The consequence was that, as soon as the Rosetta Barrage was subjected to strain, ten of the arches on the left-hand side, where the platform was laid down on sand only, settled and cracked. It was patched up by surrounding the injured arches with a coffer-dam; but the Damietta Barrage never even had its gates put in. Such was the structure with which the English engineers had to deal. Even as it stands to-day, it cannot, of course, compare in magnitude with many works upon the Indian rivers; but as regards the difficulties to be overcome, it can compare with almost any in the world. It would have been far easier to rebuild the whole thing from the beginning, but at the time the necessary funds were not forthcoming. They had to take the old structure, with all its imperfections, and screw it up to work as it was. The country could not afford to cut off the summer water-supply of the Delta while the repairs were in progress. The cotton-crop had always to be thought of. And the period of the year during which the summer canals required to be supplied was the only period during which work could be done, for once the flood came down all operations were at an end. It is the glory of the English engineers that, working under these conditions and with untrained workmen, they succeeded in their task. The Government was already paying many thousands a year to a company for pumping water out of the Rosetta branch into the canals during the summer, and the first thing Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff had to do on his arrival was to decide upon a scheme which had been prepared for erecting new pumping-stations at an initial expense of about three-quarters of a million, and involving an annual expenditure of at least another quarter of a million. So hopeless were the prospects of the Barrage assumed to be, that even this expenditure, with a doubtful result, was thought preferable to repairing it. Sir Colin’s arrival was only in the nick of time. He determined to see what could be done with the resources at hand. The new pumping-station scheme was set aside, and Mr. Willcocks was put in charge of the Barrage.