THE NILE IN HARNESS lake over one hundred miles long, and this is let out as needed to supplement the ordinary flow of the river and give the crops plenty of water all summer through. There is water enough in the reservoir to give all the fami¬ lies of the United States all they could use for four or five months, and enough to supply Great Britain and Ireland the entire year.

The weight of this water is stupendous and its force in¬ conceivable. Nevertheless, during the floods fully as much runs through the dam every day as the whole sup¬ ply kept back during the dry season; and the structure had to be made so that it would retain this huge lake and at flood time let a lake equal to it pass through.

Talk about the Pyramids! The Aswan Dam is far more wonderful than they are. The Pyramid of Cheops re¬ quired one hundred thousand men and over twenty years in its building. The Aswan Dam was constructed by about eleven thousand men in four years. The Pyramid of Cheops was made by forced labour and impoverished the people. The Aswan Dam cost about twelve million dollars and the men who worked upon it were better paid than any others who had ever laboured in the valley of the Nile. Moreover, the dam has meant prosperity for Egypt. It has added to it more than one million five hundred thousand acres of tillable land and has increased the value of its crops by over thirteen million dollars per annum. It has more than paid for its cost every year. Since it has been built the yearly tax revenues have gained by two million dollars, and the lands owned by the govern¬ ment have become worth five million dollars more.

The dam is also more wonderful than the Pyramids in its construction. Old Cheops is built on the edge of the 133