The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-02-13

ian4i hn Midi ~ n nfeat Loeb sYainm.
climb Hrd dfHrend ihf watershed uf fho
hiinntlo aud Mediterranean ht sat nf
ihe formidable NrDk ~ Naurnuao. ne.
low CHfriauunn the Canal dB MIDI
strikes Tic River Andc. aud then starts
Ou northeast along u winding route t0
Boilers. completing a great compllca-
ted Hyatem by way 81 the Nude the
canal boats descend 10 the Medtefra-
near below NarbOnne The engineer
of genius to whom France owes tho
Canal du Midi-ln old.time callel the
Canal de LanguedOc-was that Pierre
Paul Rlquet, first created Baron and
then Count Of Caraman. by Louis XIV,
as long ago as 1866. His grandson
married the sister OF the last Prince
de Chimay before the direct male line
became extinct, on which event the IT,
tie was transferred to his descendants,
now properly the house OF Caraman
Chlmay, into which Clara Ward,
pretty girl from Detroit married. only
to abandon II In company OF Hunga-
rlan gypsy violinist OF the name Of Ri
go. This canal of Languedoc was the
first great artificial waterway of Eu-
rope and the seventeenth century gem
ius of Pierre Paul Riquet shines as
brightly as ever. The hardest task of
modern engineers will be to follow
him over the Neck of Naurouze, the
black mountain" where the cuttings
must be sixty-five feet deep. Millions
and millions 1t will cost to widen and
deepen the old canal through this
most difficult part of its route.
An Enormous Undertaking.
Where the canal boats now drag
their slow way the Canal des Deux-
Mers will give passage to the heaviest
men-of-war whirled across France
through hills and valleys. not by mules,
but by steam locomotives. Thirty-two
feet deep and wide enough to permit
two warships to pass each other in 1t
will be the Canal des Deux-Mers.
Contrary to what would seem the
natural Atlantic terminus, Bordeaux is
proposed to be neglected in favor OF
what will be practically new port
Arcachon, with its great natural basin.
lends itself ideally to the kind OF for
LITIGATION that would be demanded by
canal that would, by the fact of its
existence, come to be the central
strategic feature of the country. Area
chon, when the canal Is finished, will
be the Brest of today a hundred times
magnified. Bordeaux, that could never
be made to give the necessary ease and
security to war fleet, will remain the
great commercial port it is. A branch
canal Is to connect it with the great
canal; and, without any of the incon-
veniences of naval center, 1t will thus
find its commercial advantages i'm
mensely increased Today France sees
so per cent of her products carried I'M
der foreign flags. Where French boats
carry 100000 tons, more than 120,-
100000 tons are lugged around the
world in English bottoms.
An Economic Measure.
Another advantage of the canal as
planned by the effervescent Gaul will
be to furnish work for years to the
French workingman, to the calming of
the laboring mind and the security of
the republic. The calculations being
for permanent force of 10000 labor
ers, the partisans of the canal see in
the fact the putting off of the dread
labor question to a better era, when
France shall be entering into the
fruits of this very enterprise. Not a
centime of the money will leave
France
Some of the estimates as to cost are
prodigious. Between one and two
milliards and half, 100000 francs
the accounts fluctuate. IF the Baltic |
canal, which is only sixty miles long, |
required to complete Al German Gov
eminent engineers, 10000 laborers and
100000 horsepower during five years, J.
says NJ. Verstraet, an objector, then |
the Canal des Meux Mers, which must |
be five times as long, will require five
times as many engineers, say 205, five
times 10000 laborers, five times 100000
horsepower, five times five years"
Then up speaks the partisan. Sup
pose you were going to build street
of 100 houses. The first house would |
need one architect and two years OF
work. But would the 100 houses re-
quire 100 architects and 100 times two
years of work; that is to say, 200 years
to build the street,"
The Proposed Route.
The route of the canal is straight
from Arcachon to Agen, on the Garon-
ne, eighty-siX miles of easy cutting,
without a single lock. 1t will probably
enter the Garonne many miles ABOVE
Agen. The waters of the Garonne are
themselves to be reinforced from the
streams of the Pyrenees, which, it is
thought, will save Toulouse and many
another town from the periodical in
that now trouble them. The
Garonne, strongly banked up ana be-
come the safe drain of these mountain
torrents, will then take the fleets OF
war and commerce to Toulouse, the
central arsenal OF France. Then, from
every point, French railways will
bring troops, provisions and NUM-
IONS. Around Toulouse will be
grouped cannon and ammunition fac
tories.
From Toulouse to Castelnaudray the
route of the great canal Is along the
old Canal de Languedoc, of Clara
Wards ancestor by marriage. The old
canal abounds in locks. To lift it up
200 feet, in one stretch, there are sew
enteen of them. The descent of the
Aude-300 feet-requires more than IF
ty. 1t is In its cuttings and locks that
the projected canal is to be most ex-
Sixteen locks are planned