the right of the roadway was the parapet, relieved by the semicircular projections which mark the centre of each of the sixtyone arches which formed the down-stream front. The Damietta Barrage led us to the isthmus which separates the two branches of the Nile. The broad roadway was pleasantly shaded with trees, and on the left of it some pretty gardens had been laid out. These gardens, we were told, were thronged by holiday parties, both native and European, who came from Cairo on Friday—the Mohammedan day of rest-and on Sunday. In the centre of the isthmus we found the system of sluices and locks which marked

MENOFIYEH CANAL AND LOCK.

the head of the Menûfiyeh Canal, and east and west of these works were the offices of the Barrage and the residence of the Director, Mr. Allan Joseph. Both of these buildings, and the public gardens-although these latter had not yet been completed-appeared to be in perfect order. From the Director's house a fine avenue leads to the gateway of the Rosetta Barrage. By this branch, which resembles the Damietta branch in all respects, we passed to the west bank of the Nile. Here we found an untidy Arab village, and amused ourselves by watching the passage of several boats through the western lock. From

this bank the down-stream front of the Rosetta Barrage spread its arches in a long and imposing line across the brown water of the Nile.

At the time of my visit the piers and foundations of the Barrage had just been strengthened by an ingenious device. It was found by experiments, made in January 1897, upon the Rosetta Barrage, that cavities existed in the masonry of some of the piers. As the result of this discovery, the Public Works Department determined to take all possible measures for securing a work of such vital importance against the imminent risk of accident thus revealed. In order to consolidate the existing masonry, four holes were drilled in each pier. They were driven through the piers, through the successive layers of the masonry of the foundations to the sand beneath. Then "pure cement grout, of the consistency of thick cream, was poured until both cavity and tube could take no more." In this way it was hoped that the cavities in the interior of the piers would be filled up by sound material, and that the foundation, as a whole, would be "tightened up" by the cement thus introduced under pressure of the weight of its own column. This pressure was estimated to vary from 19 to 26 tons per square metre. The probable effect of this operation and the necessity for it-may be understood from the fact that five holes of one pier alone in the Rosetta Barrage took 439 barrels of cement; this, however, was an exceptional case, for the average amount taken by each pier was 25 barrels. The consolidation of the Rosetta Barrage was accomplished in 1897, and the Damietta Barrage was treated in the same way during the following year.1

But a second and more extensive work, undertaken with the same object in view, was in progress. This work consists in the construction of two subsidiary weirs-one on each branch of the Nile-a few hundred yards below the Barrage. These weirs, which

1 Egypt, No. 1 (1898), and No. 3 (1899). This important work was completed under the direction of Major Brown, the Inspector-General of Irrigation for Lower Egypt, and Mr. Alien Joseph, the Director of the Barrage.

are to be constructed of "rough rubble masonry laid in cement, will be submerged during the period of flood; but when the Barrage is holding up the stream of the Nile, they will lessen the strain by raising the down-stream level of the water. In this way it is expected that the difference between the water level on either side of the Barrage will be reduced from 4 to 2 metres. And, in addition to this reduction of the strain.

upon the parent weir, the subsidiary weirs will also increase its efficiency; since it is intended to raise the gates of the Barrage so that the depth of the water held up will be increased from 14 to 15 metres (about 50 feet), although, at the same time, the difference between the two levels will not exceed 2 metres. A sum of £E530,000 has been granted by the Caisse de la Dette for the construction of these weirs, and it is expected that the

works will be completed by the end of 1901.1 As we crossed the Damietta Barrage we noticed the barges filled with building material and other signs of the progress of the first of the two weirs which is being constructed in this branch of the Nile. We were told, however, that although the engineers could complete the work before the Nile rose, they did not intend to do so; because they wished to see what effect would be actually produced by the weir before they determined the height to which it was to be finally raised.

In addition to the construction of these subsidiary weirs, which are intended at once to assure and increase the watersupply of Lower Egypt, and in addition to those great works in Upper Egypt, which will subsequently come under our notice, the irrigation service is at the present time engaged in improving the drainage of the whole cultivable area of the country. In 1897 a sum of £E296,000 was devoted to this purpose, with the result that 325 kilometres of new drains were made, and 163 kilometres of previously existing drains were improved. In 1898 £E281,000 was spent upon drainage works in Lower Egypt, producing 308 kilometres of new, and 267 kilometres of improved, drains. The greater part of the money thus expended was furnished by the Caisse de la Dette, and a further sum of £E200,000 has been granted by the same authority from the General Reserve Fund for drainage in the present year. Of the benefits to be derived from such expenditure Lord Cromer writes: “Every landowner in the country understands the advantage of a drain, and every one appreciates the work which is now being done. few years' time the country will possess a complete system of drains; the projects for the future are all well in hand, and fairly mapped out. Five years of annually decreasing expenditure should see them all finished, so that by the time that the increased water-supply resulting from the Nile reservoir is available, the country will be able to make use of it without risk of waterlogging and deterioration of the soil." 2

1 Egypt, No. 1 (1898), and No. 3 (1899).

2

Egypt, No. 3 (1899).

In a

CHAPTER XII

THE PYRAMIDS

The museum at Gizeh-Egyptian statues-Conventional attitudes-Type of face revealed Coptic sculptures-Egyptian art "barbaric "-Visit to the Pyramids of Gizeh-Absence of romance-The Sphinx-Enormous bulk of Pyramids of Cheops and Chephren-Origin of the Pyramids-Immortality of the soul-Herodotus's account-View from the plain-Merits and defects of Pyramids as essays in architecture-Esthetic significance-Due to size -Power of association-Remains of Memphis-Sakkara-Apis tombsMastaba of Thy-Heliopolis-Plato's residence there-Strabo's accountRevision of the calendar due to priests.

In the last week of January we visited the Pyramids. The old Cairo had proved so absorbing, and the new Cairo so full of the palpitating interests of the present, that our second month in Egypt had almost run out, when we began to think of Memphis, the great predecessor of the Arabian town. The ancient capital of the Pharaohs has indeed passed almost utterly from the face of the earth, but its necropolis still stretches from Gizeh to Dahshûr; and from the heights of the Mokattam Hills, from the Citadel, from the minaret of Tulûn, from the Windmill Hill, from the mounds of Babylon-from every elevated place where we had been, the grey triangles of the Pyramids had risen in the distance, and seemed to reproach us for our long neglect.

But the Egypt of the monuments was a novel study, and we felt that we must furnish our minds with new ideas before we dared embark upon so strange a subject. The book of its history is "writ large" in pyramid, tomb, and temple; but before the traveller can read the meaning of these forms his eye must be familiarized with the atmosphere, thought, and circumstances of that far-off age in which these monuments took shape. Happily the materials for this process were near at hand. In their