The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-04 00:00:00

THE SUEZ CANAL.

The report of an EnglisiT-engineer on the whole of the
worksnow in progress in Egypt by which it is proposed to
connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, by a Ship
Canal through the Isthmus of Suez, will be read with in-
terest by both parties in the controversy the undertaking
has excited. When the late Pasha of Egypt visited the

International Exhibition last summer his attention was no'

entirely engrossed by its marvels of industry. In his own
country one of the boldest conceptions of modern enterprise
was being carried out by a company of Franks, and doubts
had arisen whether the completion of the scheme was
physically possible, even if the funds could be raised to pay
the cost of it, the last question being by no means a minor
point in the discussion. To the Oriental mind the
machinery of a company by which money can be raised by
millions, to be expended at any place, for any purpose that
merely promise a future return of dividends, must appear
like the rubbing of Aladdin's lamp passed into the hands of
Western possessors. By some such process, how-
ever, was made visible the commencement of an undertak-
ing that Egypt itself had never dreamt of in ils long sleep
of ages. But the doubts referred to at last became disturb-
ing, and the late Pasha, being largely interested in the
scheme, whether it succeeded or failed, naturally wished for
fuller and more impartial information on the subject. Dur-
ing his stay in England, therefore, he requested Mr. Hawk-

shaw to visit Egypt, to examine professionally the line of
the proposed Ship Canal, and report his opinion of that
work to the Egyptian Government.
Mr. Hawkshaw accepted the commission, and, accompa-
nied by four Egyptian engineers, made his survey in the
course of last winter, He was in direct communication with
M. Lesseps, the president of the Canal Company, and states
that he and all the officers engaged on the works readily

answered every question put to them, and without hesita-
tiDn gave him access to every document he required. He
adds that the labour of investigating so large a subject had
been much lightened by the vast amount of research that
had been previously bestowed upon it.
The undertaking of the company is twofold. The first
and principal scheme is, of course, the Ship Canal itself, to
be cut directly across the Desert, northward from Suez to
Port Said, on the Mediterranean. Port Said is nearly at
the eastern point of the great Delta of the Nile, that in-

eludes the Whole of the fable region of Egypt, the better

known nort of Alexandria being at the extreme western ex-
tremity. The sea coast of the Mediterranean is the base of
the great triangle, of which Cairo may be taken as the apex.
Port Sa,d itself is situated on the long narrow spit of
land that shuts in Lake Menzaleh from the Mediter-

ranean. Through the shallow water of this lake
the canal has been formed by dredging. This process
has been so far completed that, for nearly one-third
of the whole line proposed, a channel has been deepened
through water "covering the earth." It is only at the
southern point of Lake Ballah that the work of cutting
through the dry and sandy soil of the Desert commenced.
From this southern point of Lake Ballah an excavation, 10
miles in length, has, Mr. Hawkshaw states, opened a chan-
nel navigation " for flat-bottomed boats of small draught of

water" from the Mediterranean into Lake Timsah. On
summing up, therefore, what has actually been accom-
plished, we find that such boats, adapted for very shallow
water, can penetrate the Isthmus from north to south for a
distance of 50 miles from the sea, and of this distance 30
miles have been obtained by the process of dredging.
The second scheme undertaken by the company is inde-
pendent of the first, and though called a " fresh water
canal," is, more strictly speaking, only an aqueduct. It is
not intended to be navigable as the term canal generally
implies in England. It is better described as a large trench
or cutting, for the purpose of conveying the water of the
Nile from Cairo northward, curving to the east, through a
tract of land '• purchased by the company," to Lake Timsah,
before-mentioned, and then southward to Suez. At pre-
sent all the fresh water to be obtained at Suez is brought
to Cairo by the railway. Large trains, conveying iron tanks
filled from the river, are constantly passing along the line
that 3onveys the passengers by the overland route, from sea
to sea. The whole line of the proposed Ship Canal, from
Suez to Port Said, runs either through the two salt water
lakes on tke Isthmus, the wide expanse of Lake Menzaleh
on the sea coast, or the suil of the Desert, " a barren land,
where no water is." Labour is impossible without a certain
and abundant supply of this element, for the want of which
travellers in similar arid regions have often perished, This
aqueduct is, therefore, a work of necessity, if the larger un -
dertaking is to be carried on. It will also be employed to
irrigate such portions of the soil through which it passes as
may be worth cultivating ; and of this secondary purpose a
beginning seems to have been made.

