyelop-
Ing nations of the globe.
have already told you OF the i'm.
provements that the British have made
rs TO the Egyptian course of this great
waterway. For a month and more
have been travelling along that part OF
1t. 1 have visited the great canals OF
tho delta, and also the Barrages mt
Cairo and Assiout. have written you
OF the huge dam at Assouan. which has
been built at cost of S120o0,ooo to
give the farms OF Egypt steady water
supply. This dam has made a reser.
voir $40 miles long. and 1t now holds
BACK l.000.o0o.0o0 tons of water TO feed
the Nile when low. It Is now to be
raised twenty feet, and It Will then hold
back almost us much more. IT has al-
ready added millions to the wealth or
the lower Nile valley, and II has made
tho Egyptians one Of the most prosper
pus peoples on the globe.
hiS Projects of the Upper Mic,
The projects which the british are
now considering are more important
than anything they have done in tho
past, and they Will rank as the most
daring OF the engineering plans OF
the century. II carried out they Will
cost as much as 1t did to build the
suez Canal. but they will assure the
greater Egypt a steady water supply
all the year round for all time to
come; and they will build up here. at
distance of 1900 or 1000 miles south.
of the Mediterranean Sea. several 9TH
or Esypts twice or thrice as rich as
the lower Nile valley. each supporting
Its rnillions OF people.
Inc projects, embrace the regulation
of the great lakes on the highlands of
Central Africa, SO that they may serve
MS reservoirs for the Nile. They include
tho embankment Of those tributaries OF
the White Nile which flow through the
great swamps on the northern slopeof
tho Kongo watershed, and also the
new channel by which the main
stream OF the White Nile Will be great
ay shortened and it's bed fitted for
carrying the enormous volume OF Its
waters unrestrnined down to Khartum.
Another scheme contemplntes tho
damming of the Atbura so that 1t will
Jrrigate large tracts In upper Nubia,
and still another tho erection of n
dam at Lake Tsana. on tho Highlands
pf Abyssinia, which will make that
Groat lake a reservoir for the Blue
Nile and enable 1t to water the farttle
plain which lies between the Blue
mud White Niles. ending here at 1ihar-
tum. KS,
More Water Needed, Y.
The great trouble now is that q
large part Of the waters OF the Nile
80 to waste. 1t is In size the fourth
FLYER Of the globe. ranking after tho
Amazon, the Kongo and the Rio dc la
Plata. in basin and rainfall.
The area 1t drains Is more than one
third as large as either Europe or the
United States, and SO much water falls
that If 1t could be collected together
it would moro than I'LL a ditch q mule
wide and mile deep reacling from
New York to Chicago. The river Is
fed by mighty lakes. one of which Is
The largest on earth Victoria Nyanza
Is bigger than Lake Superior Lake
Albert il about the size of the Great
Salt Lake, and Lake Tsana has all area
A Of 1900 square miles. Notwithstanding
this, the windings OF the Nile are such
mat more than one half OF the water
supply does not get to the lands that
Il noed it, and during the summer there
Is only about enough saved to accom-
modate Ngypt AT the time OF the
foods, which occur every year, vast
E quantities o. water so to waste, and