The New York herald., 1865-05-29

Sues csns hsia ths,r ar meeting It ths houss Of Mr.
Ferdinand do Lessspa a. Aexands, Egypt. on Wednes
day evening April S. lsss and their la = the Hotel
doreut, a. Cairo, on Monday evening" April II.
or the eightynve delegates there were the duly sp-
pointed representatives Of governments eight ncor
poratcd companies soceties and sixtytwo chambers
Of commerce. in different cities OF fourteen nations
four continentA
After having carefully examined for several days tho
work done being executed, passed in boats
from the Mediterranean to tho Red twenty scven
hours the delegates Of the opnion
the construction o. tho the Isthmus Of
Susz proceeding with vigos sad is compietou only
q question Of time and moneys
The company has made contracts with three parties
for the completion Of the ship canal piers and harb0s
by che LIST OF July, 1898. 7F 1
Il 10 now settled beyond all question that the
Mediterranean and Red at last actually connected
by canal through which barges Of thirty tons burden
regularly passing loaded with freight and pas
songc and towed by small steamer the gift OF Pracs
Napoleon. Az tho time the work Of deepening and
widening the channel to admit the passage OF sailing
sells and steamers Of large size is gong in Many thou
sand native aborers constantly engaged the busi
meas Of excavation and embanking, assisted by
dredges and all the. other known machines
monty used by modern engineers in hydraulic works
Tho Now York Chamber OF Commerce, In accordance
with NJ Lessep's Invitation, selected Mr. Cyrus W.
Field, well known for his connection with the A.
iantic Telegraph, AZ lis delegate Quito . number OF
these associations thus invited have also sent
delegations and among these Havre Nantes, Mar
seilles Lyons Montpelier, Muchansen Algers Bristol
London Barcelona, Cadiz Genoa, Turin Pisa, vienns,
Amsterdam aud Hamburg u might not at first sight be
supposed that the United States had much interest in the
solution OF this historical and commercial probsm but
hofn thav Hnic
its perusal that they have .etl aAar .as,
THE PROJECT.
The project OF n Lesseps, now nearly completed In
its largest form Is that OF constructing a ship
canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
In a northern and southern direction, and in
nearly straight line. Tho northern terminus is at
new port called Port Said caed probably in honor
OF the friend and patron Of the scheme, the late
Mohammed Said Pacha OF Egypt This port Is situated
narrow strip Of land, between ths Mediterranean
and Lake Menzaleh, and was formerly subject to the
wash Of the This strip has been wdened and raised
above the reach Of the waves 1t contains numerous
buildings machine shops light house. dwelling houses
basin eight hundred metres square, for vessels, and
double jetties in process of construction, the
western being about two miles in length tho termination
seaward being in thrty-two feet watcf. temporary
pier of wood hundred yards in length has been In
which Is not only used temporary place Of deposit
for materials is be the nucleus Of future exten
sive works Of masonry Tho engineers have thus far
found little or no difficulty in the new harbor from the
washing or drifting of the sands BY many persons
predicted The canal parceed out in divisions as fol-
lows-The line crosses from Lake Menzaleh, or from
Port Said, TO Kantara-about thrty-eight Kilometres
each Of these being one thousand and ninety-three
and two.third yards, nearly nve furlongs.
From Kantara Lake Baah TO Fcrdane about four
teen kilometres From Ferdane, or Dunes TO FL Guisr
fourteen kilometres Thence to Lake Tmsah eight kilo
meres thence to Serapeum twelve kilometres; thence
TO the Bitter Lakes forty Kilometres thence along the
plain Or level Of these lakes to Sucz twenty kilo
me,res-in an one hundred and fifty kilometres, about
one hundred miles English. Ntert
The lakes Menxaleh-according TO an official statement
made to the General Company In Paris-have mean
depth O. metre thirty nine and eighth inches
English above the level OF the Lake TImsah-whch
be the great central port or havenis OF the length
of eight Kilometres and has depth Of three metres
above the same evel aud the Bitter akes forty kilome
tres In length have depth Of about five mctres
80 that Of the whole line find hundred kilometres
placed above the level Of the The engineers re-
ported that this portion of the line executed with the
most economy and facility The principal obstructions
were found Serapeum, south OF Lake Tmsah, and at
Ell Guisr, the elevation Of the former being sixteen
metres and q fraction above low water in the
Mediterranean, and of the latter fifteen metres,
which by good engineering could be crossed at
ten metres for considerable portion of the way. The
difficulties In passing the lakes are considered to be
triang The whole canal Is to be about enc hundred
miles length three hundred and thirty feet wide at
the water ne and its bottom will be twenty feet below
low water mark of the Mediterranean. Our readers will
sst,,
work when they understand the geography Of the
route In the time OF Herodous the isthmus much
narrower than is Nature herself to have
pointed IL out since there exists longitudinal depres.
sion Of the land between the seas formed by the
meeting Of plains descending with gradual slope,
the one Egypt and the other rom the frontier hills
Of Asia To the words of the late Pacha himself
whose intelligence and enterprise were Of high order
.sNature herself has traced out the communication be.
tween the two seas In the line Of this depression -
Towards Lake rmsah about half way between Suez and
Peusun another remarkable depression in the land
furrow exists meeting the other at right angles being
In fact the Goshen Of the Scriptures, and know
the waddy Tomilah. This still receives for consider.
able length the overfowngs of the Nie thus becoming
a natural canal and IL has accordingly been turned to
good by the French engineers as we shall pre-.
sen,ly have occasion to notice
The conformation of the shmus has from the earliest
historic times attracted the attention Of the greatest
minds Of Asia and Africa, well many in later periods
and in our own day canal communicating between
the Red Sea- what is called the indirect route is
known have existed In very ancient times First for
period of hundred years down to the middle Of the
ninth century before the begra Again, for period Of
four hundred and forty6ve years. from the reign Of the
nrs successors Alexander the Great down the fourth
century before the hegira and lastly for period Of
hundred and thirty years after the Arabian Conquest
Sososris Al, xander and the Arab Caliph Amfou Mus
tapha Third, and the Emperor Trajan, In torn
identified with the policy. In the present century the
First Napoleon, when Egypt, was struck with the im.
porance OF the project and the advantage Of lis
son,e lie appointed commission of engineers TO eS.
anime and REPORT upon the subject and whch the report
Afterwards came in the deeply regretted he lad
not tho power to execute H. In lsl0 Nehomct
All then viceroy took deep interest in
the subject. and his engineer In chief, as well ms
the principal director Of the Nile works, submitted pro-
posas and pis in relation 10 the work Russia,