285 



reached by the tides, at 59,000 toises, (more 

 than 20 marine leagues) of breadth, and the 

 projected canal with four locks # , might receive 

 vessels during several months of the year (which 

 the risings of the Nile last), drawing from 12 

 to 15 feet of water. Now, in supposing that 

 the canal for joining the seas in the New World, 

 were to occasion an equal expence with those 

 of Languedoc, the Highlands of Scotland, and 

 Suez, I do not believe that this consideration 

 would retard the execution of so great a work. 

 The New World already furnishes examples of 

 works no less considerable. The state of New 

 York alone, has, in the space of six years, caused 

 a canal to be dug between the lake Erie and 

 the river Hudson, more than an hundred leagues 

 long, of which the expence was estimated at 

 nearly 5 millions of piastres -f~, in a report ad- 



* Description de I'Egypt (Etat modeme), 1808, Tom. i, 

 50, 60, 81, 111. The ancient canal from the Red Sea to 

 the Nile, (Canal des Rois), navigable, if not under the Ptole- 

 mies, at least under the Khalifs, was only a derivation of the 

 pelusiac branch, near Bubaste ; it had a developement of 

 25 leagues. Its depth was sufficient for ships of great bur- 

 then, and that could navigate on the sea ; it appears to have 

 been at least from 1*2 to 15 feet. 



t Warden. Description of the United States, Vol. ii. p. 197. 

 Morse, Modern. Geogr. 1823, p. 122. This canal, 294,590 

 toises long, is only 4 feet deep, (I of that of Languedoc, of 

 which the length is 123,730 toises.) The lake Erie is 88 

 times above the mean waters of the river Hudson. The 



