Chapter I: The Fayûm of To-Day

_Position of the Fayûm with reference to the Nile Valley._—About 50 miles south of Cairo, a branch line leaves the Upper Egypt line of railway and goes west. After crossing the Basin land of the Nile Valley, it enters the western desert, and after a short ascent and somewhat longer descent, it reaches the station of Edwah in the Province of The Fayûm.

This province is the most remarkable and interesting of all the provinces of Egypt. It is an oasis surrounded by desert, being separated from the Nile Valley by four to twelve kilometres width of the Libyan Desert, and being connected with it by a narrow neck of cultivation marking the gap in the Libyan Hills, by which the Bahr Yûsuf enters the Fayûm.

_Depressions connected with the Fayûm._—Forming part of this province, and included in it administratively, is the Gharaq Basin or depression, which is partly cultivated, but surrounded by desert lands above the present limits of irrigation, and in communication with the Fayûm by a narrow neck at R.L. 16·00 (16 metres above mean sea-level).

Adjacent to the Gharaq Basin is another more considerable depression with an area of about one-quarter that of the Fayûm (at contour R.L. 25·00). This depression, known as the Wadi Raiân, had attention drawn to it by Mr. Cope Whitehouse, who proposed its utilisation as a reservoir for controlling the Nile floods, and supplementing the low summer Nile. This Wadi is now bare desert. Its lowest point is 40 metres below sea-level, and the depression thus corresponds, as a geological formation, with the Fayûm depression, the lowest point of which (the bed of Lake Qurûn), is known to be not less than 48, and is perhaps as much as 60 metres below mean sea-level, but soundings are required to establish the actuality of the greater depth.

The Wadi Raiân is surrounded by hills, on all sides rising above the level of + 36, except at two gaps in the hills separating it from the Gharaq Basin, which have their sills at R.L. 27·00 and 26·00 respectively.

_The Fayûm Depression._—The Fayûm Province has the shape of a leaf, (see Plate XIX.) of which the Bahr Yûsuf, from its entrance at Lahûn to its end at Medineh, forms the stalk, and the different canals, branching from Medineh, the veins. The province is generally described as being formed of three plateaux, but this description can only properly be applied to that part of the Fayûm, most rich in Nile deposit, which lies between the main south drain (Wadi Nezlah) and the main north-east drain (the Bahr Bilamâ or Wadi Tamîyah).

The lower section given on Plate XI., which is typical of this part of the Fayûm, shows the three plateaux, and gives the different surface inclinations. The contoured diagram, Plate XIX., also shows the conformation of the Fayûm Province.

The two strips of land outside the main drainage lines have a different character, and considerably less Nile deposit (see Map).

Medineh, the chief town of the Fayûm, from which most of its canals and roads radiate, stands on ground (R.L. 22·50) three to four metres lower than the land of the Nile Valley in the neighbourhood of Lahûn, where the Bahr Yûsuf turns westward to enter the Fayûm.

From Medineh for 8 kilometres the country surface slope is 1 in 1400, for the next 4 kilometres 1 in 666, and then 1 in 150, till the Birket-el-Qurûn (Lake of the Horns) is reached. This lake occupies the lowest part of the Fayûm, and at the beginning of 1892 its water surface level was 43·30 metres below mean sea; while the bed of the lake is 5 metres lower at least.[1]

The Fayûm and Wadi Raiân together are everywhere encircled by a continuous range of hills, except where the Bahr Yûsuf enters through the gap in the Libyan Hills, and also towards the north of the Fayûm, where the height of the hills becomes less, but where there is probably no gap lower than R.L. 30, though this has not been actually established by levelling.

_The Birket-el-Qurûn and Evaporation._—Such being the physical features of the Fayûm, it is evident that there is no outflow for the drainage of the province. All the drainage (except that of the Gharaq Basin) finds its way into the Birket-el-Qurûn and there evaporates. The present surface area of the lake is not accurately known, but being about 40 kilometres long by 5 broad, the area is about 200 square kilometres (78 square miles).

Notwithstanding the considerable quantity of water that drains into the lake during the twelve months of the year, its level has fallen steadily of late years. The following table gives the measure of the fall from the first of March of one year to the first of March of the next.

LEVEL ON 1ST MARCH.

Year. Metres below Sea. Fall.

