Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-08-11
An English, Colonel sellers.

The proposition now being agltased to open q
second Suez canal and the complications surround
ing the enterprise have led to the serious discus
sion In England OF executing flank movement on
The holders Of the Isthu5 franchise by construct
Ing rival line through Palestine. A late LONDON
paper thus outlines the project:
THAT Il would be easy To cut through from the
AediteTranean TO the Lake of Tiberius IL certain,
IL Is equally certain that the result would be that
the sea would find Its way down to the Dead Sea
Dy the deep ravinn through which the Jordan
nowS From the Deaf Sea TO the Gulf OF Akabah
lhere Is long valley. Near the Dead Sea end there
are faoraS5eS; near the Akabah end there is sand.
somewhere along the valley is the dividing water
shed No enc seems TO know what its height IS,
because no one has surveyed the valley. Travel
er assert that the diviie cannot clearly be distn
gulshei which rendrr5 1t probable that IL Is not
exceedingly nigh Why should not this valley be
surveyed? This canal, were it made, would I'M
questioDsbly cut out the Suez canaL'
Tosay thattt would be Impossible t. carry out this
scheme would be foolish. since there seems to be
no limit 10 the achievements OF engineering
science. when backed by sufficient paid up captal:
Out that work completed at such a vast cost as
This must necessarily involve could not be made
profitable as a business enterprise and would not
"cut out the Suez Canal" is almost certain. To
uhierstlnd the difficulties OF the situation one or
two important points apparently overlooked by
the usually weli-!nformed and too sanguine
Journal quoted above must be taken into account
When 1t Is proposed, as In this case, to connect
two distant bodies OF water OF the same elevation
by a canal or water way through an Intervening
country OF unequal surfaces one OF two things
must De dohe Either system OF locks will
have to be adopted like that on the Erie canal at
Lockport, for example, or the channel must be
dug deep enough through the high elevations en-
count red to open clear connecting line between
the two terminal points, without locks or currents
rs Ia the case OF the SueZ canal now in use and
which, let 1t be remembered. Is less than one hum
ofed miles In length with only about seyenuy-five
miles OF actual excavation.
Now, what are the conditions presented by the
proposed route through Palestine The Sea OF
TlDer!aS, at the nearest point to be reached from
the Mediterranean, is thirty to forty miles In
a direct line from the port of Aka, or Acre; but
10 follow the crooked valleys in order to avoid
neayy excavations and cross the lowest summit
en- roa,e would probably make stretch OF be-
tween fifty and sixty miles. The back bone of the
water shed between these seas Is not less than
hve or six hundred feet above the level Of the
Mediterranean, while the Sea Of Tiberias when
reached, lies six hundred and twenty feet lower
than the first named body OF water. From the
loot Oh liberals TO the head of the Dead Sea- along
the course OF the Jordan, is about sixty miles, as
the Dee flies, with fall route of some SIX hum
dred and eighty feet TO reach the present surface
OF tie latter body OF water, which lies thirteen
hundred feet below the Mediterranean. From the
loot OF the Dead Sea to Akabah. the port situated
at the head OF the Gull OF Arabia 1.-THE north
east arm OF the Red Seal and little
south OK due east OF Suez, the dis
tance IS in the neighborhood OF one hundred
and twenty miles. Between these two points
''there Is a long valley" as the English paper
States The summit is not high as that between
the Mediterranean and the sell of Liberals: but
there IS dividing ridge OF considerable height,
nevertheless, and in traversing the Intervening
distance the thirteen hundred ascent from the
Dead Sea to the Rel Sea must be accom- oli5hed
II locks are TO be depended upon therefore, the
Carrying out of the work involves heavy cuttings
Tor nearly two hun lred miles, with LOCKS rapidly
iolioW Ing each other the whole distance and along
the sixty miles OF the course OF the Jordan in adj
Cition IL can readily be that this plan would
Involve cost out OF all proportion to the adyant-
ages TO be derived; aud II carried out it would
take steamer nearly as long be locked through
as TO make the passage around thu Cape OF Good
HOre.
The other course open IS to dig a canal a little
lower than the surface of the Mediterranean
through the ridge separating that sea from the
Sea OF Liberals, and through the desert lying be-
tween the Red and the Dead Sea, and, by carrying
Ia the waters or the former fill the latter I'D to
their own level, thus making an open water way
the whole distance between the ports OF Aka and
ASaeah. This plan, however, means converting
the whole lower valley OF the Jordan into an i'm
tnSe interior lake or sea, some thirteen hundred
feet Deep and necessarily destroying all the arabic
land not alone in that valley proper, but in all the
lateral valleys or goTges opening out of II, on both
Sides Tor hundreds OF miles II is quite safe to
say that when the Sublime Porte ana the peoDle
OF Palestine consent to this step the British ma
tion VIII be good deal older and vastly more
powerful than IL IS now.