The King has conferred honours upon the principal persons engaged
in constructing the great Assouan dam, which was formally opened on Wednesday. Sir Benjamin Baker, K.C.M.G., has been made a Knight of the Bath, and Sir W. E. Garstin a Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George. It is good policy to reward such services with dis- tinctions, which are more highly valued than any pecuniary gifts which a foreign Government could suggest; but one cannot help wondering what the Pharao hs, if they are still conscious, think of it all. Imagine what we should think if we were told that ages hence an Icelander would repair the dykes of the Thames, and by a system of reservoirs preserve in the river the depth of water which is becoming necessary for trade. The incident is hardly more strange, especially as any one of the later Pharaohs would probably have been able to pass a clear opinion upon the work of Sir Benjamin Baker. One of the very few points upon which the early world had some scientific knowledge was the value of hydraulics. We are learned folk, but it is doubtful if we comprehend the storage of water, the method, and the use better than the earliest people of whom we have any record. We shall have to supply our great cities more carefully by and by, for the water in the country is shrinking, while the population multiplies, and the engi- neers who supply our need will probably obtain their most valuable hints from the mighty tank-builders of Ceylon.
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