06 The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith

Author:Wilbur Smith
Language: deu
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“There are a number of different methods of dam construction, but these days most of them presuppose the availability of reinforced concrete and heavy earth-moving equipment. I understand that we will not have the benefit of these modern aids.”

“Remember Taita,” Nicholas exhorted him. “He did it without bulldozers.”

“On the other hand, the Egyptians probably had unlimited numbers of slaves at their disposal.”

“Slaves I can promise you. Or the modern equivalent thereof. Unlimited numbers? Well, perhaps not.”

“The more labour you can provide, the sooner I can divert the flow of the river for you. We are agreed that this has to be done before the onset of the rainy season.”

“We have two months at the most.” Nicholas dropped his flippant attitude. “As regards the provision of labour, I will be relying on enlisting the aid of the monastic community at St. Frumentius. I am still working out a sound theological reason that might convince them to take part in the building of the dam. I don’t think they will fall for the idea that we have discovered the site of the Holy Sepulchre in Ethiopia and not in Jerusalem.”

“You find me the labour, and I will build your dam,” Sapper grunted. “As you said earlier, the old ways are the best. It is almost certain that the ancients would have used a system of gabions and coffer dams to lay the foundations of the original dam.”

“Sorry,” Royan interrupted. “Gabions? I don’t have an engineering degree.”

“I am the one who must apologize.” Sapper made a clumsy attempt at chivalry. “Let me show you my drawings.” He turned to the board. “What this fellow Taita probably did was to weave huge bamboo baskets, which he placed in the river and filled with rock and stone. These are what we call gabions.” He indicated the plans on the board. “After that he would have used rough-cut timber to build circular walls between the gabions—the coffer dams. These he would also have filled with stone and earth.”

“I get the general idea,” Royan said, sounding dubious, “but then it is not really necessary for me to understand all the details.”

“Right you are!” Sapper agreed heartily. “Although the major assures me that there is all the timber we will need on the site, I plan to use wire mesh for the construction of the gabions and human labour for the filling of the mesh nets with stone and aggregate.”

“Wire mesh?” Royan demanded. “Where do you hope to find that in the Abbay valley?”

Sapper began to reply, but Nicholas forestalled him. “I will come to that in a moment. Let Sapper finish his lecture. Don’t spoil his fun. Tell Royan about the stone from the quarry. She will enjoy that.”

“Although I have designed the dam as a temporary structure, we have to make certain that it is capable of holding back the river long enough to enable the members of our team to enter the underwater tunnel in the downstream pool safely—”

“We call it Taita’s pool,” Nicholas told him, and Sapper nodded.

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