The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-08-19

auxiliary canal, as essential to the rrosecu.
ton of the great canal. 1t passes from
Hagazig, onthe Tanitic branch of the Nile
thirty-hve miles eastward--twenty-s six miles
OF this along the channel of the old canal
OF the Pharaohs, eohich sodtered the land OF
Goshen. Thence it strikes direct for the
Cape Of Tunsch. The whole route of ex.
cavation exposed ruins of the past Of q
locality full Of interest for its wonderful
history. This auxiliary canal of sixty
miles was finished in t,co gears, and turned
over to the company.
DIFFICULTIES.
y In '63 Said Pacha died, and his success,
sor, Ismail Pacha, refused to fulfil the con.
tract for furnishing labor. This would be
almost fatal to the project if persisted in
England, who was jealous of the scheme
through her agents, encouraged Ismail in
his obstinacy. However, the French brought
diplomacy to bear. A committee of three
French gentlemen and three Egyptian beys
was called to meet IN Paris, and there the
Egyptians were so petted and patted that
finally Louis Napoleon led them to believe
that such was the injury done to Mr.. Les
scps that Sl6,S00, 600 would be necessary tt
indemnify him, and the Pacha paid It,
under the agreement of his representatives
..o CONSEQUENCES. .<Er.
Money was better thanlabor for it pro
yided labor in such abundance that by the
month of August 1865 o maritime rigole (ol
trench parallel to the main canaD forty
feet wide and ten feet deep, connected the
waters Of the Mediterranean and the Red
sea. This caused pardonable exuberance
amongst the French. ,Te deum was sung
in their principal churches.
This was followed by the vigorous prose
cution of the great canal. We give below
q description Of the progress thus Tar, ana
Of the two seaports ..- .a.2
PORT SAID
is the seaport of the canal on the Mediter-
ranean. 1t is town made by the COM
pany, and but q creation of yesterday, has
ten thousand inhabitants. tits half way
between the site of ancient Potassium and
the port of Damietta. 1t stands on one Of
the narrow strips of beash which divide
Lake Menzaleh from the Mediterranean.
With dredgers IN opening was cut through
this beach from width of 100 yards to 500
yards-the opening being greatest out to-
wards the sea. Then basin of twenty
acres area had to be excavated deep enough
to allow vessels to approach the shore.
All this is done, and the dock lined with
artificial stone made of sand and hydraulic
cement, under the superintendent of Nj.
Dussaud. They are in blocks ten feet long,
six feet square, and cost 800 each. The
dock walls are ten feet above high water,
and one hundred vessels, it is supposed,
may lie within it. A channel 400 feet
wide and 900 feet long connects the in
ncr with the outer port.
To protect the roadstead it was deemed
necessary to build perpendicular jetty
from the mainland over two miles out to
sea, and another jetty from the shore to
extend mile and three-quarters, which,
if carried out to connect with the westerly
lefty, would form the apex of n triangle.
This shore barrier is to shut off the drift
ing sands to protect the channel.
The average depth of the water through
which the jetty lies is eighteen feet. The
crown Of these dykes was raised to twelve
feet above the surface of the water. 1t took
81, ,505 of the artificial blocks at 500 each.
Total cost of the stone for the dykes at Port
Said, $3,2O0,000. All these works are
reported to be executed in the most scien-
tifc and durable style. 1t is believed
that they will not only protect vessels
thoroughly, but that they will protect the
port from the accumulations Of sand. From
the mole channel of twenty-six feet has
been excavated to the inner harbor, and On
the 18th Of July the following vessels were
in the harbor Of Port Said:
Two steamships, each Of 1000 tons bur
den, four steamers of 500 tons, eight pow
erful tugs of $50 tons, five sailing ships OF
$50 tons, thirteen barques, three brigan-
tines, eighteen full-rigged brigs, two her
maphrodite brigs, one schooner, and ninety
seven golettas and zebeques. When one
considers that these harbors and basins
we're excavated out of q beach within the
last FIVE years, in the face Of terrible diff
fcultics, there is good cause for wonder,
and to cherish hope that Monsieur de Les
seps will in the time he promises-that is,
by October, lSG9-succeed in opening the
grand ship canal throughout its whole
length. ........
THE CANAL. -...@.
This is thus described by the writer in
the Herald: Az .#
"Upon leaving the harbor We entered the
grand maritime canal-and truly grand 1t
is-worth q good deal to see. At its e'nbon-
cI,que the canal is widened to six hundred
feet, and gradually as you proceed along it
narrows to its proper width. This part was
once portion of Lake Menzaleh, which was
twenty-four miles long and twenty miles
,rl ho
banks which divide its waters were formed
of the silt excavated from its bed. Formerly
the ground occupied by the lake was fer
tile plain, under cultivation throughout its
length and breadth from Damietta to Pelu-
stun. It was said that the lake could not
be dredged that the soil which formed its
bed was not q substance to form an em bank
ment; that the slightest ripple would de-
compose this mixture of Nile mud and sand
and that the banks would vanish as quickly
as they were made. But here is what proves
the fallacy of these bold statements. Stand
ing on the deck of the little steamer saw
the canal stretching away ahead as far as
vision could reach, existing in its full
breadth of three hundred and nine feet, con-
fined within its proper limits by two en-
bankments constructed with the greatest
nicely and precision, their submits level asa
billiard table a towing path, firm and solid,
between the high embankments and the
waters edge; row of telegraph poles
planted in the embankments with two rows
Of wires. Very often the embankment is
six hundred feet in width, but | saw no
signs of erosions in the banks the waves
caused by the steamer did no damage; no
signs of crumbling away were visible; on
the contrary, for the first, thirty miles there
was nothing to Indicate that the canal was
not yet in general use. At every six miles