MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 41 



promises to stand for all time. From 1859 to 1863, the work was 

 done principally by Fellahs or native Egyptians; but they did 

 comparatively little work, and the withdrawal of 20,000 to 30,000 

 men from the agricultural force of the countrj' caused a general 

 derangement of affairs and greatly diminished the amount of 

 taxes received; the jealousy of England also introduced various 

 complications and delays. Steam machinery now takes the place 

 of the Fellahs, and with great success ; the engineers agree to 

 have the excavations finished in 1869, receiving a large bonus if 

 completed before the end of that year, and incurring a heavy 

 penalty for each month of delay beyond the time specified. The 

 principal instrument employed is a large dredging machine, with 

 iron buckets fastened to an endless chain revolving over 2 

 drums ; one at the end of a long movable arm, to regulate the 

 depth at whicli the buckets shall work, and the other at the top of 

 a heavy frame-work of iron in the centre of the body or hull of 

 the machine. The largest machines have the hull 110 feet long 

 by 27 broad, with the axis of the upper drum 48 feet above the 

 water; their capacity is eq^ial to 2,500 cubic yards per day of 12 

 uninterrupted working hours ; their engines are of 75 horse- 

 power. The material excavated is either conveyed in steam 

 barges to deep water, or is discharged by long spouts on each 

 side of the canal, where it arranges itself in gentle slopes, being 

 swept along by a current of water ; by the latter method 200 

 cubic yards of material can be disposed of for each lineal yard of 

 canal. Where the land is so as to bring the barges too low for 

 the use of the spouts, an inclined plane or travelling elevator is 

 used. These three methods will be employed for digging all those 

 portions of the canal where the earth is not more than 6 feet above 

 the water line, amounting to a total distance of about 76 miles. 

 The quantities to be moved are about 7,000,000 cubic 3-ards by the 

 elevators, 13,000,000 by the barges, and 35,000,000 by the spouts, 

 — in all, 55,000,000 cubic yards. 



Where the cutting exceeds 6 feet, the preliminary work must 

 be done by hand labor before the dredges can be made available. 

 At the deep cut of El Guisr the Fellahs were employed for 3 

 years; the work is now going on by means of locomotives draw- 

 ing cars loaded by hand. The hand labor is done by Arabs, Egyp- 

 tians, and Syrians ; the masons, carpenters, and machinists are 

 mainly Italians, Austrians, and Dalmatians ; the men employed 

 on the dredges are mostly Greeks ; the engineers, clerks, cashiers, 

 and chief artisans are nearly all French. 



The mortality among the workmen is about IJ pei* cent. About 

 one-third of the total amount of excavation to be done is now ac- 

 complished, and there is every prospect of the completion of the 

 canal in 1869. By means of the narrow channel through the 

 ridge at El Guisr, there is salt-water communication from Fort 

 Said to Lake Timsah, and thence by the fresh-water canal to 

 Suez. 



The objections urged against the practicability of the canal are 

 now found to be almost wholly without foundation. So little 

 does the drifting of the sand in the desert amount to, that the 



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