CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



through the Isthmus of Suez from Port Said on 

 the Mediterranean, to Suez on the gulf of that 

 name. The length is loo miles ; the width at 

 bottom, 26 yards ; and the depth of water, 26 

 feet. The soul of the scheme was M. de Lesseps, 

 a French engineer, who organised a company for 

 the undertaking in 1855, and after fourteen years 

 of indefatigable exertion, saw the canal formally 

 opened for traffic in November 1869. It is found 

 to afford an easy and expeditious passage to the 

 largest ships from Europe to the Indian and Aus- 

 tralian seas ; British shipowners use it extensively. 



A still more stupendous enterprise was the 

 Panama Canal, also due to the inexhaustible 

 energy of M. de Lesseps, and designed to connect 

 the Atlantic and South Pacific across the Isthmus 

 of Panama. It was begun in 1881. 



In ancient times there was a canal from Suez 

 to Bubastis, on the eastern branch of the Nile, 

 begun 600 B.C., and finally overwhelmed 767 A.D. 



France possesses about fifty different canals, 

 some of which are of great importance for general 

 traffic. The chief canal is allowed to be that of 

 Briare, called also that of the Loire and Seine. 

 It was completed in 1642, measures 34$ miles in 

 length, and has 40 or 42 locks. The width is 25 

 feet at bottom. By this canal, Paris receives large 

 supplies of inland produce. The Canal du Midi, 

 or Languedoc Canal, makes a communication 

 between the Mediterranean at the city of Cette 

 and the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the 

 Garonne, passing through the province of Langue- 

 doc. Altogether, there are nearly 1000 miles of 

 canals in France. 



The United States of North America possess 

 upwards of 2500 miles of canals. The principal 

 undertaking of this kind is the Erie Canal, which 

 unites the river Hudson at Albany with Lake 

 Erie at Buffalo, a distance of 363 miles. The 

 Miami Canal, from Cincinnati to Lake Erie, which 

 extends 265 miles, is another great undertaking ; 

 and there are a number of other canals, scarcely- 

 less important, for the general traffic of the 

 country. The canals of Canada are also on a 

 great scale. The Rideau Canal, 135 miles long, 

 connects the town of Ottawa formerly Bytown 

 on the river Ottawa, with Kingston on Lake 

 Ontario. By means of the Welland Canal, 28 

 miles long, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, 

 and of the St Lawrence Canal, 41 miles in length, 

 for avoiding the rapids of that river, communica- 

 tion is now open, for sea-going vessels, from the 

 Atlantic to the most western ports on the Canadian 

 lakes. In 1856, for the first time, a cargo of 

 wheat was brought from Chicago to Liverpool 

 without trans-shipment. 



The canals of Great Britain are believed to 

 extend to an aggregate length of 4700 miles. The 

 greater part are in the midland districts of Eng- 

 land, including Lancashire, and have for their 

 object the connection of the large seats of manu- 

 facture with the sea on both sides of the island, 

 and with the Thames at London. The Grand 

 Trunk Canal, connecting the Mersey with the 

 Trent and Humber, extends 93 miles. The 

 Birmingham and Worcester connects the Grand 

 Trunk Canal with the Severn. The Grand Junc- 

 tion connects the Grand Trunk with the Thames. 

 Thus the four great ports of the kingdom London, 

 Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull are connected by 

 canals. So generally are these and other canals 



spread over England, that it is supposed there is 

 not a place south of Durham more than fifteen 

 miles from water-communication. 



Ireland has about 300 miles of canals, mostly 

 government undertakings, and in general possessed 

 of little trade. Scotland has a number of canals, 

 but they are chiefly confined to the western and 

 mid district of the country. That which possesses 

 the largest traffic is the Forth and Clyde Canal, 

 reaching from the Clyde, a short way above 

 Dumbarton, to the Forth at Grangemouth. This 

 canal, which was opened in 1790, and affords a 

 ready communication for small vessels between 

 the east and west coast, extends 39 miles in 

 length ; its highest level is 160 feet, with 20 locks 

 on the eastern acclivity, and 19 on the western. 

 The canal is connected with Glasgow by a side- 

 cut ; and it is joined by the Union Canal, which 

 extends from near its eastern extremity to Edin- 

 burgh. The Caledonian Canal was constructed 

 to avoid the dangerous and tedious navigation 

 round by the Pentland Firth and the Hebrides ; 

 the distance from Kinnaird's Head to the Sound 

 of Mull by this route being 500 miles, and by the 

 Canal, 250 miles. The Great Glen of Albin, or 

 Glenmore, in Inverness-shire, running from the 

 Moray Firth, south-west quite across the island, 

 is in great part occupied by a chain of natural 

 lakes ; and it only remained to connect these by 

 cuttings to form a magnificent water-way. The 

 canal begins in the Beauly Firth, near Inverness, 

 and joins Loch Eil, an inlet of the Atlantic, near 

 Fort- William. The whole length of the naviga- 

 tion is 6o| miles ; of this, 37^ miles are occupied 

 by the three lakes or lochs Ness, Oich, and 

 Lochy, and the remaining 23 miles by four cuts 

 or canals. The canals are 120 feet broad at 

 surface, and 50 at bottom, and 17 deep. The 

 practicability of this great work was first shewn 

 by a survey under government in 1773 by 

 the celebrated James Watt ; but it was not 

 till 1803 that it was begun under Mr Telford. 

 The whole line was opened for ships in 1823. 

 After three years of repair, it was re-opened in 

 1847. Ships of 500 to 600 tons, fully laden, can 

 pass through the canal. The canal and tonnage 

 rates for sailing-vessels are each a farthing per 

 mile per ton, and a half of this for vessels under 

 125 tons. Steamers pay 2s. a ton. Of ,1,368,203 

 expended on this canal, from 1803 to 1856, 

 ,1,242,387 were voted by parliament, and ^90,748 

 were from canal dues. Only in a few years have 

 the receipts equalled the expenditure. In the 

 year ending April 1881, the receipts were ^7498 ; 

 and the expenditure (including repairs), 7726 

 an unusually favourable state of matters. 



RAILWAYS. 



The origin of the modern railway undoubtedly 

 belongs to Britain, and is traced to a contrivance 

 adopted for simplifying the transit of coal from 

 the mines in Northumberland and Durham to the 

 places of shipment. The invention consisted of 

 two parallel lines of wooden beams fixed to the 

 ground, and furnished with flanges to prevent the 

 wheels of vehicles slipping aside. Along these 

 ways wagons were drawn by horses with such 

 comparative ease that they soon became popular. 

 From less to more, this contrivance led to the 

 modern railway ; nor is it useless to note that the 



