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	Ismailia. House of a Canal Pilot. As a result of the water channelled from the Nile, many plantations soon sprang up, hence the city’s nickname the “emerald of the desert”. A building called the “water factory” housed the steam engines which pumped the freshwater north of the Isthmus. The abundance of water and cheap manpower led to the creation of luxuriant gardens around the houses of the employees of the Company.