project for running a parallel canal to the East which some time ago
was thought to be an impending necessity on account of the blockage of
the canal by the number of vessels passing through its course.

By the Anglo-French Convention of 1888, the canal had acquired an
international character. Both the water way itself and the isthmus for
three miles on either side were declared neutral territory, exempt from
blockade, fortification, or military occupation of any kind. The passage
is to remain open for all time to ships of all nations, whether they are
war-ships or merchantmen or liners, or whether the country to which they
belong is engaged in war or enjoying peace. Within this convention was
included the fresh-water canal which supplies drinking water to Ismailia
and Port Said, and all the floating population about the banks of
the Suez Canal. On April 8, 1904, by the terms of a new Anglo-French
Colonial Treaty, it has been jointly agreed that the provisions of the
Convention of 1888 shall remain in force for the next thirty years.

Egypt was the scene of the earliest of all advances in engineering
science. The system of irrigation, which originated in the days of the
oldest Egyptian dynasties, has remained practically the same through all
the intervening centuries until very recent times. During every period
of vigorous government the rulers of Egypt paid special attention to
irrigation canals and sluices, through which the flood waters could
be brought to some hitherto uncultivated area. The famous barrage,
projected early in the nineteenth century and only rendered efficient
for what it was intended since the British occupation, made very little
alteration in the actual supply of water during the seasons of low water
in the Nile. The most serious problem is how to ward off the periodical
famine years, of which there has been record from the earliest ages,
and of which the Book of Genesis has left an account in the history of
Joseph and the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Without
creating such a vast reservoir in the upper waters of the Nile, that the
storage there retained can be available in years of low water to fill
the river to its accustomed level, it is impossible to prevent
the calamity occasioned by leaving many districts of Egypt without
cultivation for one or more seasons. With the desire of accomplishing
this, Sir Benjamin Baker, the leading authority on engineering works in
Egypt, prep