The prosecution of these great works in Upper Egypt by no means exhausted the activity of the Irrigation Department; indeed, it would almost seem that the building of Barrages has become part of its ordinary routine, for a third remains to be chronicled. This is the Zifta Barrage on the Damietta branch of the Nile, halfway between the point of the Delta and the sea. Because it lies in a district unvisited by tourists, though very important commercially, its construction has not been heralded by any blowing of trumpets. Yet it is a work of the very first class, and deserves to be reckoned among the greatest of the triumphs of the department. Built on the same plan as the Assiout Barrage, and, like it, capable of holding up 10 feet of water, it is designed to secure a better distribution of the supply north of the Delta Barrage. As the area of the cultivated land extended gradually northward, it became apparent that the canal system taking off from above the original Barrage was becoming too long to admit of the water in times of pressure reaching the northernmost parts of the country. There were some who held that a second Barrage, with a new system of canals taking off from it, should have been erected on the Damietta branch, even in preference to the new stone weirs, which have increased the strength and distributing power of the old one. The dispute has been happily settled by the adoption of both projects, and with the Zifta Barrage completed in time for the summer of 1903, and the new supply from Assouan, the reclamation of the northern lands will go steadily forward. It has been already pointed out that it is almost as important to get the water off the land as to get it on, and the proper drainage of the Delta lands has been the necessary complement of all the new schemes. Though eclipsed by the splendour of the Reservoir and other creations more taking to the eye, the performance of the engineers in this direction during the last few years has been sufficient to make them very memorable in irrigation annals. Since 1896 about 1,000 kilometres of new drains have been dug, and nearly as great a length of existing drains remodelled. It has cost the Egyptian Government close upon a million of money, but that this expenditure has not been thrown away is proved by the great rise in the value of all the lands affected.