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nean, and the Red Sea *, it would not less fa- 

 vor the establishment of an oceanic junction. 

 The winds blow with sufficient force on the lake 

 of Nicaragua, to render it unnecessary to tow 

 the ships which pass from one sea to the other, 

 by means of steam-boats ; but the employment 

 of the moving power of steam would be of the 

 greatest utility in the passage from Rialexo and 

 Panama to Guayaquil-}-, where, during the 

 months of August, September, and October, 

 calms alternate with winds that blow in a con- 

 trary direction. 



In stating my ideas on the junction of the 

 two seas, I have calculated only on the most 

 simple means, for the execution of so vast a 



* Even the ancients surmounted the difficulties of the 

 difference of the level between the Red Sea and the pelusiac 

 branch of the Nile, although they were ignorant of locks, 

 and only knew at the utmost, how to stop up the euripes 

 with small beams. 



f From 14 to 15 feet broad. According to the project 

 of M. Laurent, the subterraneous canal would have been, 

 without interruption, 7000 toises (nearly three leagues) long, 

 21 feet broad, and 24 feet high. Its length would have sur- 

 passed by one sixth that of the famous gallery of mines of 

 Clausthal (the George Stollen), at Harz. In order to shew 

 what men can achieve in this kind of subterraneous labor, I 

 shall again mention the two great draining galleries of the 

 district of the mines of Freiberg in Saxony, one of 29,504 

 toises, and the other 32,433. If the latter were pierced in 

 a straight direction, it would pass over a space nearly 

 double the breadth of the Pas-de-Calais. 



