The Democratic advocate., 1885-04-11
VOL. XX.-NO. 20.

The reservoirs of the ancients were not
inferior to those of the present time. The
expertness of the ancient engineers is at
tested by the remains extant; they certain
ly are not buried in the waters of the
Lethe. The Pools of Solomon still con-
tinue to furnish water to Jerusalem They
are three in number. The upper is 100
feet above the middle one, the latter 248
feet above the lower The first was sup
piled by pipes from springs, and, when
| full, emptied into the second, and that into
the lower one. The water was used for
irrigating Solomon's gardens and supplying
his temple. The lower pool held about
81 AZ, ,425 gallons, the middle about 12,-
289,9l2, and the upper one contained 49,
778,772-a grand total of 59,511 ,109 gal
Ions, or nearly six times as much as the
the Kansas City reservoir, which is esti-
mated at 10,000,O00 gallons. These pools
were solid rock and masonry, lined with
cement, and had steps leading to the bot
tom. One historian says that Nebuchad-
nezzar, wishing to brick the bottom of the
Euphrates, which flowed through the cen
ter to Babylon, caused reservoir forty
miles square to be dug, so as to allow his
masons dry river bed Another historian
writes that Nitocris, daughter of Nebu-
chadnezzar, is said to have dug a reservoir
APO stadia in circumference, lined with
stone, for the waters of the Euphrates, in
order that the river bed at Babylon should
be dry SO that she could build piers for a
Ir,J A -
would make this circumference forty miles.
These two reservoirs may be the same, and
this shows what discrepancies there are
among writers.
The melting SHOWS from the Armenian
Mountains sometimes caused an overflow
of the Euphrates, whereby the city of
Babylon and the country surrounding suf-
fered from foundations. It was therefore
necessary to drain the country, and to pre-
vent any future trouble two canals were
cut west from Borsippa to the river Tigris,
which makes these canals about seventy
five miles long. Ancient Greek authors at
tribute this work to the ruler who made
the greatest city of ancient times, and one
never excelled in any age-Nebuchadnez
zar. There are many canals now Of mod
ern engineering, but few, if any, construct
ed to drain and to receive waters from
overfowing rivers The longest canal is
the Erie, in New York State, 3508 miles
long and 20 feet wide, finished in 1862.
The largest canal is the Suez, authorized
by Said Pasha in 1854, built by NJ. Fer
dinand de Lesseps, and finished, or rather
officially opened, in 1871. Tt is 100 miles
long, Of which 25 miles are lakes. Its
width varies from 325 to 1877 feet at the
top, and is about 20 feet wide at the bot
tom; the depth varies from 30 to IS feet.
The Erie Canal entire costnearly $46, ,09O,-
600, while the capital stock of the Suez
Company was S60,000,000. The United
States leads all other nations in number of
canals-forty four altogether.
The length of this paper forbids cur
writing further, although the archaeological
fields are blooming with undescribed beau
ties of art, Many more comparisons could
be made which would place the modern
age in an unenviable position. Readers
who have been our companions so far will
notice many so-called errors, but when it is
borne in mind the large number of histo-
rians and arch@ologists, also the difficulty
of deciphering the writings of those whose
sarcophagi have been violated, it will be
apparent that dates and measurements, at
the best, are merely approximate.