Were A System Of Irrigation
Established Upon The Principle That I Have Proposed, The
Advantages Would Be Enormous.
The silt deposited in the
Mediterranean, that now chokes the mouths of the Nile, and blocks
up harbours, would
Be precipitated upon the broad area of
newly-irrigated lands, and by the time that the water arrived at
the sea, it would have been filtered in its passage, and have
become incapable of forming a fresh deposit. 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.
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