The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-24

ming south across TO where the Sohai
river flows in. such q canal would
carry the waters OF the Nile along %
the highlands above the swamps and
prevent their fTowfnE into them kept
when desired. This canal would need
10 be a little over two hundred miles
long. and IL could be controlled at Bor
by a regulator across the strearn. b.
which as much or as little Of the Nile
as Is needed a be sent down Ems
river The channel proposed woui
carry about one thousand tons al
water per second. which IS only one
fifth more than the amoun discharges
into the big canal at Asstout- Tnt'
or Sob4t canal would shorten the main
Nile as Z n~avtgabIe waterway. and all
the boats going up and down the
stream would pass through it The
excavation would cost about $4,000
900 and the regulator works 5000
900 more.
Danaming the Great Lakes.
With this part Of the Nile channel
so improved by means Of regulators AZ
Lake Albert and Lake Victoria. wncre
tbs Nile flows out. the supply Of water
for Egypt and a part Of the sudan
would b unlimited. Lake Victoria
would furnish an ~inexhaustible roscr-
voir. and / understand that the proper
works could be put in at Ripon falls
at no very great expense. A lam
there would mean the storage of TO-
600. 600, 0G0 tons OF water for every
meters rise Of the lake. The As
souan dam. as ii is now built. stores
only LOCO. 000, 900 tons. and when IL
is raised according TO the new plans
now being carried out it will store only
1000, 900 900 tons. Raising the sur
face OF Lake Victoria a little over a
yard viii store thfrty-five times as
much in addition to its present enor-
nous contents.
There Is one obstacle. however, 70
such an undertaking. The rising OF
the lake might flood parts Of German
East Africa. and. if so, the kaiser
mouth OF Lake Albert would result in
the storage of 5000. 900, 600 tons for
every meter of height, and the two
lakes together would have, for eacn
meter added 10 them a storage cs.pa-
city Of $4,000, 600 600 tons an
Oun beyond conception enormous
Within the.n next few months I cxprct
TO make my way southwark 20 the
great lakes of central Africa, and snail
be able to discuss this matter from
the STANDPOINT of the conditions about
Lake Victoria. AS the civil e~nginecrs
here estimate it the regulation OF Vic
toria ana Albert lax s could be accom-
plished at a cost of $40, 600. 600. which
IS 81, 900, 600 less than was the cost Of
building the Assouan dam.
The Improvement of the Blue Nile.
If these projects for the White Nile
are carried out, Egypt will have all
the summer water she needs and mucn
of her desert. not now irrigated, can
be made fertile. The water supply will
be constant all the year round, and
there will be no objection to the use
of the Blue Nile for the irrigation Of
the Sudan. That river will still be
to carry it's heavy load Of
silt down to Egypt during the floods,
but, in the summer, it may be so reg
ulated bN a dam at Lake Esana as will
furnish perennial irrigation to a large
region near here. The Blue Nile is
just about as long as from Philadel-
phia to Chicago. 1t rises in the noun
tains Of AbysSinia at an altitude as
great as that. of the top of Mount
Washington, and winds its way down
through AbysSinia and the Sudan to
KhartuIn, where it joins the White
Nile. The river here is about as wide
the Potomac at Washington, and IT'S
waters are now beautifully clear.
During the floods they turn reddish
Thrown, being loaded with a great
quantity of the leaf mold of the Abys-
forests and the scOurings of the
volcanic rocks of the Abyssinian pla%
The river is navigable as far
the cataracts at Rosaires, which is
243 miles from here, and there are
regular steamers plying upon it. Be