It was, as I have said, the spectacle of the dumb misery of the fellaheen that particularly stimulated the English engineers in their task of repairing the Barrage. The first relief came in 1884, when the Nile was held up to a higher level at the Barrage. This had a twofold effect, for the canals did not require to be cleared to so great depth; and the higher level of the water enabled them to be laid on a better slope, which diminished the deposit of silt. In fact, the partial use of the Barrage in 1884 reduced the amount of silt deposit by 26 per cent. In 1885 the first step was also taken in a new direction: £30,000 were advanced towards the experiment of clearing some canals in the provinces of Menoufia and Gharbiah by contract. As usual, the gloomiest forebodings were uttered on every side. It was said the fellaheen would not work voluntarily. The whip alone was the only stimulus to which they were sensible. The experiment was bound to fail. Once more the croakers were wrong. The fellah justified the confidence of Mr. Willcocks and his colleagues, that he was not unlike other men, and would work gladly for a wage. And so the struggle for emancipation went on with increased vigour. In 1886 £250,000 were provided by the Caisse for the reduction of the corvée, so that while in 1883 107,000 men had been called out in the Delta alone, in 1887 the number had been reduced to 27,500. Finally, December, 1889, saw the last of the system, and the performance of earthwork maintenance by the corvée was finally abolished. The Government supplemented the £250,000 a year received from the Caisse by another £150,000. In former days the labour required to clear the canals was estimated in the Delta alone at £530,000. For the sum of £400,000 Egypt got rid of the burden throughout the whole country. It was a bargain well worth making at a far higher cost. No greater boon could have been conferred upon the fellaheen. No longer are their lives made ‘bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.’ That ‘evil case’ is ended. They labour indeed, but it is voluntary labour, without ‘groaning and anguish of spirit.’ The Government, of course, retains the right to call out the corvée in case of any grave national emergency, and every year, too, it is called out to guard the banks in flood-time. But the flood-corvée is cheerfully borne. It entails no hardship on the people. Its incidence, too, has been very much diminished, as the following figures show (the period of service is 150 days): _Year._ _Number of Men called out._ _State of River._ 1888 59,000 Low flood. 1889 50,000 Medium flood. 1890 48,000 „ 1891 45,000 „ 1892 84,000 Very high flood. 1893 33,000 Low flood.