IX. THE INAUGURATION OF THE RESERVOIR 91 X. BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT 101 XI. SCHEMES FOR THE FUTURE 111 XII. THE SUDD 124 XIII. THE UNITY OF NILELAND 134 PART II THE NEW SOUDAN XIV. THE PAST 139 XV. THE PAST—_continued_ 159 XVI. THE NEW KHARTOUM 173 XVII. THE NEW SOUDAN 185 XVIII. JUSTICE AND SLAVERY 200 XIX. EDUCATION AND THE GORDON COLLEGE 214 XX. TRADE AND COMMERCE 226 XXI. TAXATION, REVENUE, AND EXPENDITURE 247 XXII. THE COST OF THE SOUDAN TO EGYPT 261 XXIII. CONCLUSION 270 INDEX 278 MAP OF EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN _At end_ PORTRAIT MEHEMET ALI _Frontispiece_ (From the painting by T. Brigstock in the possession of the Oriental Club.) PART I THE BINDING OF THE NILE CHAPTER I THE NILE Far back in the world’s history a fracture of the earth’s crust took place in the region which is now Egypt, and the sea filled the valley as far as a point not much north of Assouan. Into this fiord ran several rivers from the high ground east and west, bearing down with them heaps of detritus, and forming small deltas like the plain of Kom-Ombos. On the sea-bottom were laid down deposits of sand and gravel, and then the land began to rise. Meantime the volcanic movements of East Central Africa had shaped the country into its present configuration, and the rivers which drained from the great lakes and swamps of the south, and those which flowed down from the high plateau on the east, combining their waters somewhere about Khartoum, pushed their marvellous course northwards, and began the creation of the fertile soil of Egypt. From this time onwards the climatic conditions must have continued very much what they are to-day. Changes, of course, there have been in the level of the land; but the sea-valley had become a river-valley, and year by year the annual flood increased the cultivable soil, and refreshed it with moisture, just as it would be doing to-day if left untrammelled by the devices of man.