THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 301 



the Suez roadstead has all the qualifications required 

 for forming the head of the canal from sea to sea. 



" ' Along the whole course of the isthmus, from 

 Suez to Pelusium, the International Commission en- 

 countered no difficulty in the way of digging the 

 canal, nor for keeping it open, the ground being very 

 level and the geological composition of the soil very 

 favourable. The soundings, which the Commission 

 verified, established the fact that the soil of the 

 isthmus is in most places formed of a first stratum of 

 agglutinated sand, of a second stratum of clay, and 

 of a third stratum of calcareous marl, until the plastic 

 clay is reached at a depth of from 36 to 40 feet 

 below the level of the seas. 



" l During our excursion in the isthmus the Vice- 

 roy had sent the steam frigate Le Nil into the Gulf 

 of Pelusium, where M. Larousse, the engineering 

 hydrographer, had been making numerous soundings 

 and taking a hydrographic chart of the bay. It was 

 found that outside the line of coast there is a zone 

 of fine sand, similar in description to that of the 

 shore, which has a depth of 33 feet, beyond which 

 begins a zone of mud offering excellent anchorage, 

 and extending right out to the deep water of the 

 Mediterranean. The part of the bay in which there is 

 the deepest water is that opposite Tannis, where there 

 is a depth of over 25 feet within a mile and a-half 

 of the shore, along a distance of thirteen miles, from 

 the mouth of Oum-Fareg to that of Gemileh. That 