1885 39·80

1886 40·00 ·20

1887 40·38 ·38

1888 40·73 ·35

1889 41·17 ·44

1890 42·00 ·83

1891 42·78 ·78

1892 43·32 ·54
----
Total fall from 1st March, 1885, to 1st March, 1892 3·52 metres
----
Yearly average ·50 nearly.

There are no records of the level of the lake previous to 1885. Linant Pasha states in his ‘Mémoires’ that Vansleb, who was in the Fayûm in 1673, said that one embarked at Sanhûr to pass to the other side of the lake. Dead tamarisk bushes standing in the water seem to prove that the lake has in the past been lower by a metre or more than it is at present, for these tamarisks grow along the margin of the lake above the water edge, but not in it.

The fall of the lake is not continuous throughout the year, but generally takes place from the 1st March to the 31st October; the level rises from the 1st November to the end of January, and remains stationary during February.

If the area of the lake were more accurately determined, there are several problems of interest connected with evaporation and the “duty” of water which might be calculated out from the facts known about the fall of this lake, the level of which is recorded daily. The discharge entering the Fayûm throughout the year is known, as also approximately the areas under crop; but while the area of the lake remains so vaguely guessed at, the results of the calculation would be of little value, as the figure representing the lake area is an important factor in the calculations.

But the following figures give a measure of what the daily evaporation is in June and July, at least approximately:—

In 1889 and 1890, when there were exceptionally short summer supplies, and the drainage into Lake Qurûn must have been as little as it ever is, the lake levels were as follow:—

--+----------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+--
| Date. | Level of Lake.| Fall in | Daily Average. |
| | R.L. | 30 Days. | |
+----------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+
|1st June, 1889 | - 41·63 | | |
| | | | |
|1st July „ | - 41·87 | ·24 | ·008 |
| | | | |
|31st July „ | - 42·11 | ·24 | ·008 |
| | | | |
|1st June, 1890 | - 42·38 | | |
| | | | |
|1st July „ | - 42·66 | ·28 | ·0093 |
| | | | |
|31st July „ | - 42·89 | ·24 | ·008 |
--+----------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+--

The evaporation, then, could not have been less than ·0093 of a metre per diem in June 1890; or less than ·008 per diem in June and July 1889 and July 1890.

Allowing for a slight amount of drainage finding its way into the lake, an estimate of 1 centimetre a day for evaporation during the three hottest months of the summer would seem to be nearly correct.

We have also the following figures:—

R.L.

On 14th March, 1890, the lake level was - 42·00

On 18th September, 1890 „ - 43·13
-----
The fall in 188 days was therefore 1·13
-----
Giving a daily average of ·006

As, for half this period, the flow of water into the lake must have been considerable, the average fall per diem due to evaporation for these six months must have been certainly over 6 millimetres.

Observations on evaporation made in the Abassieh Observatory in Cairo give the following figures as the measure of the average evaporation for each month of the year:—

Metres.

January ·071

February ·074

March ·172

April ·193

May ·252

June ·299 }
} Average per diem
July ·370 } for three hottest
} months, ·0107.
August ·310 }

September ·226

October ·179

November ·120

December ·098
-----
Total 2·364 metres per annum.

The average per diem for the three hottest months of the year, according to these observations, is ·0107, as against ·01 deduced from observations of the levels of Lake Qurûn. The figure given for July in the above list is higher than I should have expected, as the evaporation of that month I should estimate to be very slightly in excess of that of June or August; that is, about 1 centimetre a day.

THE BAHR YÛSUF, SKIRTING THE LIBYAN DESERT, IN THE NILE VALLEY.]

_The Bahr Yûsuf outside the Fayûm._—The Bahr Yûsuf (Canal of Joseph) is the watercourse that carries the Fayûm supply. It is not an artificial canal, but a naturally formed sinuous channel, resulting from the Nile flood water draining off the lands and following the line of least resistance along the low-lying part of the Nile Valley on the side of the Libyan Desert. Plate I. shows where the Bahr Yûsuf touches the desert and forms a line of separation between the fertile land of the Nile Valley with its grateful shade of trees and the barren desert sands under a scorching sun.

