The Great Difficulty
Of The Suez Canal Will Be The Silting Up Of The Entrance By The
Nile; This Would Be Prevented Were The Mud Deposited In The Upper
Country.
During the civil war in America, Egypt proved her capabilities by
producing a large amount of cotton of most
Excellent quality,
that assisted us materially in the great dearth of that article;
but, although large fortunes were realized by the extension of
this branch of agriculture, the Egyptians suffered considerably
in consequence. The area of fertile soil was too limited, and, as
an unusual surface was devoted to the growth of cotton, there was
a deficiency in the production of corn; and Egypt, instead of
exporting as heretofore, was forced to import large quantities of
grain. Were the area of Egypt increased to a vast extent by the
proposed system of irrigation, there would be space sufficient
for both grain and cotton to any amount required. The desert
soil, that is now utterly worthless, would become of great value;
and the taxes upon the increased produce would not only cover the
first outlay of the irrigation works, but would increase the
revenue in the ratio proportionate to the increased surface of
fertility. A dam across the Atbara would irrigate the entire
country from Gozerajup to Berber, a distance of upwards of 200
miles; and the same system upon the Nile would carry the waters
throughout the deserts between Khartoum and Dongola, and from
thence to Lower Egypt. The Nubian desert, from Korosko to Abou
Hamed, would become a garden, the whole of that sterile country
inclosed within the great western bend of the Nile towards
Dongola would be embraced in the system of irrigation, and the
barren sands that now give birth to the bitter melon of the
desert (Cucumis colocynthis), would bring forth the water-melon,
and heavy crops of grain.* The great Sahara is desert, simply
because it receives no rainfall: give it only water, and the sand
will combine with the richer soil beneath, and become productive.
England would become a desert, could it be deprived of rain for
three or four years; the vegetation would wither and be carried
away by the wind, together with the lighter and more friable
portions of the soil, which, reduced to dust, would leave the
coarser and more sandy particles exposed upon the surface; but
the renewal of rain would revivify the country. The deserts of
Egypt have never known rain, except in the form of an unexpected
shower, that has passed away as suddenly as it arrived; even that
slight blessing awakens ever-ready Nature, and green things
appear upon the yellow surface of the ground, that cause the
traveller to wonder how their seeds could germinate after the
exposure for so many months in the burning sand. Give water to
these thirsty deserts, and they will reply with gratitude.
* The great deserts of Northern Africa, to about
the 170 N. lat., are supposed to have formed the
bottom of the Mediterranean, but to have been
upheaved to their present level. The volcanic bombs
discovered in the Nubian Desert suggest, by their
spherical form, that the molten lava ejected by
active volcanoes had fallen from a great height
into water, that had rapidly cooled them, in the
same manner that lead shot is manufactured at the
present day. It is therefore highly probable that
the extinct craters now in existence in the Nubian
Desert were active at a period when they formed
volcanic islands in a sea--similar to Stromboli,
&c. &c.
This is the way to civilize a country: the engineer will alter
the hard conditions of nature, that have rendered man as barren
of good works as the sterile soil upon which he lives. Let man
have hope; improve the present, that his mind may look forward to
a future; give him a horse that will answer to the spur, if he is
to run in the race of life; give him a soil that will yield and
tempt him to industry; give him the means of communication with
his fellow-men, that he may see his own inferiority by
comparison; provide channels for the transport of his produce,
and for the receipt of foreign manufactures, that will engender
commerce: and then, when he has advanced so far in the scale of
humanity, you may endeavour to teach him the principles of
Christianity. Then, and not till then, can we hope for moral
progress. We must begin with the development of the physical
capabilities of a country before we can expect from its
inhabitants sufficient mental vigour to receive and understand
the truths of our religion. I have met with many Christian
missionaries, of various and conflicting creeds, who have
fruitlessly sown the seed of Christianity upon the barren soil of
Africa; but their labours were ill-timed, they were too early in
the field, the soil is unprepared; the missionary, however
earnest, must wait until there be some foundation for a
superstructure. Raise the level of the waters, and change the
character of the surrounding deserts: this will also raise the
intellectual condition of the inhabitants by an improvement in
the natural conditions of their country. . . . . . .
The first portion of our task was completed. We had visited all
the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, including the great Blue Nile
that had been traced to its source by Bruce. The difficult task
still lay before us--to penetrate the unknown regions in the
distant south, to discover the White Nile source.* Speke and
Grant were on their road from Zanzibar, cutting their way upon
untrodden ground towards Gondokoro. Petherick's expedition to
assist them had met with misfortune, and we trusted to be able to
reach the equator, and perhaps to meet our Zanzibar explorers
somewhere about the sources of the Nile. Although we had worked
hard throughout all seasons, over an immense extent of country,
we were both strong and well, and the rest of some months at
Khartoum had only served to inspire us with new vigour for the
commencement of the work before us.
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