a 



CANALS. 



tervening burner, or portion of ground not excavated, 

 and reslupped. Herodotus says Uiis canal was of 4 

 days' navigation, and wide enough to admit of 4 ves- 

 sels to pass abreast. Strabo says it was 100 cubits 

 wide, and of sufficient depth for large vessels. The 

 breadth would probably vary very much, as does that 

 of the canal of Alexandria; for if it was made, for 

 any considerable part of the distance, by embanking, 

 instead of excavating, additional breadth might be 

 given without increasing the expense of construction ; 

 and, if navigated by sailing vessels, like the canal of 

 Alexandria, the additional breadth would be conve- 

 nient, though not maintained through the whole 

 route. The canal of Jessnf leaves the Jlosetta outlet 

 of the Nile, near Rhameneh, passes a little south of 

 Demanhour (the ancient Hermopolis parva), and 

 thence by the northeast shore of the late Mareotis, 

 to Alexandria. Two branches pass off in a north- 

 west direction, and one in a southwardly, which 

 communicates with the lake Mareotis. This canal 

 is navigated by sailing-vessels, being, in most parts, 

 of a convenient breadth for this purpose, though, at 

 its entrance from the Nile by its new channel, it is 

 only 19 feet wide. The old entrance, a little north 

 of the new, is not used, on account of the height of 

 the banks, which intercept the wind. Afterwards, 

 at the village of Lemedis, it spreads to the breadth 

 of about 55 yards, and keeps this breadth for 2% 

 leagues, where the banks are 13 feet above the bot- 

 tom of the canal, and 10 above the surface of the 

 ground. Passing over two leagues more towards 

 Alexandria to Gabel, the breadth is contracted to 

 22 yards. It continues of about this breadth for 

 four leagues, and is very regular. Beyond Leloha, 

 it widens, varying in the first half league from 109 to 

 273 yards in breadth. Near Beda, it is 55 yards 

 wide, and the banks 23 feet high. Passing on to- 

 wards Alexandria, the country sinks by degrees, un- 

 til the bottom of the canal is on a level with the ad- 

 jacent territory, and then rises above it, the canal 

 oeing here formed by embankments ; but, for a league 

 before arriving at Alexandria, the ground rises again, 

 so tliat the canal is here formed by an excavation in 

 the ground. It passes very near the lake Aboukir, 

 on the left, in the course we have been following, 

 and is separated from it, near the western extremity 

 of the lake, only by a wall about 20 feet in thickness. 



The water must rise 13 feet above the lowest state 

 of the Nile to enter the Alexandria canal; and, at 

 high water in the Nile, the water in the canal is about 

 two feet deep on an average. The distance, in a 

 straight line, from Rhameneh to Alexandria, is about 

 15 leagues, but by the course of the canal, 20. The 

 navigation of this canal continues only about 20 or 

 25 days in the year, during the highest water of the 

 Nile. The French, when in Egypt, were enabled to 

 navigate this canal for six weeks by clearing away 

 about 18 inches of mud near Rhameneh, at the east- 

 ern extremity. This canal, which now passes through 

 ruins and deserts, and is navigable for only a few 

 days of the year, was, as late as the 14th century, 

 bordered by a wealthy and populous territory, and, 

 in the time of the Roman and Greek empires, was 

 the channel of an extensive transportation. 



Canals of China. The Chinese seem to have a 

 more extensive inland canal navigation than any 

 other nation, if not greater than that of all other na- 

 tions. The general course of the rivers is from west 

 to east, the principal of which are the Yang-tse, or 

 Kiang keo, to the south, the course of which is said 

 to be 2000 miles, and its breadth 2 miles at a dis- 

 tance of 100 miles from its mouth ; and the Yellow 

 river, to the northward, which is represented to be 

 still longer. These two rivers run into the sea, 

 within 100 miles of each other, though they are more 



than 1000 miles apart in the interior of the country. 

 The artificial cluumels of navigation pass in a north- 

 erly and southerly direction across the territory lying 

 between the natural streams, thus making lines of 

 communication between these principal rivers and 

 their various branches, which form the natural chan- 

 nels of transportation in the easterly and westerly 

 direction. As these canals pass over the summits cii 

 the intermediate territories between the great streams, 

 the different parts of the canals must be upon differ- 

 ent levels, and there must, accordingly, be some 

 means for boats to pass from one level to another, 

 which they do mostly by means of inclined planes 

 and rollers, over which they are drawn by men. The 

 ascent and descent, at some of these planes, is 15 

 feet. The banks of the canals are, in many instances, 

 lined with freestone, and contain sluices to let the 

 water off for irrigating the country and supplying the 

 towns ; and in many parts, also, they are beautifully 

 ornamented with trees. The barque in which Le 

 Compte passed from Nimpo on a canal was 70 feet 

 long and 16 feet broad. The management, repairs, 

 andextension of the canals is a very important branch 

 of the internal economy of the empire, and the de- 

 scription and history of these works is said to occupy 

 40 volumes; which does not, however, give us a 

 very definite idea of the extent of these records, as 

 we are not told the size of these volumes. Some of 

 the most extensive of these works have been in 

 operation about 2000 years, having been completed 

 80 years before the Christian era ; and, about A. D. 

 605, it is said there were completed in the empire 

 1600 leagues of canal. The Imperial canal, and the 

 continuation of the line of transportation between 

 Pekin and Canton, of which that forms a part, is 

 most frequently spoken of, though the distance of 

 the whole route is variously stated. Malte-Brun, in 

 his geography, states it at 1660 miles, but it is stated 

 by others at 920. The navigation over this route 

 occupies about three months. The part of this line 

 called the Imperial canal is said to be about 500 

 miles in length from the vicinity of Pekin to the Yel- 

 low river, which it meets about 25 leagues from the 

 sea, where the river is about a mile wide and 9 or 

 10 feet deep. This canal is called the Imperial, 

 from its being navigated only by the emperor's boats, 

 which Le Compte estimates at 1000, of 100 tons 

 burthen each. Between the Yellow river and Can- 

 ton, the navigation is interrupted, for about 30 miles, 

 by a mountainous district, causing a portage of that 

 distance. 



Canals of Italy. In ancient Italy, besides the canal 

 of the Pontine marshes, intended as a drain, and used 

 also for navigation, the region about the mouths of 

 the Po was intersected by the fossa Augusti, fossa 

 Philistina, and numerous other canals. It was in 

 Italy that the great improvement, in modern canals, 

 over the ancient and those of China, was first intro- 

 duced, in 1481, by the construction of locks and 

 sluices to pass boats from one level to another. It 

 was the invention of two engineers of Viterbo, bro- 

 thers, whose names have not been handed down. 

 This improvement was soon after adopted in the 

 Milanese territory, under the direction of Leonardo 

 da Vinci, the famous painter, who was also celebrated 

 as an engineer. Inland navigation became so im- 

 portant, that the Italian governments paid great at- 

 tention to it, and enacted many regulations on the 

 subject, and numerous treatises were published on 

 the construction of locks and the art of making and 

 managing canals. The following are some of the 

 principal canals of modern Italy. The Naviglic 

 Grande, between Milan and the river Tesino, 15 

 miJes in length, 130 French feet broad at the surface, 

 and 46 at the bottom. It was extended to Milan in 