As is usual in the case of rivers which periodically overflow their banks, the land is highest alongside the Nile, and slopes away from it to the hills on either side. The high margins of the Nile are known in Egypt as the “Sahel.” As the Bahr Yûsuf has for a great many years been given an artificial connection with the Nile, and been used as a channel to carry flood water to inundate the lands along its course on both sides, it has imitated the Nile in its action on its borders, and raised a “Sahel” of its own on a smaller scale. The cross-section of the Nile Valley is thus roughly represented in the following diagram.

A former artificial connection of the Bahr Yûsuf with the Nile is plainly visible at Derût, 200 kilometres farther up the Nile Valley than Lahûn, the point at which the Bahr Yûsuf turns westward into the Fayûm. The artificial part is easily distinguished from the natural channel, as the former is straight with high spoil banks, resulting from the earth excavated to form the channel, whereas the latter is sinuous without any signs of spoil banks. The length of the channel from Derût to Lahûn, measured along its windings, is 270 kilometres, as against 200 kilometres measured as the crow flies.

A second artificial connection with the Nile farther south was made at Manfalût by the excavation of a channel 30 kilometres in length. The part of this that remains now is called the “Manfalûtîyah” or “old Bahr Yûsuf.” About twenty years ago a large canal, called the Ibrahimîyah, was made for the irrigation of the Khedive Ismail Pasha’s large sugar-cane plantations. It was made to take off from the Nile at Asyût, 30 kilometres above Manfalût and 61 kilometres above Derût. It absorbed part of the Manfalûtîyah Canal from Beni Qora to Derût. At Derût, regulators of a fine description were constructed for the distribution of the water, and a regulator of five openings of three metres’ span, with a lock 8·50 metres wide, was made as the head work of the Bahr Yûsuf, which under the new nomenclature became a branch of the Ibrahimîyah Canal. When the Ibrahimîyah Canal was first opened, it appears from the Mémoires on Public Works, published by Linant de Bellefonds Bey in 1872-73, that its discharge was small compared with its present discharge, and the Fayûm summer irrigation must have been limited. M. Linant states that the bed width of the main Ibrahimîyah was 35 metres, and its reputed depth in summer 1·50 metres; but, in consequence of the inefficient means of dredging, a depth of one metre at most was all that could be obtained at the lowest level of the Nile; and he calculates that the minimum discharge, which theoretically should have reached Derût, was 666,840 cubic metres per 24 hours (273 cubic feet a second), but, in consequence of the inefficient dredging, no more than 369,624 cubic metres per 24 hours (151 cubic feet a second) were delivered. Under present conditions in the worst years the minimum has never fallen below two million cubic metres per 24 hours (818 cubic feet a second) since, at any rate, 1883.

BRIDGE CARRYING THE BAZAAR STREET, MEDINET EL FAYÛM, OVER THE BAHR YÛSUF.]

Of the Bahr Yûsuf before the Ibrahimîyah Canal was made, M. Linant remarks in the same Mémoires, that “it is the only canal in Egypt which, without receiving water from the river during the summer, nevertheless has enough to serve for the irrigation of the Fayûm from the springs in its bed.” These springs still supplement the summer supply of the Fayûm by adding to the discharge, which is apportioned to the Bahr Yûsuf at Derût, about a quarter of a million cubic metres a day (102 cubic feet a second).

During the summer and winter the water of the Bahr Yûsuf is (with the exception of an insignificant quantity lifted for the irrigation of small areas at different points along its course) reserved for the Fayûm, but during the flood season its channel is used to carry water for the inundation of the lands on both sides of it, and later it is made use of as the channel of discharge for the basins which it has filled, or helped to fill.

At Lahûn, where the Bahr Yûsuf turns into the Fayûm, the quantity of water admitted is controlled by two regulators. The lower bridge is a very ancient one (frontispiece), of what date is unknown. Its floor in Linant Pasha’s time had already partly given way, but from his description it would seem to be now in the same state in which it was more than twenty years ago. The upstream half has evidently been added to the downstream half, as there is a clean line of separation in the middle of the length of the present archway. This is only to be seen by entering the passage below the arches, as the junction is not visible from above.

In 1838 Linant Pasha caused the second regulator of three openings (two of three metres’ and one of four metres’ span) to be constructed as a precaution 80 metres above the old one, and it was a very wise precaution to take. The head of water is now divided between the two bridges so that the action is less severe than it was before the second bridge was constructed.

