(1) that the contractors provide the entire capital; (2) that the Egyptian Government pay nothing until the works are actually completed; and (3) that at the end of thirty years, after the completion of the works, Messrs. Aird & Co. will have been paid some 4 millions, or more than twice the estimated cost of the works in question.

It is obvious that such an arrangement for deferred payment is less desirable, from a financial point of view, than a readymoney transaction; since, making due allowance for the interest saved on the capital sum, which would have been required for immediate payment, the Egyptian treasury will, in the end, pay considerably more than the ready-money cost of the work. The inability of the Egyptian Government to find the necessary funds for immediate payment is due, however, not to any deficiency in the revenues of Egypt, but to the control over these revenues which is exercised by the International Authority. At the very time when this contract was entered into, a fund sufficient for the purpose, and one which might have been most properly applied in providing the country with public works of this reproductive nature, was actually in existence. It had been accumulated by the successive economies resulting from the conversion of the Privileged Debt in 1890, and on December 31st, 1897, the value of the Egyptian stocks, in which these annual economies had been invested, amounted to £E2,767,000. Under the existing arrangement, this fund cannot be touched by the Egyptian Government without the consent of the Powers; and the Nile reservoir thus affords another instance of the injury which is inflicted upon Egypt by the continued presence of the International factor. Under the given circumstances-that is to say, in the face of this inability of Egypt to employ her own accumulated capital-the arrangement was not only the best that could be made, but the fact that the Egyptian Government had the courage to make it, forms in itself a practical denial of the allegations by which this ungenerous policy is supported. For the retention of this and similar funds in the hands of the

Caisse de la Dette, can only be justified on the supposition that the power of Egypt to meet her obligations is decreasing. The evidence of the last fifteen years is in itself sufficient to make this supposition untenable; but the fact that the Egyptian Government are prepared to increase their liabilities to so large an extent, shows that they, at least, look forward to expanding

revenues.

The details of the actual gain which is expected to result

from the construction of these new irrigation works in Upper Egypt, are contained in a memorandum by Sir William Garstin, enclosed in Lord Cromer's Report for 1898. It will, however, be sufficient to give the main conclusions at which Sir William Garstin arrives, without entering into these details. In the first place, 774,000 feddans of " basin" land will be converted into Egypt, No. 1 (1898).

sefi; that is to say, the present system of flood irrigation will be superseded by perennial irrigation in this area. In the second place, as the result of this extension of the perennial system of irrigation, and generally of the water-supply of Egypt, the value of the annual wealth of the country will be increased by £E2,608,000; and in the third place, the State will derive an annual benefit from this increased wealth of £E378,400, while it will obtain an additional sum of £E1,020,000 from the sale of reclaimed lands. This estimate is a very cautious one; for, as Sir William Garstin points out, he has based his computations upon a year of "low Nile," and such years occur, on an average, only once in five years. Unless, therefore, the nature of the Nile should be suddenly altered, the figures of this estimate will be exceeded in four out of every five years.

At the time of our visit to the Nile reservoir there were, we were told, some 3000 Arabs and some 700 Europeans at work. Of these latter, the bulk were Italian stone-cutters. The work was to be continued through the summer, but in the hot weather the workmen would rest between II A.M. and 2.30 P.M., and the quarries would be covered with canvas screens. All the stone which was required for the dam was to be taken from the rocks around it; and the men were all paid on the system of piece work. Next year, it was expected that some 5000 Arabs, and more than 1000 Europeans, would be employed.

CHAPTER XVI

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE CONDITION OF

THE FELLÂHÎN

From Assuân to the Fayûm-Scene of the Nile reservoir of ancient Egypt-Herodotus's account of Lake Moeris-Strabo's account-Fertility of the district-The Labyrinth-The Mudîr of the Fayûm-Local administration in Egypt-Representative institutions established by organic law-Legislative Chamber-General Assembly-Municipalities-Provincial and Town Councils-The Mudir central figure in provincial administration-Hassan Bey— His duties and functions-Relations of Mudîr and Parquet-Industrial development of the provinces-Light railways-In the Delta-The Fayûm Light Railway Co.-Native Board of Management-Construction of markets in provincial towns and villages-Aspect of the Fayûm-The Fellâh—In the fields-At home-The indebtedness of the Fellâhîn-Proposals to remedy this evil.

WE left Assuân on Saturday, the 25th of February, and reached Medînet el-Fayûm a little before noon the next day. As the only train which would catch the Cairo express at Luxor passed Assuân at six o'clock on its way from Shellâl, it was necessary to make an early start; and the grey light of dawn was only just beginning to appear as we rode from the hôtel to the station. At five o'clock on Sunday morning we left the express at Wasta, the junction for the Fayûm. It was then quite dark, and some time elapsed before we could find any place in which to bestow ourselves and our luggage. Eventually we were taken to a room in which the station-master lay asleep. Here we saw our bags deposited in safety, but for ourselves we preferred the fresh air of the platform. The train for the Fayûm did not leave until ten o'clock, but our faithful tea-basket was with us, and with the aid of this and the remains of the provisions which we had brought from the hôtel at Assuân, we were able to provide a simple breakfast.

We had written beforehand to engage rooms at the Hôtel du Fayûm, and we found a stout Nubian, with a couple of Arabs, waiting at the Medînet station to take charge of our luggage. A friend from whom we had heard of the place had called it "a tolerable Greek inn"; and this description exactly fitted it. The street door opened directly into a large bare chamber, of which the sole furniture consisted of a billiard-table, and a number of small iron tables and chairs standing round the sides. One or two small rooms opened directly from this chamber, and opposite the entrance a staircase led to a balcony which overlooked the interior of the large room, and gave access to the bedrooms above it. The Greek proprietor, however, did all that he could to make us comfortable during the week that we remained under his roof, and the simple fare with which he provided us was by no means unpalatable. The hôtel stands in the centre of the town, on the bank of the Bahr Yûsuf, and it was alive with the stir and movement of the capital of a flourishing province.

Thanks to the railway, we had been thus swiftly carried from the scene of the engineering enterprize which is to furnish Egypt with its Nile reservoir to-day, to the site of the reservoir with which ancient Egypt was provided by the wisdom of the Pharaohs. This ancient reservoir was the natural basin enclosed by low hills, which, lying some fifteen miles westward of the Nile, and some twenty miles southward of Memphis, was known to the Greeks as Lake Moeris. The greater portion of this basin, which was roughly some thirty miles in diameter, once covered by the waters of Lake Moeris, now forms the fertile province of the Fayûm ;1 and the waters which once stretched over the entire area are now confined to the narrow lake called the Birket Karûn, which lies under the hills which form its south-western edge. Two accounts of this ancient reservoir have come down to us. first was written by Herodotus, who saw it as it was than four hundred years before the Christian era; the second,

The

more

1 The word is said to be derived from the Egyptian Phiom, meaning "lake." Moeris is connected with the Egyptian me(r)-wer, i.e. the "great canal."