About noon we found ourselves approaching a spot, in which, from the representations of our Cavass, we had become highly interested. We were near the head of the Delta, a place which Mohammed Ali has selected for a work, which, if successful, will place him far above the constructors of the Pyramids, and make him one of the greatest benefactors that Egypt has ever known. The place opened upon us at length, but on looking up our first impression was one of deep and unqualified disgust. Before us was a busy scene. On the high bank at our left men were appearing in great numbers, with baskets of earth in their hands, and after discharging it down the bank, were retiring to give place for others; but as they stood out in strong relief against the sky, we could see others with whips, which they were using freely upon the poor wretches, whose writhings and accelerated movements gave proof of the smart. We stopped on this occasion only to take a glance at the _Barage_, for so this place is called; but on our return from Cairo gave it a careful examination, and, by the politeness of the chief engineer, M. Lenon, were furnished with plans and explanations. The traveller along the Nile is everywhere struck with the great value of irrigation to these lands. Water is frequently raised from the river by wheels turned by oxen or camels, and sometimes by buckets swung at the end of a pole and worked by men; and wherever this is done, we found, even at midsummer, gardens of the most intense verdure and of extreme luxuriance. It may be doubted, indeed, whether the annual floods do not benefit the country quite as much by the irrigation as by their muddy deposites. The object of the Pasha is, by means of dams, to raise the waters of the river to the surface of the adjoining country, and enable the cultivators to carry it by canals to any part, and to irrigate the whole region freely, wherever they may choose, and the place we were now at is the one which he has selected for this great undertaking. The idea of this is not quite a novel one, but was first grasped by the capacious mind of Buonaparte, between whose character and that of the Egyptian monarch, there is, by the way, quite a strong resemblance.