Ward, John: Pyramids and progress: sketches from Egypt (London, 1900)

HISTORY OF THE BAR RAO ES.

ASSOUAN': THE MASONRY. LOOKING WEST, MAY 1B99.
s covered with sacking to allow the cement lo settle [>ro¡>erly in the strong sunshin

upwards of twenty years. The superstructure was very handsome to ìook at ;
but their (unseen) foundations were so badly done that the work would never
hold water. The French custodians ran away in 1882, and British engineers got
the job of repairing or destroying the great barrage. Sir Colin Moncrieff and
Mr. Willcocks repaired it successfully, and it soon repaid the cost. The original
barrage, when made to work, was such a benefit to Lower Egypt that Lord
Cromer and his advisers determined to try if similar works were possible for
Upper Egypt. Mr. Willcocks was therefore sent to report if he could improve
the irrigation of Upper Egypt by similar dams, barrages or reservoirs. He worked
as only he can at comprehensive surveys for several years. He provided plans for
seven dams or weirs for the storing of the Nile flood which had hitherto been lost
in the Mediterranean. Two of these reservoirs were selected by Sir Benjamin
Baker's advice, but the French opposition to British efforts {to store the wasted