The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1869-11-24


H9IEs Cen c=stury-EnauSuT-s Fes-
IiyiIies Commenced at Port
said, ON aile shore OF the Med
iiernmeau-H4isL Of The Distin-
Suished ssuesds-A EsriefIHiStOry
OF the Great WOrk-COUI-se &,
Cost. IACNalItnEes, &c.s o. tEfe
Canal.
Itour readers turn to their Geogra-
ply they will find there is a narrow
strip of .and connecting Africa, with
Asia, and separating the Meditera.
mean sea fr' IN the Red sea. This strip
of land j. only some IS miles
wide and Known as the Isthmus of
Suez The isthmus is from . to S feet
above the level OF the sea except in
some places where the elevations run
up to 80 or 10 feet and it is almost
probable tn 1t the sea at one time
flowed aero this bar
1t has Iorg been the object ofrulers
of the adjac, mt countries to cut such q
canal and h : frequently been tried
and with su cess.
The Ancient Canal, by which com
municatiOn was had between the two
seas was 924 miles in length, running
from Suez To- the Bubastis then one
of the principal branches of the Nile
from which they sailed IN to the Med
iterauean. 1T was projected and be-
gun some 65) B, C. by Sesostris or
Psammetiellus (HistOrians differ as
to who of tiG two was the first to pro-
jeet it. Ne, no son Of Psammetichus
afterwards Laid out immense sums of
money upon il and employed a great
number of men, 1t is said that some
10000 Egyptians perished in this
undertaking. He gaveit up terrified
by an oracle which told Kim that by
the opening Of canal, he would O.
pen a door fdr barbarians. The work
was thea C, ntinued by Darius the
first, but he desisted upon being told
that the Red sea lay SO feet higher
than Egypt and it would submerge
the above country. 1t was finished
by the Ptolemies about 200 years 3.
c. and was 81 miles long and $50 feet
wide ana dc ep enough to carry their
largest shirs. This canal was of
great service to Egypt. When the
Musselman conquered Egypt, the ca
nal was abandoned, but the Mahom-
edans, knowing the necessity of it
renewed the work in the interest OF
the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina,
and soon reconstructed the canal
which they denOminated the "Canal
of the Prince Of the FaithfuI".
In reference to the reconstruction
of the canal by Amrou-ben-ef-A'ss,
the following account Is given by the
Arab geogrspher Alfergan: THE
river Trajan, which passes fIom E
gypt TO Baby lon, as was stated by
Ptolemy, is the same that was sGbse-
quently named the "Canal of the
Commander of he Faithful" !" and
which flows by Cairo. For Omar, as
is stated Inthe history ofthe Egyptian
war, ordered that the canal should be
reopened to feet the transportation
of food to Medina and Mecca, which
were then desolated by famine. The
Caliph's letter to Amrou was as fol-
lows: TO the rebel son of g rebel
Whilst thou and thy companionsar are
fatten;ng yourselves, you care moth
ing that 1 and mine are daily getting
leaner, At once give succor to us.
Amrou replied: 4 am thine. will
send thee train OF beasts of which
the first shall be with thee ere the
last shall set oEt. Besides, L hope TO
JiHd another mode Of transportation 6y
sea- But Immediately AmTou re-
peuted that ha had given this hint;
because somebody made the observg-
tion TO HIM that it would be possible