THE BINDING OF THE NILE
AND
THE NEW SOUDAN
[Illustration: _Mehemet Ali,_
_from a painting in the possession of the Oriental Club._
LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD: 1904.]
THE
BINDING OF THE NILE
AND
THE NEW SOUDAN
BY THE HON.
SIDNEY PEEL
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD
AUTHOR OF ‘TROOPER 8008 I.Y.’
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
Publisher to H. M. India Office
1904
[_All rights reserved_]
PREFACE
I have tried to tell in outline the story of the regulation of the Nile
and some of its consequences. A rash project, perhaps, for one who is
not an engineer; but, then, this book is not written for engineers, and
politics enter largely into it.
I have had some special opportunities of observation, and I have many
friends to thank for the help which they have given me. In particular I
am much indebted to the _Standard_, whose special correspondent in
Egypt and the Soudan I had the good fortune to be during a part of
1902-1903.
Anyone who wishes to gain a real acquaintance with the principles and
details of Egyptian Irrigation should read the monumental and
interesting work by Sir W. Willcocks, K.C.M.G., on that subject, to
which my indebtedness is large.
The standard work on the Soudan is not yet written. There is but one
man who combines the necessary knowledge, experience, and attainments
to do it, and he, fortunately for the Soudan, is—and will be for a long
time to come—too fully occupied with his arduous and multifarious
duties. I mean, of course, the present Governor-General, Sir Reginald
Wingate. No official of the Soudan Government, least of all he, has
leisure to write a book; but I sincerely hope that the materials for it
are steadily collecting.
S. P.
CONTENTS
PART I
THE BINDING OF THE NILE
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE NILE 3
II. BASIN IRRIGATION 13
III. PERENNIAL IRRIGATION 23
IV. THE CULTURE OF THE FIELDS 32
V. THE DELTA BARRAGE AND THE ENGLISH ENGINEERS 43
VI. THE CORVÉE 59
VII. RESERVOIR PRELIMINARIES 68
VIII. THE DAM AND THE NEW BARRAGES 81
IX. THE INAUGURATION OF THE RESERVOIR 91
X. BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT 101
XI. SCHEMES FOR THE FUTURE 111
XII. THE SUDD 124
XIII. THE UNITY OF NILELAND 134
PART II
THE NEW SOUDAN
XIV. THE PAST 139
XV. THE PAST—_continued_ 159
XVI. THE NEW KHARTOUM 173
XVII. THE NEW SOUDAN 185
XVIII. JUSTICE AND SLAVERY 200
XIX. EDUCATION AND THE GORDON COLLEGE 214
XX. TRADE AND COMMERCE 226
XXI. TAXATION, REVENUE, AND EXPENDITURE 247
XXII. THE COST OF THE SOUDAN TO EGYPT 261
XXIII. CONCLUSION 270
INDEX 278
MAP OF EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN _At end_
PORTRAIT
MEHEMET ALI _Frontispiece_
(From the painting by T. Brigstock in the possession of
the Oriental Club.)
PART I
THE BINDING OF THE NILE
CHAPTER I
THE NILE
Far back in the world’s history a fracture of the earth’s crust
took place in the region which is now Egypt, and the sea filled the
valley as far as a point not much north of Assouan. Into this fiord
ran several rivers from the high ground east and west, bearing
down with them heaps of detritus, and forming small deltas like
the plain of Kom-Ombos. On the sea-bottom were laid down deposits
of sand and gravel, and then the land began to rise. Meantime the
volcanic movements of East Central Africa had shaped the country
into its present configuration, and the rivers which drained from
the great lakes and swamps of the south, and those which flowed down
from the high plateau on the east, combining their waters somewhere
about Khartoum, pushed their marvellous course northwards, and began
the creation of the fertile soil of Egypt. From this time onwards
the climatic conditions must have continued very much what they are
to-day. Changes, of course, there have been in the level of the land;
but the sea-valley had become a river-valley, and year by year the
annual flood increased the cultivable soil, and refreshed it with
moisture, just as it would be doing to-day if left untrammelled by
the devices of man.
Late in the history of the river-valley, but very early in the history
of humanity, this favoured strip of country became the home of men,
who doubtless cast their seed upon the slime left by the retreating
waters, and reaped their crops long before the dawn of history. It is
remarkable and characteristic of the conditions of the country that
tradition ascribes to the earliest King of Egypt, Menes, the first
King of the First Dynasty, the first attempts to regulate the flow
of the river—in other words, the first scheme of irrigation proper.
If it were possible to divert the river from its course, and
effectually to bar its way before it reached the boundaries of Egypt,
what an appalling catastrophe would follow—no mere disaster,
but absolute annihilation! On the coast lands of the Mediterranean
a sparse population might still eke out a miserable existence by
storing the scanty rainfall, but nowhere else. The very oases of the
desert would be dried up, and in a short time the shifting sands of
the Sahara would have overlaid the deposits in the river-valley,
and buried out of sight even the ruins of the past. The waters of
the Nile are, and ever have been, the sole giver of all life in Egypt.