The present discharges passed by these regulators into the Fayûm are:—

During the flood season 6½ to 7 million cubic metres per day (2658 to 2863 cubic feet per second).

During the winter season 3 million cubic metres per day (1227 cubic feet per second).

During the summer season 1½ to 1 million cubic metres per day (713 to 409 cubic feet per second).

The ordinary and maximum and minimum levels of the Bahr Yûsuf are given in the list below:—

--+--------------+--------------+----------------+------------------+--
| | Below Derût. | Above New | Below Old Bridge |
| | | Bridge, Lahûn. | on Fayûm Side. |
| +--------------+----------------+------------------+
| Flood season | 46·75 | 26·50 | 23·90 |
| | | | |
| Winter | 43·00 | 24·14 | 23·15 |
| | | | |
| Summer | 42·15 | 22·90 | 22·50 |
| | | | |
| Maximum | 46·95 | 27·80 | 23·90 |
| | | | |
| Minimum | 41·67 | 22·50 | 22·27 |
--+--------------+--------------+----------------+------------------+--

_The Bahr Yûsuf inside the Fayûm._—At the end of the Bahr Yûsuf at Medineh the water-level is now kept constantly at R.L. 21·70 to 21·80. In Nile time any increase on this tail level is forbidden by the effect of the heading-up caused by the obstructions met with by the large flood discharge in its passage through the town between the houses which line its edges. The Bahr Yûsuf is bridged in this length twice, first by a three-arched bridge, Plate II., which carries the main street and bazaar of Medineh; and again by a two-tubed tunnel, over which the mosque of Kait Bey is built, Plate III.

In passing through the bazaar with shops on either side the Bahr Yûsuf is crossed without its being noticed, and a stranger to the town is presently surprised to find himself on the other side of the canal to which he imagined himself to be.

TUNNEL ON BAHR YÛSUF,

OVER WHICH THE KAIT BEY MOSQUE IN MEDINET EL FAYÛM IS BUILT.]

The waterways of these two constructions are sufficient to pass the winter discharge with but slight heading-up, but when the flood supply is flowing, they (assisted perhaps by old blocks of masonry and débris of fallen houses in the channel) cause a backing-up of the water of from 50 to 60 centimetres and thereby (with the level at the tail below the town fixed at R.L. 21·80) produce the maximum level above the town, which it is safe to allow.

The distance from Lahûn to the end of the Bahr Yûsuf at Medineh along the canal is 24 kilometres (15 miles). Between kilometre 11 and 14 the bed is rock, the highest point of the bed being at R.L. 21·00 and between kilometre 12 and 13. The bed elsewhere is generally between R.L. 17 and 19.

At kilometre 10·130, the Bahr (canal) Sêlah takes off on the right, and after flowing by the Hawârah pyramid and passing under the Fayûm railway, its water surface comes level with the soil and irrigates the strip of land bordering the Fayûm depression on the right of the main drainage line on this side.

Similarly at kilometre 15·5 the Bahr Gharaq takes off on the left of the Bahr Yûsuf, and, aided by the Bahr Qalamshah, irrigates the east slope of the Fayûm and the whole of the Gharaq Basin. The strip on the left of the south main drainage line, forming the sloping side of the Fayûm Basin on the south, is irrigated by the Bahr Nezlah, which takes off from the main canal at kilometre 16·370.

With the exception of the Bahr Tamîyah, which flows in the channel of the north-east main drain itself and irrigates the distant north corner of the province on the right of the drain, all the other canals irrigate the central part of the Fayûm, which lies between the two main drainage lines. These canals may be divided into three classes corresponding to the three plateaux:—

1. The short and high level canals irrigating the high land on both sides of the Bahr Yûsuf and round Medineh, roughly speaking all lands down to contour R.L. 18·00.

2. The medium canals, which irrigate between R.L. 18·00 and 10·00 or thereabouts.

3. The long ravine canals, which carry water to the distant parts of the Fayûm below contour R.L. 10·00.

In a lawless province like the Fayûm, such an arrangement of canals is of great assistance in the equal distribution of water to all parts of the province. The long canals of class 3 are, in their upper reaches, so far below the cultivated surface of the soil, that no crop-owner of the first and second plateaux would attempt to irrigate from them except by means of water-wheels, which have to be regularly licensed. The canals of the 2nd class are intermediate in level and length between the first and third, and do not conveniently irrigate, except at some considerable distance from their heads.

