The Opelousas courier., 1889-09-14
THE BIG SUEZC
AN ARTIFICIAL RIVER IN TIE
MIDST OF A DRY DESERT.
How the Canal Was Built and the
Sand Dredged ~Out-Ihe Great
Distances 1t Saves to Ships.

It is ffty-eight years since Ferdinand
de Lesseps first came to Egypt, in the.
French consular service, and it is more
than q generation ago since he persuaded
the Viceroy Of the country that the work.
of building the Suez Canal could be
done. When he began it, writes Frank
G. Carpenter, the English laughed at
him and scientists all over the world pre-
dicted his failure. John Bull shook his.
tail and said, with a sheer, that France
and Egypt were burying their money IN
the sands Of the desert, and it was not.
until the waters of the Mediterranean
were mixed with those of the Red Sea
, that they would admit that the thing.
could be done. Now more than two
thirds of the ships which pass through.
the canal belong to Great Britain, and
the English, in order to protect their in.
terest in India, have had to put some.
thing like $17, 900, 900 into canal shares,
1t is not a bad investment, for in 1885.
the net profits OF this canal were more.
than So, 900, 900, and after all expenses
were paid the shareholders received a di-
vidend of II per cent.
The canal incEef9Ses in importance year
after year, and that to such al extent
that it may be necessary to build a second
alongside of the first, and this plan is
now much discussed. How much is
saved by it can only be understood by
considering the steamship routes OF the
past. Before it was opened shi ps in
going to China and India, had to go by
way of the Cape of Good Hope and it
was then more than II, 900 miles from
London to Bombay. The voyage was
one of months instead of weeks, and it
necessitated the coaling Of steamers. At
present the distance by the Suez Canal is
only 1000 miles, and the saving in dis
lance from London to Hong Kong is
about 1000 miles, or 1000 miles longer
than the distance between Liverpool and
J New York. In 1886 more than 5000
vessels passed through the canal, and
estimating that each Of these vessels to
India, Australia or China made a saving
Of at least five thousand miles, it will be
seen that the aggregate saving in one
gear was more than fifteen million miles,
EQUAL to q distance of six hundred times
around the world. Undoubtedly more
than one hundred and fifty thousand
passengers are taken through this canal
every year, and the charges are 81 on
each passenger. It makes heavy charges
upon the vessels which pass through,
estimating them according to their ton
mage, and the receipts OF the canal make
it one of the best paying institutions of
the world.
And still this canal is only one hundred
miles long; it is only one-twelfth of the
length of the Red Sea, into which it con-
ducts the waters of the Mediterranean,
and these two bodies Of water are OF
aearly the same level. They now flow
into one another without locks, and the
canal is well described as a ditch in the
desert. ThS, Bitch is about three hun,
aral feet Vie at the top, and Il hun.
hred and fifty feet wide at the bottom.
and the water within it is as quiet as {
mill pond. G 1t is Il beautiful sea-green.
and the contrast of this color with The
bare yellow sand which line the banks OF
the canal make it wonderfully beautiful,
The canal is so narrow that ships can pass
only at certain points, and the manage.
ment govern these passages just as the
train dispatchers regulate The passage o.
, trains on u trunk lines. There are
from time to time, through the cana
wider spaces where the ships must turf
, in while others, which have the right o
way, may pass them, and at a distance
! these ships seem to be walking, as it were
: in single file through the desert. The,
are not allowed to go over five miles al
hour, and this is largely due to the deptl
of the canal. Its average depth is abou
twenty-four feet, and many of the ship
which pass through are more than TWEEN
ty feet deep in the water. There is Sc
, little water under the bottom that Their,
can be no great speed.
The banks of this canal are of dry ant
thirsty sand. In ome places they ar
, kept back by ~pavements of stone and il
others by a network of twigs like tn
; ; ietties of the Mississippi. II cost neari,
500, 900, 900 to build the canal, and il
some places the channel had to be Gu
through solid rocks. In others there wa
little dredging needed. The waters o
the Mediterranean flowed into long
: natural lakes, and these required bu
l little excavation to make them dee
enough for the traasit OF the ships. On
/. of the great problems in making tn
canal was fresh water for the work
men. The work was begun in 1858
0 and the ruler of Egypt provided $500
f laborers. These were relieved every thrc
months; but it was necessary to fee
them. It took 1000 water-casks, whic
were carried on the backs of camels,
t supply them with drinking water, an
this was kept up for five years. At tn
end of that time a fresh water canal wa
arranged so that the water was carrie
: from the Nile to Ismailia, and there
now a pipe which runs the Rhole lengt
> of the canal, and which carries fres
! water from one end of it TO the othel
: The work oof preparing harbors at Pol
. Said and suez was Very expensive, and
" took a look athe piers at Port Sale
which are intended to ward off the acca
mutations of sand and mud, and whic
y. form the navigable entrance to Il
: canal. These piers are made of %artifici
y stone, composed Of desert sand and C
ment. The machinery to make them W
= brought here from France, and the ston
were made to throw into the sea. Fac
stone weighed twenty tons, and it toe
25, 600 Of these massive rocks to form Il
bases of these piers. On the top of tn
foundation the piers were built, and tn