al-Qanatir al-Khayriyyah (8km) on the E side, c 1km N of the point at which the Nile divides into two great branches; the Farac Dumyat (Damietta Branch) to the E and the Farac Rashid (Rosetta Branch) to the W. The area, with its parks planted with
specimen trees, is extremely pleasant and it is very popular during public holidays. Cycles can be hired. Schemes to control the flow of water throughout the Delta were first tackled by Mut:iammad cAli in 1833. His architect was the great French hydroengineer Mougel Bey who decided to construct a barrage across each of the branches of the Nile to feed three large canals which would supply the Delta. Due to a series
of misfortunes he was unable to complete the scheme, his barrages were virtually useless and the problem was then considered insurmountable. Thus things remained until 1883 when Sir Colin Scott-Montcrieff who had worked on a much vaster canal system in N India was persuaded to resurrect the scheme. He tackled the problem on a country-wide basis, dividing Egypt into five circles of irrigation, three in the Delta and two in the Valley (incidentally echoing the division of the country by the Ancient Egyptians). He decided to reconstruct the
barrages from the foundations and by using the innovation of electric light for illumination at night he had completed the Rosetta Barrage by 1889 and the Damietta Barrage by 1891. His scheme had also involved extensive recanalisation throughout the Delta and the effect was immediate with a phenomenal increase in crop production, prfucipally cotton. As a final act of magnanimity

before leaving Egypt in 1892 he located the aged and impoverished Mougel Bey to display to him the feasibility of his original concept and insisted on his being provided with a state pension. The Damietta Branch Barrage is 521m long with
71 arches, each containing a sluice, while the Rosetta Branch Barrage is 438m long with 61 sluices; both have locks for boats. Along the top of each is a wide road and there are fortified battlements. On the down-river side rails and machinery operate the cone-shaped sluice-gates. The barrages are c 1km apart, the area between filled with parks and gardens. At the E end of the Rosetta Branch Barrage is the lstarahah al-Qanatir, the palace built for the engineers who constructed the barrages. It is now an official residence of the president. The ‘Yakht al-Mahnlsa’ is usually moored at the quay of the palace. Originally belonging to King Fanlq, it is now the state barge. Mougel Bey’s original
barrages can be seen 100m upstream. Part of the original scheme, three huge canals leave Qanatir. Fed by the
barrages, to the Wis the Rayyah al-Bihayrah, to the Ethe Rayyah al-Tawfiqi and from the centre the Rayyah al-Maniiliyyah.