The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-08-26
earth will be brought nearer together.

The first step towards the construction OF
the present canal was made nearly Il quarter
OF a century ago. In 1916 Il commission was
issued to Robert Stephenson, son of the
famous inventor of the locomotive, on the
part Of Great Britain to Taabot, the great
French contractor, on the part Of France, and
to Signor Negretti, the scientific chemist and
engineer, on the part of Austria. During
that year the isthmus was surveyed by them
and the scheme pronounced feasible. The
only serious impeachment to the success of the
undertaking which then presented itself was
the continual danger to which the canal
would be exposed by reason of the sand
storms on the desert. TO meet this difficulty
various mechanical remedies were proposed
and the esterprise pronounced practicable.
Yet nothing further was then attempted.
Eight years later NJ. Ferdinand de Lesseps
proposed to Mohammed Said the scheme of
reopenng the ancient canal at Sesostris, and
it is mainly to the engineering enterprise and
unremitting activity of M. Lesseps that the
world is indebted for the work which now SO
rapidly approaches completion. The first
exploration of the isthmus under his super
vision was made in December. 1854, and
January, 1866, and the present line Of sur
yey, which was ascertaned to be twenty mine
French leagues (about ninety English miles)
in length, decided on. In November, 1855,
another international commission visited the
isthmus. hut beyond the publication of their
report June. 1896, little Of consequence was
accomplished until 1858, when La Com
pagnie Universele Maritime de Suez, or, a.,
it was familiarly known to English readers,
the Suez Ship Canal, WAS organized.
GENERAL VIEW OF TIE WORK.
Let the reader imagine vast ditch, 100
Sl.e, e., AAl. hn
to $50 feet wide ut the bottom, with an aver
age depth of twenty four feet, connecting
four natural lakes, bisecting a sandy isthmus
at its narrowest point and discharging at
either end into Il large inland sea- and he will
have fair presentment Of what the canal is
or rather is intended to be- These lakes are
situated at distances varying from ten to fif-
teen miles from each other, and form the
natural boundaries, so to speak, of the scv-
eral divisions of the work The largest and
deepest Of these called Lacs Amccrs, or Bit
ter Lakes, extended to within fourteen miles
Of Sucz. The other lakes are called 'rmsah.
Ballah and Menzalah. The first and smallest
of these has long been drying up To deep
Ell the channel through these lakes, cxcavate
the intervening sections-which, previous to
the operations OF the company, consisted of
arid, sandy, treeless and almost trackess
wastes, with an occasional stratum of cal
careous blue clay running through them-and
to build the .iettes for the protection of the
entrance from either sea, and which now
form the harbors of Said and Suez. was
really all the company had to do. No locks
or other artificial appliances will be needed
and steamers of the capacity of those now
used by the Pcninsular and Oriental and
Messagercs imperiales companies will, it is
believed, be able to pass through from sea to
sea without difficulty or detention.
MECHANICAL APPLIANCES.
A work of so vast and unique 4 character,
as will readily be conceived, has called into
rcquistion appliances for the construction of
similarly extensive and original kind In
deed the machinery used on this canal forms
one of the most interesting features of the
work. Nothing like it is to be found else
where. From the gigantic d>1lguc cou7oir
down to the smallest drnyuc (dredge). and
from the pondcrous cleratcu1 to the smallest
drill or hand machine, everything is of the
most costly kind and elaborate finish Two
hundred and eighty-fivc machines represent
ING force equal TO $4,000 horses, and con-
slmlng 2,Ol9 tons Of coal per month, work
day and night on the canal. These machines
are divided into sixteen classes, two of which
are worthy Of special mention These arc
tiit lNl ~ Nlt'iEtN tHtl lllt ttffJtMtWiS. ne
former are similar in construction to the ma
chimes used for dredging purposes in our own
seaporS and rivers here, but they are LARGER
and have an enormous passage or spout at
tachcd. BY means of Il steam pump attached
to the lighter, on which apparatus is mounted,
water is mixed with the earth brought up bv
the drcdge, and the scmi-lluil is discharged
through this long pipe OF passage on to what
ever spot may be selected. BY means of this
machine the sand can be discharged to any
distance within POO feet beyond the edge of
the canal. BY this simple contrivance a con-
tinuous compact ridge of sand is formed
along the entire length of the canal and this
serves to keep out the accumulations of sand
which, blown by the frequent storms from the
surrounding desert would otherwise be de-
posted in the canal and utterly preclude all
efforts to keep it open. The ridge thus
formed is in some places full fifty feet high.
PORT SAID,
the northern entrance of the canal, is situated
on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean,
III miles north of Alexandria and twenty
miles north of Dametta. Externally its ap-
pearance is not unlike that of the majority of
mushroom American towns similarly situated
1t is an anomalous sort of place, Bounded
northward by the ocean and southwark by
tie desert, it is equally the product of both
Viewed geologically it is the practical result
OF q St :uggle between salt water and sand,
commercially possibly it is q compound of
modern commerce and aboriginal Arab ignor-
ancc and filth. Little more than half a score
years ago the site of the present town was a
dreary, arid waste. Every necessary of life
had to be brought by boat from Damictta
and now every comfort and many of the
luxures of life are easily procurable-at all
events in much greater abundance and with
more facility than in the ancient town of
Damictta. 1t contains nearly ZOO houses,
and q population which, though like that off
Cairo, not the Egyptian but the American
Cairo, largely floating, may be fairly esti-
mated at between 5000 and 10000. This
population is thoroughly cosmopolitan in its
character; for small as the town is, it num-
bers representatives from all parts of the
world. Every civilized and unciviized coln-
try apparently sends its delegates to the canal
congress. The activity and hustle of the
place, heightened as they are by the pictures
que effect produced by the motley groups of
French, Egyptians, Arabs, English, Ameri-
cans, Levantines, Italians and Greeks work
ing together harmoniously form its principal
On the occasion of Mr. Halls |
visit there in October, 1867, he counted
twenty-five large sized vessels in the o,unt
port or basin. Most of them were from
North British seaports and were freightcd