ised the weight counterbalances the weight of the full bucket. The
sakieh, which will raise twelve hundred gallons twenty or twenty-four
feet in an hour, is a modified form of a Persian wheel, made to revolve
by a beast of burden; it draws an endless series of buckets up from the
water, and automatically empties them into a trough or other receptacle.
In former times these appliances were heavily taxed and made the
instruments of oppression, but these abuses have been reformed since
Egypt came under a more humane form of government.

Another interesting feature of the water ways of Egypt is the
intermittent watercourses. The largest of these is the Khor Baraka
(Barka), which flows out towards Tapan, south of Suakin. It presents
some analogy to the Nile, and in part was undoubtedly a perennial stream
250 miles long, and draining seven or eight thousand square miles. At
present its flat sandy bed, winding between well-wooded banks, is dry
for a great part of the year. This route is extensively used for the
caravan trade between Suakin and Kassala. During September the water
begins to flow, but is spasmodic. After the first flood the natives
plant their crops, but sometimes the second flow, being too great,
cannot be confined to the limits prepared for it, and the crops are
carried away and the sowing must of necessity be started again.

[Illustration: 247.jpg A MODERN SAKIEH]

The canals of Egypt are of great aid in extending the beneficial
influence of the inundations of the Nile. In Lower Egypt is the
Mahmudiyeh Canal, connecting Alexandria with the Rosetta branch, and
following the same direction as an ancient canal which preceded it.

Mehemet Ali constructed this canal, which is about fifty miles long and
one hundred feet broad. It is believed that twelve thousand labourers
perished during its construction. Between the Rosetta and the Damietta
branches of the Nile there are other canals, such as the Manuf, which
connects the two branches of the river at a point not far from the
Delta. East of the Damietta branch are other canals, occupying the
ancient river-beds of the Tanitic and Pelusiac branches of the Nile.
One of these is called the canal of the El-Muiz, from the first Fatimite
caliph who ruled in Egypt, and who ordered it to be constructed.
Another is named the canal of Abul-Munegga, from the name of the Jew who
executed this work under the caliph El-'Amir, in order to bring water
into the province of Sharkiy