THE 



POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA; 



LUSH DM. 



CAN AILLE C AN AL. 



CANAILLE; a French word, signifying the low- 

 est class of people. In the time, however, which 

 immediately preceded the revolution, when the arro- 

 gance of the nobility was outrageous, canaille signi- 

 fied, .with them, all who were not noblemen. The 

 people adopted the word, during the revolution, in 

 contempt of the nobility. In this sense, Napoleon 

 said, at St Helena, that he sprang from the canaille ; 

 i. e., he did not belong to the feudal aristocracy. 



CANAL. A canal, in navigation, is an artificial 

 channel for transportation by water. The first in- 

 quiry in the project of such a work, accordingly, 

 relates to the amount of transportation that will be 

 accommodated by the route proposed, at some given 

 rate of tolls (for the quantity will be in some degree 

 influenced by that rate). If the project be a mere 

 speculation, or investment of capital by individuals 

 for the sake of income, its expediency will be deter- 

 mined by the net amount of annual tolls it will pro- 

 bably yield ; which ought, in this view of the mat- 

 ter, to be equal to the ordinary rate of interest. But 

 the general utility or public expediency of a project 

 of this sort is not determined wholly by this mode of 

 calculation ; for, in this view, we must look at the 

 indirect advantages, such as the increased value of 

 lands on the borders of the canal, the increased pro- 

 fits of other works connected with or affected by the 

 one proposed ; as hi the case of the smaller branches 

 of internal navigation in England, many of which, 

 as will be seen by referring to the subjoined list, are 

 not very productive investments, but doubtless con- 

 tribute to the large income of the great lines of trans- 

 portation between the principal towns, as London 

 and Liverpool, by increasing the amount of goods 

 that pass along those lines. To determine the gen- 

 eral public utility of one of these smaller branches, 

 therefore, we must estimate, not only the increased 

 value which it gives to coal mines, stone quarries, 

 forests, &c., on its borders, but also its effects in en- 

 hancing the value of other canals. But a work of 

 this sort may be, on the whole, of public utility, al- 

 though an absolute income, in consequence of the 

 investment, can nowhere be traced, but only a re- 

 duction of the cost of some article of general use, by 

 means of a diminution of the labour, the number of 

 days' or hours' work, necessary to furnish the article 

 at any place. Thus the proprietors of the duke of 

 Bridgewater's canal are under obligation to supply 

 the inhabitants of Manchester with coals at the rate 

 of 4d. for 140 pounds, which is a great benefit to the 

 inhabitants of that town. This is one of the advan- 

 tages of this work, which should be taken into the 

 account iji estimating its public utility. Another 



beneficial consequence of any great improvement of 

 this description, as well as those of other kinds, often 

 is to promote some species of arts : for instance, a 

 canal may promote agriculture, horticulture, &c., by 

 irrigation or opening a market. In determining on 

 any canal project, then, as well as in estimating its 

 utility, these various circumstances are to be taken 

 into consideration. The motives, whether of public 

 utility or private emolument, or a union of them 

 both, being sufficient to induce to the undertaking, 

 the next things to be considered are, the obtaining 

 of an adequate supply of water, the particular route 

 to be taken, and the mode of construction. On 

 these subjects, the reader is referred to the treatises 

 more particularly relating to them. The remainder 

 of the present article wfll be devoted to a general 

 account of some of the most considerable works of 

 this sort. Minuteness of detail and technical accu- 

 racy, in regard to the dimensions, c., cannot be ex- 

 pected in a book of this kind. The length of the 

 canals is probably given with sufficient correctness. 

 The breadth is, in many instances, stated, in the 

 works to which a resort was necessarily had, without 

 distinguishing whether it was that of the bottom or 

 water line, and, in these instances, it has been given 

 as it was found, the reader being left to refer it to 

 one or the other of these dimensions, according to 

 the breadth of the locks, and other facts stated re- 

 specting such canals. 



Canals of Egypt. Egypt has been celebrated for 

 its canals from the earliest periods of history. The 

 principal are the canal of .Alexandria, between that 

 city and Rosetta and the Nile ; that of Jessuf, on the 

 western bank of the Nile, and parallel to it ; and that 

 of the Red sea and Nile, across the isthmus of Suez. 

 The existence of this last, though a subject heretofore 

 of some discussion, is now established beyond doubt. 

 It was begun by Necho, son of Psammeticus, about 

 616 B. C., and the work was continued by Darius 

 Hystaspes, but was afterwards abandoned, from fear 

 of inundating a great part of Egypt, which is sup- 

 posed to be Tower than the surface of the Red sea. 

 The work was, however, resumed, and completed 

 near a century afterwards, about 521 years before 

 the Christian era, by Ptolemy II. ; but a current from 

 the Red sea upon Egypt was prevented, it seems, by 

 a barrier or bank across the canal ; or a part of the 

 route may have been left not excavated. This dam, 

 if narrow, might have been passed by boats on in- 

 clined planes, after the Chinese method, or othei- 

 wise ; but it seems to be more probable, that boats 

 did not pass between the canal and the Red sea, but 

 that the cargoes were carried by land across the in- 



