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us vast beds of salt. I mean the gradual drying up and disappear- 
ance of a sea, which in this case had a superficial extent somewhat 
greater than that of the Irish Sea. And if the French finally 
decide, as is not improbable, to re-open the old communication 
with the Mediterranean, we shall be enabled to study the reverse, 
but an equally interesting problem, viz. the effects, climatic or 
otherwise, arising from the formation of a new sea. 
It may be stated that the engineers of the Suez Canal Co. 
calculate that the requisite canals and earthworks may be con- 
structed for a million and a half of our money—a sum perfectly 
insignificant when compared with the enormous advantages which 
would accrue to Algeria alone by its southern slope being placed 
in convenient communication with the rest of the world by sea, 
not to speak of other and perhaps more important benefits. I may 
add that M. Lesseps is in favour of the scheme. 
The formation of the Suez Canal, and the filling of the lakes 
in connection with it, have already had a marked effect on the 
climate of the Isthmus. Formerly it hardly rained in twenty years, 
“now,” says M. Lesseps, “we are obliged to import tiles from 
France to cover our houses, and this year (1874) we have had a 
considerable amount of rain.” 
There is a large evaporation from the lakes in communication 
with the Canal, due to the warm winds from the south. These 
laden with moisture, as they rise, meet with a cold current from 
the north, and rain naturally results. 
Exactly the same process will occur at the restored Bay of 
Triton. The sirocco, and the hot winds from the Sahara, will 
blow over a sea between fifty and sixty times the size of the Suez 
Canal and all its lakes put together. An enormous evaporation 
will take place. Laden with moisture, these winds will at once 
meet with the lofty barrier of the Auress Mountains, the upper 
peaks of which are covered with snow for a certain part of the year, 
and running E. and W., are placed like a vast condenser athwart 
their path. Rapid condensation and copious rains will take place. 
The rivers on the southern slope of the Auress Mountains which 
are now paltry streamlets, finally lost in the sand, will become 
