The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-09-29
] ao7, w Frank G. Car

4 pentcr.) MI 3 &
VI as Bib Shellal, Nubia.
Within u nile or so of The red gram
Ma quarries. out OF which Polnpcy's
Pillar and the obelisks were taken by.
+ the ancient Egyptians. just below the,
\ Island Of Phtlae, wttl&its stone temples
tfhutlt ages Sago#to the Goddess of ISIS,
far up the Nile valley, on the edge of
Fl lower Nnbia, | write these notes for
E my American readers. am in the
4 Heart OF the desert, 700 miles south of
tic Mediterranean Sea, at the point
u where the great river drops downSovers
& the first cataract. have come here to.
describe the Assouan dam, which the
British have built to harness the Nile
& and thereby save, Egypt from famine.
The Nile in Harness.
We all look upon this as the Oldest OF
/ rivers, but the Nile god Of 1907 has
many new aspects. For ages he has
been ranptng and charglngaa at his own
& sweet will; hut he is now being har-s
messed and will have to work in the
traces like an old plow ilihle. III the
past he has been feeding his daughter
Egypt or not, as he pleased. W He has
sometimes stuffed her to REPETITION, and
at others has held back his supplies Of
4 water and mud causing q anime. This
was the case during the seven hungry
Years of Joseph's time, and the fat
years of that day We're undoubtedly
~ produced by high Niles. SUCH changes
= lave occurred in Egypt from time TO
time sincc&the days! of the Pyramids,
and it is only within the past genera
5btion that man has attempted to con-
r troll the old river and by a system Of
Il dams to hold back the waters and let
* them out over the farms us needed.
Within the past twenty Years some-
hing like s50,00O,00O has Seen spent
in this way. and there are how great
marriages at Cairo, at Assiout, and,
more important than all, away up here
at Assouan n
How Egypt Is Watcrcd.
But first let me tell YOU in a nut
shell how Egypt is watered. The
3 country Is almost ranless and the Nile
Nh gives both land and people their food
f Hhd drink Iou have all heard Of the
KIP wonders ofatfe stream itself. 1t H.
ny with the exception OF the Mississippi
&& The longest river of the world so long
that If 1T wire stretched out in one
S straight line it could reach from thu
3Ef great lakes to the Gulf Of Mexico, and
e@ then turning. cross our country FROM
tHF the Atlantic to the Pacific It rises
Is In Lake Victoria, In the heart of Cen
8 trail African and drops distance gres.-
.ip$cr than the altitude of the highest Of
Il the Alleghenies before 1T flows into
III the Mediterranean Sea. During the
upper part of its course 1t is known
IEhs the White Nile, and this should 1e
S5Gcalled the main strear, of the river.
s At Khartum. 1850 miles ron the
Mediterr lneaa. the Blue Nile. which
s9 rises in the Abyssinian noun ia ing.
romcs in, and about lao miles further
q MOI III the Atbara, or Black Nile, which
also Is from Abyssinia, joins the main
stream. From tho mouthQnf thn IT,
ff,H=.> ~ I ntH
or stream Of any kind connected with
the river ItA Aows It's way. thon~ll
e TIE desert VALVE in which it has built
up Egypt narrowing and widening,
until q fe y miles below Cairo, where
it divides into two great branches and
flows off5into the Mediterranean. 74
The Nile Flood.
rho volume of the Nile is enormous.
Il At Hood times, here at Assouan, n
billion tons Of water go by eV"nN DIV.
The river then rises twenty-five feet
at Cairo, thrty-eight feet at Old
Az Thebes, and almost fifty feet at the
Il first cataract where now am. There
+, is SO much water | en- that nc daT
B u works have Ito be made SO that the
4 water can be let in and out and al.
lowed to pass through at will.
1t is at flood time that the Nile val
Icy gets its rich feed OF Abysstnian
mud This is brought down&in part by
5 the Blue Nile, but more nbundantly by
tho Athara, or Black Nile. 1t is car
ried by the floods all over EGYPT ano
I by means of irrigation canals and by
4 various pumps, some worked by men
i3 some by animals and some by ma
Il H oh inery, 1t is conducted to nearly every
is,i farm After the floods subslde, the wa
f3- tiers grew clear again. The Blue Nile
and the Black Nile become almost dry
!i and the white water Of the main OF
Victoria Nile is about all that Egyp
has. It is this white water that Is
5& stored up by the Assouan dam, and y
5z leeds tho country in much the same
@I|way as our irrigation canals do, witt
.ss,yater only, and not with a thick mix
$Sgture of water and mud as in the time:
of the flood.
A Vast Series Of Basins.
For Thousands ot.ycars these rivers
lave Incorporating down through thu
s.s Nile valley ,a but.Swhenevcr the rain
3S4 have been escanty in the highlands o
Il fsS a byssinia and in Central Africa til
M main stream has not been high enough
& to reach the whole country. The mos
of the lands could be flooded onl.
fs5t once a year, and If the Nile was espc
{5sfsS cially low some could have no waite
=
ned to give Egypt water all the yea
round, and to supply enough to make
produce twosor three crops every yeal
have been much interested in til
Irrigation works of the past. Th
4 whole Of the Nile valley above Cali,
IS cut up into series Of basins. 70
500 or 700 miles north Of this point III
Valley slopes very gradually, and. !
order TO save the water, bikes hay
been made across it and embankment
l8s3A :-un parallel With the river, turnin
Il the whole country into a series
basin-like terraces Each basin cor
tains from 5000 TO $4,000 acres an
the dlkcs are such that the water hi
10 flow from basin to basin, betwee
the Nile embankments and the wal
II; of the desert so that none of 1t Is los
These basins are often subdivide
and they are so connected that II
water flows from one 10 the othe
and finally passes out Of tile low
basin back into the Nile. When Il
floods come. the lowest basins are Ill,
Y St "a rl \, ivbn