There is a further advantage gained by the water of the long canals falling at once to low levels at their commencement. Along the margins of the Bahr Yûsuf and round about Medineh is a considerable area of valuable land above the highest level reached by the water in the parent canal. To irrigate this, water is lifted in pitchers fastened to the side of the outer edge of undershot wheels, which are turned by the force of the water descending to the low-level beds of the ravine canals. These wheels turn day and night without ceasing, so long as there is sufficient water. A head of 25 centimetres is sufficient to turn an ordinary wheel which lifts the water about 2 metres, but when greater heads are obtainable, water is lifted in this way as much as from 4 to 6 metres (Plate IV.) A fall of 80 centimetres will work two wheels, one behind the other, which lift the water 5 metres.

The channel, carried by the imposing looking aqueduct of Plate IV., is only 40 centimetres wide by 30 centimetres high, the whole thickness of the aqueduct being only 85 centimetres. The expense, incurred in building it, points to the value of a constant stream of water raised in this manner.

There are two kinds of wheels used, one in which the water lifted is contained in earthenware jars fastened to the side of the wheel near its outer edge, the arrangement of which is shown by the drawing, reproduced from Willcocks’ ‘Egyptian Irrigation’ (Plate V.) The other kind of wheel, called a _tabût_, has a hollow chambered tube of square cross-section forming its circumference, the holes to admit water into each chamber being made in such a position that the water, which enters the chamber when submerged, does not commence to flow out again, till the chamber approaches the highest point of its path. Below the point, at which the flow out commences, a trough is placed to catch the water.

It will be seen that in both these arrangements there is a loss of work in lifting the greater part of the water rather higher than the level at which it is utilised. The principle of the tabût will be understood from the drawing given on the same plate No. V., as the other arrangement with pitchers. Either kind is known as a _saqya hedêr_.

HIGH-LIFT WATER-WHEELS ON THE TAMÎYAH CANAL.

The pair of wheels shown on this Plate raise the water 4·50 metres, and are worked by a total fall of water of 0·55 metres.

As a means of estimating the heights and widths in the Plate, the widths of the arches are given.

Left-hand arch, 3 metres span; next arch on its right, 2½ metres span.]

UNDERSHOT WHEEL FOR RAISING WATER.

Scale ¹⁄₅₀. From Willcocks’ ‘Egyptian Irrigation.’]

Drawn with side as if transparent, to show water in compartment, and principle.]

The _saqya mawâshi_ (saqya worked by cattle) and the _shadûf_ are also employed to a small extent, as elsewhere in Egypt, but only for small areas.

There are 205 saqya hedêrs in the province. To obtain a license to erect one, the applicant has to pay L.E. 1 to get his application accepted, and L.E. 5 more, if the license is granted.

_Water-mills._—The fall of the water is also used to turn mills for grinding corn, of which there are 243 in the province, which paid as tax in 1891 a total of 810_l._ (L.E. 791).

Plate VI. is from a photograph of one of the falls, below which are first a pair of tabût wheels, one behind the other, for lifting water to high-level lands, and, below these in the same mill-race, an undershot wheel working a mill for grinding corn.

The mills are worked either by turbines (_panchakkis_) of a pattern introduced from India thirty years ago, according to Mr. Willcocks, or by undershot wheels. The latter method is used, where the fall available to work the mill is small, but not less than 60 centimetres. The former system requires a fall of at least 1·60 metres.

_Falls and Regulators._—For purposes of irrigation the fall of the country surface is excessive, and works have to be built at intervals along a canal, after the point where it begins to irrigate, to hold up the water-surface to a sufficient height to flow over the fields. These works are generally placed where the canal splits up into branches, and they take the form of a collection of small weirs. Where the maximum water-levels below all the weirs of such a group never rise above the level of their weir-sills we have a “free fall” in the case of each weir, and the discharge over each sill is directly proportional at all seasons to the length of the sill, which in each weir is made proportional to the area irrigated from the canal below the weir. Thus the collection of weirs not only holds up the water for the irrigation from the canal above it, but acts automatically as a just distributor of water to the canals below it. Such a group of weirs is called a _nasbah_, an Arabic word signifying “proportion.” The arrangement is thoroughly understood and appreciated by the Fayûm cultivators, and is useful in rendering unnecessary the employment of a numerous establishment of low-paid agents—a great end to gain in a country where the inferior employés are so easily corrupted.

