Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 62.djvu/563

Rh As remarked in the case of Asyût, the difficulties in dam construction are not in design, but in the carrying out of the works. It would not be too much to say that any practical man standing on the verge of one of the cataract channels, hearing and seeing the apparently irresistible torrents of foaming water thundering down, would regard the putting in of foundations to a depth of 40 feet below the bed of the cataract in the short season available each year as an appalling undertaking. When the rotten rock in the bed was first discovered, I told Lord Cromer frankly that I could not say what the extra cost or time involved by this and other unforeseen conditions would be, and that all I could say was that, however bad the conditions, the job could be done. He replied that he must be satisfied with this assurance, and

say that the dam had to be completed whatever the time and cost. With a strong man at the head of affairs, both engineers and contractors—who often are suffering more anxiety than they care to show—are encouraged, and works, however difficult, have a habit of getting completed, and sometimes, as in the present case, in less than the original contract time.

The contract was let to Sir John Aird and Co., with Messrs. Ransomes and Rapier as subcontractors for the steelwork, in February, 1898, and they at once commenced to take possession of the site of the works, and of as much of the adjoining desert as they desired in order to construct railways, build dwellings, offices, machine shops, stores and hospitals, and provide sanitary arrangements, water supply, and