Whoever finds himself in Cairo should lose no time in taking his stand
upon the bridge, and in reflecting upon the history of the water
that goes sliding and eddying beneath him, on the way to perform
its last duties among the cotton-fields of the delta. Some of it
has been travelling for three months from its sources beyond the
Victoria Nyanza, itself over 1,100 metres[1] above sea-level. From
the Victoria Nyanza it has passed down the Somerset Nile into the
Albert Nyanza, thence a five days’ journey to Lado, past Duffile
and the Fola Rapids. From Lado to Bor the fall is still rapid, but
henceforward as far as Khartoum, some 1,000 miles, the stream is
on a very feeble slope. Between Bor and the junction of the Ghazal
River on the left bank is the region of the sudd, floating masses
of compressed vegetation, which, if neglected entirely, block the
course of the river. Here, too, are the wide and desolate marshes,
inhabited by myriads of mosquitoes and that strange, melancholy bird,
the whale-headed stork (_Balæniceps rex_).
The Ghazal River contributes very little to the flow of the Nile,
owing to wide lagoons through which it passes, and which cause great
evaporation. The river then passes sharply to the right, and sixty
miles further on is joined by the Sobat from the eastern hills, which
in flood brings down a volume equal to that of the Nile, but during
summer contributes little or nothing. From the white sediment brought
down by the Sobat the White Nile derives its name and colour. Hence
it flows in a wide bed, a mile across on the average, 540 miles to
its junction with the Blue Nile at Khartoum. Khartoum is still 1,800
miles from the sea, and 390 metres above it. Two hundred miles north
of Khartoum, near to Berber, the Atbara River flows in, and hence
the Nile pursues its solitary way through the desert until, after a
circuitous bend round Dongola, it bursts through the rocky defiles
of Nubia, and emerges at Assouan into Egypt proper. Of the distance
between Khartoum and Assouan about 350 miles consist of so-called
cataracts, during which the total drop is 200 metres; about 750
miles are ordinary channel, with a total drop of nearly 100 metres.
Of all the affluents of the Nile, the Blue Nile (assisted by its
tributaries, the Rahad and the Dinder) and the Atbara have been of
infinitely the greatest importance to Egypt in the past. Not only
do their waters contribute the largest proportion of the annual
flood, but also down them comes the rich volcanic detritus swept
from the Abyssinian hills by the heavy summer rains, which composes
the red-brown silt so dear to the Egyptian cultivator. To understand
the system of irrigation in Egypt it is necessary to have a clear
view of the amount of water derived from the different sources at
different times of the year.
The great lakes and swamps of Uganda, acting as reservoirs, prevent
any great differences in the discharge of water above Lado. At
that place the low Nile discharge is about 500 cubic metres[2] per
second; but, in spite of the Ghazal River and the Sobat, so great
is the loss by diffusion in the marshes and by direct evaporation,
that at Khartoum the discharge is no more than 300 cubic metres
per second. At this time the Blue Nile is giving no more than 160
cubic metres per second at Khartoum, and the Atbara is not running at
all. The loss between Khartoum and Assouan is about 50 cubic metres,
and consequently the amount of water passing Assouan in May in an
ordinary year is 410 cubic metres per second. This is the summer
supply of Egypt.
Meantime heavy rains have been falling about Lado and on the
Sobat. Towards April 15 the river begins to rise, the effect of which
is felt at Khartoum about May 20, and at Assouan about June 10. A
most curious phenomenon accompanies this preliminary increase—the
appearance of the ‘green’ water. It used to be thought that
this ‘green’ water proceeded from the sudd region. During the
previous months the swamps in that country have been lying isolated
and stagnant under the burning tropical sun; their waters have become
polluted with decaying vegetable matter. When once more the rising
river overtops its banks, this fœtid water was supposed to be swept
out into the stream, and finally make its appearance in Egypt. But a
closer examination of the facts, which has only been possible since
the Soudan was re-opened, has caused this view to be abandoned.
The ‘green water’ is caused by the presence of an innumerable
number of microscopic algæ, which give it a very offensive taste
and smell. So far as can be ascertained, their origin is in the
tributaries of the Sobat above Nasser. The rains in April carry
them out into the White Nile, and thence they pass down to Nubia
and Egypt. Under a hot sun and in clear water they increase with
amazing rapidity, and sometimes they form a column 250 to 500 miles
long. These weeds go on growing, drying, and decaying, until the
arrival of the turbid flood-water, which at once puts an end to the
whole process, as they cannot survive except in clear water.
Horrible as the ‘green’ water is, its appearance is hailed with
delight by the Egyptian, for he knows that it is the forerunner of
the rushing waters of the real flood-time, and the first sign of
the coming close of the water-famine. By September 1 the Nile at
Lado has reached its maximum of 1,600 cubic metres. In the valley
of the Sobat the rains last till November, with the result that
by September 15 or 20 the White Nile at Khartoum has attained its
maximum discharge of 4,500 cubic metres per second.
