MARITIME CANALS IN GREECE. 615 
Short as is the distance, the work would be a somewhat for- 
midable undertaking, for the lowest point of the summit ridge 
of the isthmus is stated to be 246 feet above the water, and 
consequently the depth of excavation must be not less than 275 
feet. 
As I have said, the importance of this latter canal and of a 
navigable channel between Mount Athos and the continent 
would be chiefly commercial, but both of them would be con- 
spicuous instances of the control of man over nature in a field 
where he has thus far done little to interfere with her sponta- 
neous arrangements. If they were constructed upon such a 
scale as to admit of the free passage of the water through them, 
in either direction, as the prevailing winds should impel it, 
they would exercise a certain influence on the coast currents, 
which are important as hydrographical elements, and also as 
producing abrasion of the coast and a drift at the bottom of 
seas, and hence they would be entitled to rank higher than 
simply as artificial means of transit. 
It has been thought practicable to cut a canal across the 
peninsula of Gallipoli from the outlet of the Sea of Marmora 
into the Gulf of Saros. It may be doubted whether the me- 
chanical difficulties of such a work would not be found insu- 
perable ; but when Constantinople shall recover the important 
political and commercial rank which naturally belongs to her, 
the execution of such a canal will be recommended by strong 
reasons of military expediency, as well as by the interests of 
trade. An open channel across the peninsula would divert a 
portion of the water which now flows through the Darda- 
nelles, diminishing the rapidity of that powerful current, and 
thus in part remove the difficulties which obstruct the naviga- 
tion of the strait. It would considerably abridge the distance 
by water between Constantinople and the northern coast of 
the Aigean, and it would have the important advantage of 
obliging an enemy to maintain two blockading fleets instead 
of one. 
