It is reported from Cairo that all the signs point
to an un- usually low Nile. It is said that it will be the worst Nile since our occupation, and that there will be as great a deficiency of water as there was in 1867, when, says the Daily Mail correspondent, "a large tract of country in Upper Egypt went out of cultivation for want of water." If the worst predictions are fulfilled, and if the plague spreads, the Egyptian Government will for the time be in a difficult place. No doubt the country is rich and the finances are in a thoroughly sound condition, but at the same time the Soudan is bound for many years to be a source of great expense. Under these circumstances, and in view of the coming lean year, there should be no indulgence in "wild cat" railway schemes in the Soudan based on the Cape to Cairo legend. All idea of through carriages to Uganda must be postponed till the true extent of the Soudanese burden has been deter- mined.
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