The portion of the Ship Canal still to be excavated is the
whole of the line from Lake Timsah, southward, through
another large sheet of salt water called the "Bitter Lakes"
and the Desert that lies between them and the northern
point of the Red Sea. This last, section of the line will run
parallel with the ancient canal, and a little to the eastward
of it. The course of the old work can be tzaced, but no part
of it has been taken into the modern scheme. The works
of the new harbour will carry the canal through the water
of the Red Sea, past Suez, and terminate near a point on
the eastern or Arabian shore marked as the "Fountain of
Moses."

It is scarcely necessary to say that the portion of the line
described as completed and " navigable" is very far from
the accomplishment of the object in view. What has to be
done exceeds what has been finished in about the proportion
a large heavily freighted merchant ship bears to a "small
flat-bottomed boat of small draught of water." In fact, the
Suez Canal at present is a narrow and shallow cutting.
marking out what is to be the course of an artificial channel
that must be navigable for large ships of heavy burden, or
be useless. It has been ascertained that the seas on both
sides of the Isthmus have nearly the same level, and as the
soil along the whole line across it is strewed with shells
common to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, it is evi-
dent that "at no distant period, geographically speaking,"
those seas spread over the desert track through which it is
proposed to unite their waters again. But by far the
greatest portion of the work has yet to be done. Without
reference to the plans and sections by which the report is
illustrated it is difficult to convey a clear idea of the propor._

tion of what has to be excavated to what has been marked
out by the cutting on land and the dredging through shallow
water ; but if the reader will suppose that the furrow drawn
by a subsoil plough marks the course of what's to be enlarged
into a ditch he will have a rough notion of the approximation
of what exists, compared to what is proposed. Nothing has
yet been done between Suez and the northern end of Lake
Timsah ; and from that point northwards to the Mediter-
ranean nearly fivetimes the amount of work completed has
yet to be executed. The earthwork done is estimated at
7,848,000 cubic yards ;.the amount still to be performed is
34,000,000 yards. The cost of the works so far has been
by the French estimate, £1,220,000. Mr. Ilawksb.aw
states that he sees no unusual difficulty in the execution of
the plan, nor does he conceive that any contingencies can
arise which engineering skill could not surmount : and, if
completed, he thinks the canal could be maintained with-
out any extraordinary yearly expenditure. But, consider-
ing the possibility of meeting with rock at the Red Sea
entrance, and that the deep sea dredging at the Mediter-
ranean end may cost more than the first estimate—con-
sidering also " the money already expended compared
with the work done"—he thinks it would be prudent for
the promoters of the scheme to calculate on having to ex-
pend £20,000,000 and five years of labour before a single
cargo can be towed across what is now a neck of dry land.
This is the least encouraging part of the report to those
customary victims of modern enterprise, the "original
shareholders."

THE REMOVAL OF BLACKFRIARS PIER.--00
Saturday notices were put up at Blackfriars Pier from the
Thames Conservancy Offices, signed by E. Burstall, secre-
tary, that it is intended on the August to discontinue
the stoppage of all steamboats passing up and down the river
for embarking and disembarking passengers there. This
determination has been came to in consequence of the pro-
gress of the bridge across the Thames for the continuation
of the London and Dover Railway to the metropolis. The
notice further states that the accommodation for the land-
ing of passengers from steamboats which used to take place
at this pier, will be transferred after the above date to St.
Paul's Pier, and passengers will be able to alight and em-
bark at the Temple Pier.

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•

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, August 3.
The Queen and Royal family walked iv the
grounds this morning.
The Duke of Newcastle had an audience with
the Queen, and has left Osborne.

Departure of His Royal Highness the Prince

of Wales for Yorkshire.

Yesterday morning his Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales, attended by a limited suite, left the ter-
minus of the Great Northern Railway at King's-
cross, a few minutes before ten o'clock, Major-Gen.
Knollys and Major Teesdale, V.C., and the chief
members of his Royal Highness's household, in
attendance.

The chairman, Mr. Denison, together with several
members of the directory, and all the leading
officials, were in attendance to receive the Prince,
the royal saloon carriage invariably used by the
Queen in her journeys on the Great Northern Rail-
way being provided for the accommodation of the
illustrious Prince and his retinue.

A large number of privileged persons—the fair
sex predominating—were present, to whom the
Prince of Wales in a courteous manner acknow-
ledged their loyal demonstrations by bowing his
thanks. The absence of the Princess of Wales, it
is almost needless to remark, was a source of great
disappointment to the majority of the spectators.
The special train was to make a short stop at
Peterborough and at
_Grantham on its way to
Halifax.