THE UPPER NILE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12637, 26 October 1905, Page 2

THE UPPER NILE.

The paper on " Some Problems of the Upper Nile," contributed to the **' Nineteenth Century "by Sir William -E. Garstin, G.C.M.G.. the eminent engineer of the Egyptian service, is of value. So far as Egypt is concerned all schemes for increasing her -waiter supply turn on tlh© White Nile. Altihou^h at tihe sources of this river, *he far-off lakes Victoria 'and the Albert "Nyanza, nature lhas provided water in tubundance, eihe has tantalisingly ereot«ed an effectual barrier to its being made ■ use of in the shape of the vast marshes ■through which the river struggles for five hundred miles, and in which it loses more tftian half its volume. One ;great object therefore is'to devise some Taneans by which this waste may be aveTt«ed, and by which the lost river may be •enabled to pass through the swamps in xmdiminished volume. Sir William Gar"«tiin now favours the idea of a straight -■cut 'between the Bor and Sobat junction, eliminating the enormous bend in •■which the* marshes die, and leading the •river tihrou^h dry land. Regulating and impounding works at the far-off Albert Nyanza, which would be a feature of mny scheme, would be comparatively •-easy, and the Egyptian engineers are ■now engaged in obtaining data to ascertain whether the " trtcraignt cut" project "is Teally praotdcable. If not then the ~twc main streams of the Nile through -the marshes, the Baihr-el-Gebel and the tß&r-el-Zaraf, would need to be dealt with—to be danal/ised and improved and bere the difficulties would be enormous. The "Sudd" would be one of these ob■etacles. " I can never forget," writes Sir W. Garstin, " the sight I saw in "1900, when strong winds prevailed. At iihat time hundreds of acres of eppar««ntly solid ground covered with reeds ■were set in motion by the action of the winds and waters, and drifted about in -tie lagoons-border ing the river, eventually breaking into the channel and blocking it. In a few hours a solid -mass was formed, consisting of earth vegetation several hundred yards "in length, and 'nearly 20ft. thick. This •mass was so speedily compressed by the force of the confined waters that it attained a solidity sufficient for an elephant to have crossed it with impu;n!ity. The sight of tihese drifting is"lands and the manner in which their masses piled one above the other im--pressed me greatly:" This is the district iwfliich Baker described as a " paradise %>r mosquitoes and a damp hell for jmen," and Sir W. Garstin would avoid it txn every ground—including the enor■anous sacrifice of life which would be involved by the execution of control ■works in the unhealthy region. As to iuhe Blue Nile, that oan only be utilised *Jor tfhe wheat crops, which it is predict-

Ed will be ground near Khartoum, and will be 'well able by means of the new Red Sea railway to compete in tfne European market. The paper gives a lively idea of the industry and enterprise of the English engineers in the Soudan, and ttihe romantic, the far-reaching, and the Imperial nature of their mission.