British Pathe

British Instructional Films Ltd presents a Classroom Film.

Map of Africa showing the position of Egypt. Aerial shot of a pyramid. Moving shot of the desert. Landscapes. Intertitle reads: "Egypt is dependent on the Nile". Shots of the river Nile, waterfalls. Men use a Shaduf (or Shadoof) to...

British Instructional Films Ltd presents a Classroom Film.

Map of Africa showing the position of Egypt. Aerial shot of a pyramid. Moving shot of the desert. Landscapes. Intertitle reads: "Egypt is dependent on the Nile". Shots of the river Nile, waterfalls. Men use a Shaduf (or Shadoof) to extract water from a well for irrigation. Many Shadufs in a row are used to move the water. Two cows (or water buffalo?) pull a primitive mill wheel as they walk in a circle. A water wheel which has many small pots attached moves around and water pours out of each pot as they reach the top of the circle. This water seems to flow down a channel towards a crop field. A primitive irrigation system. A man winds a handle which is attached to a large pipe. This revolves in the water, pulling it up on to a higher level. This is an "archimedean screw" (see documentary of same name). A lock system.

Agriculture. A plough is pulled behind a tractor. Women with baskets on their heads work in the fields. A cow pulls a primitive plough. Men work in the fields with hand tools. Trenches are dug for irrigation. Crops: Cotton buds are picked, workers sort and pack the cotton into sacks. Sugar cane is cut, a young boy eats some of the cane in C/U. A camel train carries sugar cane. Maize: People in the field pick and sort corn cobs. Camels carry the crop. Millet: C/U of the crop. Wheat: shots of wheat fields. Vegetables: unidentified crop. Berseem: men pick by hand. Fruit: Man at the top of a palm tree picking fruit. Workers picking oranges (?). Women put oranges into basket. Shot of a religious building (mosque?). Street scenes in a village. Women collect water from a small canal. Woman rocks a baby (?) Women cook large flat bread. Family around a table eat. Animals herded across a bridge. Cattle. Man hammers post into the ground. Animals eat. Cow being milked.

The market: large piles of grain. Crowds of people - a very large market (more like a trade market than a market with stalls). Transport: animals carry crops. Man gets on to a camel and rides off. Steam train. View of the Nile. Boats with large sails carry sacks of goods down the river. Seaplane.

Cities: Cairo - Shots of buildings and transport in the city. Trams. Alexandria - aerial shot of the city. The Suez Canal - arrow points to location on map. Large ship passing through the canal. Shot of large ship travelling through canal which makes it look as if it is travelling on land (we cannot see the water). Map of Africa.

Note: British Instructional Films seem to have shot a great deal of material in Egypt and split it between several films. See the records for "An Egyptian Village", "Nile Irrigation" and "Sugar Cane Harvest".