172 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



would be doubly strengthened, for the great European 

 Powers, in order to prevent any one of them ever 

 seizing it, would regard it as a vital necessity to 

 guarantee the neutrality of the canal. 



" ' M. Lepere, half a century ago, estimated that the 

 re-opening of the old roundabout canal would take 

 ten thousand workmen four years, and would cost 

 from twelve to sixteen hundred thousand pounds. 

 He also considered practicable the piercing of the 

 Isthmus of Suez at Pelusium. 



"'M. Paulin-Talabot, one of the three celebrated 

 engineers selected ten years ago, together with 

 Messrs. Stephenson and Negretti, by a company 

 which had been formed to prosecute this enterprise, 

 was in favour of the indirect route from Alexandria to 

 Suez, making use of the dam for crossing the Nile. 

 He estimated the total cost at 5,200,000 for the 

 canal, and 800,000 for the port and harbour of Suez. 



" l Linant-Bey, who for the last thirty years has 

 been conducting with much ability the canalising 

 works in Egypt, who has made this question of the 

 junction of the two seas his constant study, and 

 whose opinion, formed from practical experience, 

 deserves the utmost consideration, had proposed to 

 pierce the isthmus almost in a straight line at its 

 narrowest point, forming a large inland port in the 

 basin of Lake Timsah, and making the passes of Pelu- 

 sium and Suez available to ships of the largest tonnage 

 from the Mediterranean and the Eed Sea. 



