has to be effected through a country never rising into hills, and consisting of sand or clay. This is in process of accomplishment by excavators, as the machines are called which scoop out the earth where there is a deficiency of hand labour, and where enough water has not already been introduced to enable floating dredging machines to be used; where they can be used they are far more efficient than any other machines. This uniformity in the nature of the operations is varied in particular cases; chiefly at Chalouf, near Suez, where about two miles of rock must be cut through by manual labour and blasting with gunpowder; at El Gisr, near Ismailya, in the middle of the Isthmus, a plateau where sand has to be taken away to the depth (on the average) of 50 feet, for a distance of about two miles; and in the Lake Menzaleh, where special measures have been successfully adopted to prevent the soft mud lying at the bottom of that lake from filling up the channel of the Canal.

But simple as it is to imitate the operations

of Nature as far as possible, by merely adding a new strait to the geography of the world, what exertion, what expenditure of labour, and of engineering and diplomatic talent have been required on the part of those who represent the Company in Egypt to effect even what we see already accomplished! It does not detract from the merits of M. de Lesseps in overcoming difficulty, that he has received from the first all the aid which could be derived from the highest Imperial circles in France, and especially from the very highest individuals in those circles with whom he is personally connected by ties, both of relationship and friendship. He has had, in addition to the assistance of the first statesmen, financiers, and engineers, all the support which could be afforded by the Emperor and Empress of the French; and both are understood to feel the warmest interest in his success. The Emperor, we may easily imagine, appreciates better than almost any other individual the immense political consequences which must ensue, as well as the benefit to France, particularly in

D

commerce, that will flow from it. The Empress, it is equally safe to suppose, is fully alive to its probable importance in advancing the civilisation of the East, in which she is known to feel a vivid interest, not unmixed with religious sentiment, and from sympathy with a great and good cause. There is no impropriety in alluding to the fact, that by setting the fashion in France in favour of supporting the Suez Canal, the Empress must be considered to have personally contributed most material assistance. It became the fashion to possess shares, and it is a circumstance to which wellwishers of the undertaking refer without regret, that the present position of the enterprise is owing to ladies. Ladies even in England, they assert, were always far more favourable to it than were most of our statesmen and engineers-partly, no doubt, because ladies are generally actuated by the French tendency of being ready to sympathise with a noble and generous idea, and even to make sacrifices for it, as France did in support of the idea of Italian unity. When M. de Lesseps at

M. DE LESSEPS AND HIS "IDEA."

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first was met by doubters with the objection that, being neither a financier nor an engineer, it was unreasonable to hope to succeed, he used to reply, "Yes, but I have an idea; it possesses its own inherent strength." The world has heard much lately of the force which may belong to an idea, and the idea that Italy ought to be united has gone far towards securing its own realisation; but the experience acquired from the history of this Canal shows that the force of an idea may produce physical as well as moral results, for the idea of M. de Lesseps has possessed force enough, at all events, to pierce the Isthmus of Suez.

The idea of making a salt water canal through the Isthmus, which should be, as much as possible, a strait of the sea, belongs to M. de Lesseps himself. Napoleon I. and all the great men who have, in former times, either projected or carried out a canal through the Isthmus, only thought of fresh water canals. The salt water Canal, now so far advanced towards completion, is on a much larger scale, and is more direct in its course, than any of

those that previously existed, or were at any time seriously thought of.

The position of Port Saïd, where the Canal enters the Mediterranean, was chiefly determined by the greater facility there than elsewhere, for finding a sufficient depth of water. The harbour is formed by two jetties running nearly parallel to each other, and in the direction, in the main, of north and south. The site of Port Saïd being fixed, and the other extremity (Suez) being likewise fixed, all that remained was, to lay down the line for the Canal between these two points, as directly as might be, making slight sinuosities in various places, as seemed advisable, in order to take advantage of the levels and nature of the ground.

Canal communication is supposed to have existed from sea to sea, at all events since the time of Abraham, throughout the greater part of the eventful history of Egypt. There is, indeed, a tradition, that it was opened by the Pharaoh of that day, in order to gratify him, and also Sarah his wife, who, as we are aware, certainly possessed court influence in Egypt,