Show AN ANCIENT irrigation CANAL in this age when irrigation to i the great creat question at least so BO far as aa arid regions are concerned it may be in to know that according to of the canado planned and built by josepo the son eon of jacob lo in egypt still to extant and after lour four thousand years still serves the be surpooe tar for which it was wag designed this canal cabaj to known an aa bahr baar and the I 1 water of the nile to the province of bayoum making it possible poe eible for a large population to find fiad a living there the baval took it ita rise nae from a point near allot bod and ran almost parallel with it for hearly two bundred and fifty miles creeping along under the abe western eo of the nile valley with many a bond and winding until at length it gained RD emlo as ac compared with the river bed which enabled it to turn westward through a narrow pass par and outer abter a whish which was wai otherwise bu tt from abe fertilizing floods on biota all vegetation in egypt de apenae ebdy the northern end stood beven seventeen feet above low nile while at the southern bouthern ou thern end it was waa at an equal elevation ion with the river through Th roub this cut ran a perennial stream trea ao which watered the province endowing it with fertility in the time of the ac oual nual flood a great part of the abe curial was waa water and then the rivera current lur rent would rush in a more direct course into the paw pass carrying with it the rich alit which taken takei the place of al linure and keeps the moll oil in a constant state of productiveness some travelers tra velera see ee in this waterway only a natural arm of the nile modi fled fied and controlled by engineering skill but there in ii some rome probability that the tradition which traces to ie to the be wisdom of the egyptian premier of biblical fame la Is reliable it la Is sup up ported by written by greek and riman historians such as aa herou herod olus St strabo ratio Muti Mutia acua nue and pliny rhese explained that thai the canal dug by the ancient israelite served to carry me lne waters of the be nile into an extensive lake jake lying south of the bayoum Fa youna and 60 0 large that it not only moui couillou llou the climate tempering the he arid winds of the debert and convert ing them into the balmy teira which nourished the vines and the olives into a foulness and fragrance unknown in any part of the country coun iry but alo alho added to the food supply of the janu such IM gUM DULles ilea of fish that tue ruyal royal prerogative of uie right ul piscary at tue great weir was waa valued at annually of the stupendous undertaking and the vast resources available at that remote antiquity supposing aupp the tradition to oe no genuine idea way may be formed from what is known 0 more recent 01 0 a similar rind kind the Mahmud ijo canal built in 1819 by A all ali connects cou neota the nile at beaetta with Alexandria aou irrigates frigates the ibe lana in aur region it was completed in one year but it re quiren the combined strength of laborers Jabor labor eru and cost cort trance |