There are, besides the nasbahs, a large number of small masonry works, as head regulators, sluice heads to branch canals, syphons, aqueducts, and pipe heads scattered all over the province, but there is nothing peculiar in them as irrigation works.

NASBAH MITERTARIS.]

The upper bridge at Lahûn has hitherto been closed by vertical needles, but in 1892 it has been altered, and will in future be regulated by horizontal planks. The openings have also all been made one width, namely, 3 metres.

_Crops._—The area on which land tax was paid in 1891 was

Ushuri lands 131,155 feddans.

Kharagi „ 102,146 „
-------
Total 233,301 „

The total amount received into the Government treasury on this area was L.E. 132,668, which gives an average of 57 piastres a feddan, or 11_s._ 2¾_d._ an acre.

The actually cultivated area of the Fayûm is said to be about 280,000 feddans. Almost the whole of this area is under crop during the flood season and winter, and about 50,000 to 60,000 feddans are planted with summer crops, chiefly cotton.

If cotton is grown, it is followed by a winter crop of wheat, clover, or beans, and this is followed by a flood crop of millet. The cotton is sown in March of one year, and the flood millet is harvested in November of the following year, so that three crops are obtained in twenty months. After the flood millet, clover will be sown, and this will be cleared off the ground in time to plant cotton, which will be picked and finished with in October. This makes five crops in thirty-one months. I believe that sometimes even this record is beaten, and three crops are got out of fifteen months.

Everything which is sent out of the Fayûm, with the exception of an insignificant quantity which is carried out by camels, is shown in the railway books, from which the following figures, in kantars, have been obtained. (A kantar = 98·09 lbs.)

EXPORTS FROM THE FAYÛM PROVINCE.

--+-------------+---------+---------+-----------+--
| | 1889. | 1890. | 1891. |
+-------------+---------+---------+-----------+
|Cotton | 39,433 | 56,334 | 86,638 |
| | | | |
|Cotton-seed | 82,010 | 104,608 | 185,917 |
| | | | |
|Cereals | 418,935 | 797,363 | 1,109,070 |
--+-------------+---------+---------+-----------+--

The value of the exports in 1891 was not less than that given in the following calculation:—

Kantars. Piastres. L.E.

Cotton 86,638 at 170 = 147,284

Cotton-seed 185,917 at 55 = 102,254

Cereals 1,109,070 at 70 = 776,349
---------
Total = 1,025,887

The area on which an average land tax of 57 piastres a feddan was paid has been given before as 233,301 feddans (242,166 acres). Hence the value of cotton, cotton-seed, and cereals exported from the Fayûm in 1891 was at the rate of L.E. 4·397 a feddan (4_l._ 6_s._ 10_d._ an acre).

Clover, which is extensively cultivated, is all consumed in the province.

Besides the above, the Fayûm exports also figs, grapes, olives, quail, fish, mats, baskets, and a few other things.

The province is justly famed for its excellent figs, but the grapes are not of superior quality to those of other parts of Egypt, though they have the reputation of being so.

In 1891 Government farmed out the fisheries for a sum of L.E. 2000. Every day large numbers of fish, chiefly _bulti_ (Nile carp) are sent in crates to Cairo. The bulti is excellent eating. Another common fish is the _armûd_, or Nile shad-fish _alias_ sheath-fish or cat-fish (_Silurus_). It is considered by the natives to be good to eat, but according to others it is not fit for food.

Another handsome fish, called by the fishermen _lâl_, and also a fine species of the perch family, known to them as _lafâsh_, both from their appearance good table fish, are not uncommon, except by comparison with the abundant carp. The _lafâsh_ grows to a great size, one that I photographed, measured, and weighed being 1·32 metres long, of 1 metre girth, and 92 lbs. weight.

The fishermen move about the lake in the most primitive kind of boats, propelled by the clumsiest possible oars, and without any sails. How long they will continue to be satisfied with their craft it is hard to say, but they show no signs of desiring anything better.