The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-11-20


The year 1859 will pass into history i~ a
year of decisive and important progress.
has witnessed the laying OF an ocean cable,
the completion of continental railroad and
the opening of ship canal to connect the Med
~iterranean and the Red Sea. The object of
the last is to shorten the route of commerce
between Europe and Asia, and should the re-
suit meet the expectations of its projectors it
will rank as the equal of contemporary enter
prises in Importance as an agent of civlllza-
ton. The scheme of connecting the water Oh
these two seas in the interest OF coihniei-'
though now, apparently, successful 10 o'u'
than the Christian era. No record remains OF
tho fret ,tte,n,t in this direction, but traces
of s,oh o.naI are vet to be seen not far from
the line adopted by the engineers Oh the WORK
inst connected. There is a tradition that
canal was begun by an Egyptian King over
1900 wears b. c. who caused the oppressed
Hebrews to labor on it. More than eight CEN
turtles elapsed in the varying history of the
Egyptians before the channel was cut from
sea to sea, and then its Importance was so
recognized that the rulers of Egypt kept it
na4igable for many centuries. 1t was wide
enough, Herodotus says for two vessels to sail
abreast of each other, and the passage from
sea to sea occupied four days. In the
latter part of the eight century it was closed
for the narrow purpose of depriving the
people OF Arabia of its advantages.
Although tie re-opening of this highway
has attracted the attention of eminent men
since that time-among them the first Napo-
leon-and had been renewed from time to
time. the first real effort for its consummtion
was made in 1854 in the organization OF
Company by NJ. Lessups, whose attention had
been attracted to the subject eighteen years
before. The British government strenuously
opposed the scheme, and through its influence
o,stacles we're imposed by the Sultan of
7 Tkey, which put stop t., the work until
1864, when the difficulties were so adjusted
that work was resumed with vigor, and has
been carried on without serious embarass-
ments to its completion.
The canal follows mainly the line of the
old Egyptian canal of Sesostris, and extends
from Port Said, on the Mediterranean, 124
h nee. north of Alexandria, and mushroom
'o"h "hlN- has grown up with and on
>. account of the work,-inatv mi,es 70 snez at
the head of the Red Sea. In it, oonar.1 an
pearance IL resembles ditch, three hundred
feet wide at the top, one hundred to one HIM.
dred and fifty feet wide at the bottom. wiz,
an average depth of twenty four feet, and
connects tour small natural lakes. The largest
OF these are the Bitter lakes, and the smallest
Timsah, on which is situated Ismailia. next
to Port Said the most important point on the
canal, the headquarters of the company. and
the residence OF the principal contractors and
officials. The head of the Bitter lakes extend
within fifteen miles of Suez, and the navisa- |
ton fors small vessels had been uninterrupted |
to this point since the middle last March.
The labor and expense of this work has
been immense: the money cost up TO the first
OF May last being over fifty-seven and a half |
millions Its financial success will depend on |
Its capacity for large vessels without trans
shipment of freight, for in no other way will |
the bulk OF business be directed from the pres |
ent course around the Cape. During the
year 1868 an aggregate of 774,O4S tons of |
shipping arrived at Port Said. and M. Lessons
ESTIMATED that in the first year of the bust
ness will it increase to 100000 tons annually
But evidently much remains to be done to
render the new route available for the de-
mands OF the great Asiatic trade. To render
the Red Sea navigable is different from cut
Ting canal across neck of land At pres
ent the most careful seamansnip cannot Sc
curely guard vessels against accidents The
sea is full OF coral reefs and shoals ONLY the
other day we read Of the wreck of large
steamer III this perilous highway. When the
road becomes crowded we may look for
large proportion of accidents, From Suez to
Alden, at the head Of the Gulf of Alden. il is
seven or eight days steamingand during all that
time the captain oftbe Peninsula and Oriental
steamer the line which plies between Eng
land and India-scarcely ever leaves the deck
anu never takes off his clothes. And vet with
all these precautions the Company has lost
thfee steamers within few years. There is |
a suggestion that the Red Sea should be bea-
coned and buoyed at the expense of England
and France. 1t would be noble worl, and
1t is impossible to doubt that some hundred,
Of lives wou d be saved by it. To the ordina-
~ passenger the discomforts of a Red Sea
passage-the fearful heat, the intolerable ten
sion of the air the gloom and depression
produced by all the surrounding circumstan-
ces are quite enough to face without the pros
pect OF shlpwreck and death being added