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.
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