302 JOOHMUS'S PROPOSED COMMUNICATION [Feb. 23, 1857. 



thrown across one of the natural outlets of the lake Sabauja into 

 the Sakaria, attests the importance which the imperial (Roman) 

 government attached to the means of communication in the rich 

 province of Nicomedia. At a later period, under the Ottoman 

 Emperors, measurements and levels had already made known the 

 facility and the incontestable advantages of the hydraulic works 

 then projected. 



The Grand Vizier in the year 909 of the Hegira (a.d. 1503) 

 caused the following facts to be made known. 



The distance from the river Sakaria to the lake of Sabanja is 

 9600 siraas (or 19,200 French feet, or about 3| miles). The 

 distance from the lake to the Gulf of Nicomedia is 22,000 siraas (or 

 44,000 French feet, or scarcely 9 miles). The difference of level 

 nowhere interposes a difficulty. 



Between the Sakaria and the lake there already exists a natural 

 communication by the little river of Sari-dere ; and according to the 

 report of Sinan Pasha, it was intended to form a direct canal 

 there, — or rather merely to deepen the bed of the Sari-dere, and to 

 cut a canal throughout the distance of only 2200 feet. To effect 

 the more important communication, that between the lake and the 

 gulf, Sinan Pasha wished to cut a direct canal between Nicomedia 

 and the lake; but it must be observed that the Roman governor 

 Pliny proposed to the Emperor Trajan, either a direct canal, or 

 one considerably deviating from a direct line, which he projected to 

 communicate with the river at present called the Kara-su. 



In the year 1172 of the Hegira (a.d. 1758), the Grand Vizier, 

 Raghib Pasha, revived the same enterprise, in order to give occu- 

 pation to the poor of Constantinople, then threatened with famine 

 by the failure of arrivals of corn from the Black Sea ; and he gave 

 the direction of the works to an Hungarian, the celebrated General 

 de Tott, who was at that time in the service of the Sublime Porte. 

 The Memoirs of the Baron de Tott* prove that there exists no 

 technical difficulty to oppose the execution of these hydraulic 

 works ; but the project was nevertheless abandoned, because, the 

 famine having been stayed, popular commotions at Constantinople 

 were no longer feared. The historiographer, Wassif Effendi, however, 

 has related that some individuals, interested in hindering the projected 

 canalisation, found means to bribe certain influential public officers, 

 who caused the works to be discontinued, the traces of which are 

 still to be seen. 



Raghib Pasha had it especially in contemplation, to insure for 



Set Von Hammer. 



