THE AQUEDUCT OF THE NILE, FROM THE ISLAND OF RHODA, CAIRO

THIS aqueduct, which conveys the water of the nile from a point opposite the island of Rhoda to the city, was erected by the Sultan El Ghorée about the year 1503, to supply the citadel of Cairo with this essential element of life, as that obtained from the well sunk there was brackish.

The water from the Nile is raised by an hydraulic machine, erected in the great tower, which is the chief feature in the sketch, by a very inefficient apparatus, and it was to improve this that Belzoni was first induced to visit Egypt. He constructed a large wheel, within which oxen were to be placed, and by treading to make it revolve. When it was ready the Pasha attended to witness the success of the first exhibition. Belzoni relates that after Mehemet Ali had seen the oxen successfully employed, he wished, for a frolic, to have the oxen taken out, and fifteen Arabs put into the wheel to tread it; with them, Belzoni's servant, James, an Irish lad, entered. When the wheel had once turned round, the Arabs took alarm and leapt out; the wheel, overcome by the preponderating weight of the water, returned with such velocity that the catch had not strength enough to restrain it, and poor James, who was carried round, had his thigh broken. This unlucky trial, with such a fatalist as the Pasha, led to the abandonment of the scheme.

The ingenuity of Belzoni was then employed by Mr. Salt to effect the removal of some Egyptian antiquities, and led to those discoveries which have associated the name of Belzoni so honourably  with Egyptian research.