Romance of the Barrage 131 



To carry out this great work it was 

 necessary to build dams, called locally 

 sudds, to enclose the areas which had to be 

 pumped dry before it was possible to go 

 forward with the permanent work. The 

 condition of the river would allow of this 

 particular side-line of barrage building to 

 be accomplished in only five months out of 

 the twelve. It, therefore, reduced the three 

 years to considerably less if this factor is 

 taken into consideration. Fortunately for 

 Egypt there is no scarcity of labour, and 

 many of the natives made what to them 

 was a small fortune by their work in con- 

 nection with this important barrage. 



Organisation was the secret of this suc- 

 cessful venture, and the contractors saw to 

 it that whenever it was possible to go for- 

 ward with the work, materials were already 

 assembled for the purpose. 



A fleet of six tugs, towing zoo-ton barges, 

 were working night and day for three years, 

 employed solely in bringing the limestone 

 from the quarries 70 miles downstream to 

 the side of the barrage. 



