333 



About the middle of the seventh century before the Christian era, 

 according to Herodotus, a line of canal for fresh water was commenced at 

 Rhoda on the Nile, near the modern Cairo, and continued by the margin of 

 the extreme eastern desert to Bubastis — thence by the Wadi Tombat, or Valley 

 of the Seven Wells, skirting the Bitter Lakes — it reached Suez, which was 

 then known as Clysma. It was commenced by Necho, son of Psammetichua, 

 and completed by Darius, the son of Hystaspes. A period of one hundred years 

 was occupied in the work, and 120,000 Egyptians perished in the labour, which 

 was so hard, that an oracle admonished the taskmasters to desist, and for a 

 time it ceased. The remains of this work are still to be seen ; but I am not 

 aware — though I have made diligent search amongst the authorities — that an 

 attempt was ever made in ancient times to connect the two seas by means of a 

 canal. The wants of the day, 2400 years ago, were met by the river Nile, 180 

 miles from the sea to Rhoda, and 105 miles of fresh water canal to the 

 Red Sea. 



A good deal may have been due to French influence in the East that the 

 maritime canal at Suez has become a great public question, but I still think 

 that the project by an English engineer, Mr. Lionel Gisborne, of cutting 

 through the Isthmus of Darien, in 1852, brought the subject of removing such 

 obstacles to navigation more prominently before the world ; and many think 

 that it will always be a matter of regret that Mr. Gisborne's plan was not 

 taken up by the merchants of Europe and America. Though Mr. Gisborne 

 was not pei'mitted to live to carry out his plan, his labours were not thrown 

 away, and the facts which I have gathei*ed from his report are curious. He 

 found that the tide on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Darien rose twenty- 

 three feet, whilst on the Atlantic side it was scarcely appreciable — that at 

 mid-tide the two oceans would be nearly level, and that therefore the ebb 

 and flow of the Pacific would cause a current both ways, not exceeding 

 a rate of three miles an hour, acting as a scour to prevent deposit, and 

 an assistance in the transit of vessels. This would also secure the passage 

 being effected in one tide, and prevent the passing of vessels going different 

 ways, as the direction of the tirade would be alone influenced by the ebb and 

 flow of the Pacific tide. Mr. Gisborne also found that the material to be 

 excavated would be chiefly rock, so that the current or the wash of passing 

 steamers would not tear away the banks, thus reducing the cost of mainten- 

 ance to a nominal sum. The canal was to be 30 feet deep at low water, 140 

 feet wide at bottom, widening to 160 feet at low- water surface. The rivers 

 Savana and Lara were to be made use of for eighteen miles on the Darien side, 

 leaving the actual breadth of the Isthuras between the tidal effect of the two 

 oceans at thirty miles. The summit level of this lowest ridge of the Andes 

 was found not to exceed 150 feet, formed by a narrow range of hills, having a 

 gradually rising plain on each side. The report does not state if any prevailing 

 winds were likely to render the two entrances periodically unsafe, so I presume 

 that the canal would have been always easy of access and egress. 



Messrs. Eox and Henderson, the contractors for the great Exhibition 

 Building in 1851, employed Mr. Gisborne, and the position they held enabled 

 them to make that gentleman's report well-known throughout the world, par- 

 ticularly as they were to get up the company for the performance of the work. 



There can be but little doubt, as the above information became public, 

 that Monsieur de Lesseps, in inaugurating his plan of making a canal through 

 the Isthmus of Suez, and before he finally enlisted the late Ismail Pasha, then 

 Viceroy of Egypt, heartily in the project, in 1854, made himself certain as to 

 the relative height of the water at the same time in the Red Sea and the 

 Mediterranean, where he intended to connect their waters by an open cutting 

 without locks. Unfortunately an opinion of weight had gone forth that pre- 