Meanwhile great things have been happening on the Blue Nile and the
Atbara. About July 5 the Blue Nile begins to rise, and the flood
comes down with considerable rapidity till it reaches its maximum of
5,500 cubic metres per second on August 25. The famous ‘red’ water
reaches Assouan on July 15, and is seen ten days later at Cairo. The
flood on the Atbara would begin at nearly the same time as on the
Blue Nile, but for the fact that it spends a month in saturating
its own dry bed and the adjoining country. Once it begins, however,
about July 5, it comes very rapidly, and about August 20 reaches
its maximum, which is usually some 3,400 cubic metres per second,
but occasionally amounts to as much as 4,900.
If these three contributors, the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the
Atbara, all reached their maximum at the same time, the result in
an ordinary year would be a discharge at Assouan of some 13,000 to
14,000 cubic metres per second, and in occasional years a very great
deal more. But this is not the case. In an ordinary year the Nile is
at its lowest at Assouan at the end of May, discharging no more than
410 cubic metres per second. After the arrival of the ‘green’
water it rises slowly till July 20. By that time the ‘red’
water is fairly on the move, and the rise goes on with increased
rapidity till the maximum is reached, on September 5, of 10,000 cubic
metres. But both date and amount are liable to variation. If the
White Nile flood is a weak one, and the Atbara early, the maximum
may be reached a day or two earlier; but if the White Nile is very
strong it will not be attained until September 20. A late maximum,
in other words, means a good supply of water in the White Nile,
and as the White Nile is the principal source of supply after the
flood is over, this fact is of inestimable importance to Egypt. But
occasionally, as in 1878, this is carried to excess. In that year
the White Nile flood was very late and very high. The maximum was not
reached till September 30, when 13,200 cubic metres per second were
passing Assouan, with very disastrous results in Egypt. All through
the following summer the supply was very good, and at its lowest,
in May, was more than three times as great as the average.[3]
Curiously enough, the preceding year offered a startling contrast. It
was the lowest Nile on record. The maximum was reached on August
20, and was some 3,500 cubic metres below the average, and in the
following May the discharge at Assouan fell to 230 cubic metres per
second, as against the average 410.
By the end of October the Atbara has usually disappeared
altogether, and the Blue Nile falls very quickly after the middle of
September. The White Nile, however, owing to the regulating effect
of its natural reservoirs and the slackness of its current, is very
much more deliberate in its fall, and the results at Assouan are as
follows in a normal year: By the end of September the discharge has
fallen to 8,000 cubic metres per second; end of October to 5,000;
end of November to 3,000; end of December to 2,000; end of January
to 1,500; end of March to 650; and end of May to 410.
In other countries the year is divided into seasons, reckoned
according to the position of the sun and the temperature, or according
to the rainfall. In Egypt the state of the all-important river is
the principal factor in determining the seasons. These are, first,
the months of the inundation, or Nili, August to November; second,
the winter, or Shitwi, December to March; and, third, the summer,
or Sefi, April to July, when the river is at its lowest. Nowhere
else do the actual seasons correspond with the nominal in a manner so
regular and unfailing. But, of course, within these limits there is a
great variation in the amounts of both the maximum and the minimum of
the volume of the Nile, and the dates at which they occur from year
to year. During the twenty-six years 1873-1898 the maximum flood at
Assouan varied from the exceptional height of 9·15 metres above zero
on the gauge to the equally exceptional 6·40 metres. And the dates
on which these maxima were attained varied from October 1 in the
first case to August 20 in the other. The dates on which the volume
of water passing through reached its minimum varied from May 8 to
June 24; while the worst lowest on record was ·71 metre below zero,
and the best was 1·88 metres above it. (Zero, it should be explained,
is the lowest level which the river would touch in an average year.)
These figures are the result of the free and unimpeded flow of the
Nile. To us, with our wider field of observation, with our knowledge
of the sources of the Nile, and preciser information as to the
conditions prevailing in those distant countries, the behaviour
of the river seems, after all, but the resultant of many natural
causes, and capable of prediction, and even regulation. But to
those who, living in a country where rain was practically unknown,
knew nothing of the tropical lakes or the rain-shrouded hills of
Abyssinia, and who merely saw the great river issuing from the
burning deserts of the south in flood at the very time when other
rivers were parched and dried, how marvellous it must have seemed,
and how inexplicable must have appeared those occasional variations,
threatening destruction, on the one hand by excessive inundation, and
on the other by famine and drought! Few floods in the history of Egypt
can have been higher than that of 1878, and few lower than that of
1877, when 1,000,000 acres were left without water. But several great
famines have been recorded in the past. Perhaps the worst of these
began in A.D. 1064. A succession of low Niles took place, lasting for
seven years, like the seven lean kine of Pharaoh’s dream. Terrible
results followed. Even human flesh was eaten, and the Caliph’s
family had to flee to Syria. Similar disasters occurred in A.D. 1199.
Such extraordinary catastrophes are rare, but their possibility is
always present to the minds of those responsible for the government
and welfare of Egypt. We shall see what steps have been taken to
guard against them, and first we shall examine the different systems
of irrigation which have prevailed, and the nature of the services
which the water, whose variations we have described, is made to
perform before it finally reaches the sea.