150 Book of Engineering 



difference in opinion as to whether the 

 canal should be cut at sea level or be locked, 

 de Lesseps favouring the former as in the 

 case of the Suez waterway. 



There were many causes for the whole- 

 sale failure of the scheme, not the least 

 being the corruption which crept into the 

 enterprise. Everywhere money was spent 

 lavishly and often unnecessarily. The 

 estimates were proved to be wholly unreli- 

 able; the survey was too perfunctory, whilst 

 the health factor seems to have been com- 

 pletely overlooked. That deadly climate 

 took a terrible toll of the workers. It is 

 summed up by saying that in the worst of 

 the seasons forty people daily were being 

 buried in cemeteries which were soon over- 

 crowded. 



Although the venture was badly planned 

 and carried out with a tremendous amount 

 of extravagant outlay in fees and appliances, 

 the work went on steadily for several years. 

 Then, at last, de Lesseps admitted that he 

 had not allowed sufficiently for the tropical 

 rains which caused small streams to become 



