252 Notices of Ancient and Modem Greece, 



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commencement of the attempted canal j It must have been of great 

 width and depth, for it is still lower than the surface of the Gulf of 

 Corinth, and you walk up in its bed for a mile, between two vast 

 ridges, formed by earth and stones, thrown up on each side; then you 

 -arrive at a narrow cut through the rocks, where the rriarks of the 

 ^chisel are still visible, and a flight of steps also cut in the rock, Is very 

 perfect: a litde fardier, after passing odier similar cuttings, you lose 

 »all traces of the canal, and the dry sandy soil seems to have presented 

 a' still greater obstacle, I may observe here, that the Isthmus is 

 itraversed, lengdiwlse, by a ledge of heavy pumice stone, which is 

 visible in the center from the excavations made by the ancients to 

 procure stone for their buildings ; this ledge which is highest in the 

 .center of the Isthmus, is in some parts above the surface, and appears 

 ^to sink away on each side to a far greater depth than the surface of 

 the sea. It is a common idea, that tiie ancients were deterred from 

 pursuing their undertaking, by the fear, that an inundation of the isl- 

 ands of the Egean would take place from the rush of the waters from 

 tlie Corinthian Gulf, which were, and are vulgarly supposed to be 

 many feet higher than the condguous sea : it is difficult however to 

 suppose, that men, advanced as they must have been in mechanical 

 acquirements, should h&ve been deficient in the means of deciding 

 this question in hydraulics; although any person standing on the cen- 



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tre of the Isthmus, and judging simply from sight, would pronounce 

 the waters of die Corinthian Gulf to be much higher dian those of tlie 

 Egean ; the Aict is accounted for however, hj the nature of the slope, 

 that tow^ard the Corinthian side being gende, while on the odier it is 

 abrupt. 



/ The question, of the pracUcability of cutting the Isthmus by a ca- 

 nal, is decided in the affirmadve; but another question remains to be 

 ^ttled 



would be a profitable undertaking ; this has been much discussed; 



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siderabte force, viz. the prevalence of westerly winds in the Corindi- 

 ian Gulf, which is so great, that getdng out is difficult; I venture to 

 say, that more than eight tenths of the time, that the wind blows 

 over the gulf, it is from die west. . 



In every part of the Isthmus you meet with some remnants of the 



of the ancients ; the stupendous wall wliich they constructed 



across h, although now a heap of ruins, still, by its extent and the 



immense mqss of wrought stones, gives evidence of the enterprize 



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