the multitudinous things incidental to the transformation of a remote desert tract into a busy manufacturing town. Two months after signing the contract the permanent works were commenced, and before the end of the year thousands of native laborers and hundreds of Italian granite masons were hard at work. On February 12, 1899, the foundation stone of the dam was laid by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught. Many plans were considered by the engineers and contractors for putting in the foundations of the dam across the roaring cataract channels, and it was finally decided to form temporary rubble dams across three of the channels below the site of the great dam, so as to break the force of the torrent and get a pond of comparatively still water up stream to work in. Stones of from one ton to twelve tons in
weight were tipped into the cataract, and this was persevered with until finally a rubble mound appeared above the surface of the water. The first channel was successfully closed on May 17, 1899, the depth being about 30 feet and the velocity of current nearly fifteen miles an hour. In the case of another channel, the closing had to be helped by tipping railway wagons themselves, loaded with heavy stones, and bound together with wire ropes, making a mass of about 50 tons, to resist displacement by the torrent.
These rubble dams were well tested when the high Nile ran over them; and on work being resumed in November, after the fall of the river, water-tight sandbag dams or sudds were made around the site
