THE CATARACTS OF THE NILE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 2038, 10 July 1885, Page 2

THE CATARACTS OF THE NILE.

A correspondent writes froiftfomlon as follows"I had an interesfllg interview afewdays ago with a retired Admiral, an old friend whom I had not mut for over thirty years, at which convex 4ion turned on the matter of Egypt. My friend, who is not only a scientific but practical man is convinced from personal observation that these cataracts of the" Nile , are not natural, but are artificial, made probably some thousands of years before the Ohnsfcion.era, These cataracts are placed at regular intervals of 150 miles, and he has 'no doubt were originally used for purposes of irrigation of: the socalled deserts of ®3?ioudan.. My intoimant is quite' that these cataracts can be used to form locksof the rivl'and thus be used to irrigate these Irren wastes and transform them from a fowling wilderness of sand into a very gitoert. He has submitted his idea to an enlnent engineer in Manchester, who hghly approves of the scheme unfolded, aid if political mattersweresettled, capital lould easily be procured to make the attVnpt and carry out my friend's ideas, it is considered certain that, no. matter that Mr Gladstone and his Cabinet may ante, England must retain the Soudan, anrit willbestrange indeed if this transformation can be effected and the present ddert could be eventually peopled by a population trained in theartsof peaclfcfl'urttor. by the construction of these lo ™ne iiilo would be rendered navigable for hindreds of miles, and would give the inelns of cheap transport by water into tjie heart of Africa, and to those almost uiknown.regions that the European Powers were eudeavoring to" apportion among themselves during the deliberations jif tho recent Berlin Conference, at which arrangements, so far' satisfactory, were concluded., I am myself strongly impressed with the belief that theM'is a good deal in my friend's ideaa"as,> on reading a work lately on the Soudaii; I find that in many places the coating of sand is stated as being not deep, in soma localities only three to four feet deep, and that below this sand is a stratum of rich alluvial soil that will produce great-crops, and grow anything. Again, from my off a personal observation when visiting the Utah territory, I remember that country' was in its original state a pure desert, but that by irrigation and constant supply of water there, I saw the finest crops iff maize and other products. At one of the stations on the Union Pacific Railway (I forget the name) which was approach od through miles of desert and barren wastes on each' side, without the slightest vostige of vegetSfe' I was 1 attracted by a bright vertaTlawn Of most luxuriousgrass in front of thestation, upon which water was luid after providing a small fountain, jot. It would be no 'doubt a popular and novel mode of 'warfare' to carry progres and agriculture into an onomy s country. Nothing is impossible. ,