Item 01: Oliver Hogue letters, November 1914-29 December 1915 - Page 68
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[Page 68]
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of the whole scheme and decided that it would cost about 2 million pounds to complete it. But Sir Somebody Scott Moncrief (I think - anyhow he was scotch) took the matter in hand and fixed the whole show up for £1,200,00. And it is now one of the sights of Egypt. Your geography book and maps (if you have not forgotten them) will have told you that the great Nile, just about Cairo, branches into 2 main streams and several smaller ones. Well, the 2 main streams are the Rosetta & Dannetta (I think) & it is across the mouth of these two that the Barage has been built. It dams the whole of the waters of the Nile which is then used to irrigate - by canals - the whole of the fertile Delta. Right at the apex of the Delta triangle the authorities have laid out beautiful gardens with lovely flower beds, canals and grassy lawns. It was a gracious treat to rest our tired eyes on the green grass after the everlasting sand, sand, sand of the desert.
In the Barage museum there are curious models of the works & a relief map of Cairo & its environs. They give in a nutshell a fine comprehensive idea of the extent of the works and the ramifications of the Nile canals. The more I see of Egypt (lower) the more evident it is that it is wholly & solely dependent on the