£76 Mr Maclaren’s Account of the Ancient Canal 
more than cleaning out would be required to render it again 
navigable. 
The Isthmus of Suez consists, on the north, of a low, barren 
plain, slightly broken by hillocks of drift-sand, and pools of salt 
water. It rises gradually as we proceed southward, till it ter- 
minates in mountainous land on the east and west sides of that 
arm of the Red Sea called the Gulf of Suez. Rut between these 
ridges of high land, a trough or hollow extends northward from 
Suez, which is evidently a continuation of the cavity occupied 
by the waters of the Gulf. Its direction may be distinctly 
traced (see the Map) by a series of lagoons or pools reaching 
from the Lake Menzaleh to the Red Sea, the southmost of 
which are called the Bitter Lakes. The bottom of this trough 
is every where many feet below the high water level in the 
Gulf, except for about three miles at its southern extremity ; 
and even here the soil is so low, that it would be submerged, 
were the waters of the Red Sea to rise three or four feet above 
their usual elevation *. 
From a point in this principal valley, about the middle of the 
isthmus, another long valley branches off to the west, and ex- 
tends to the low grounds which skirt the Nile. The western 
part is called Wadi (the Arabic word for a valley) Tomylat, 
and the eastern part Wadi Sababyar. The ancient canal ran 
through this valley, the bottom of which is likewise many feet 
below the high-water level of the Gulf. 
By a series of levels carefully taken, the surface of the Ara- 
bic Gulf at Suez at high water , was found to be 9,907 metres 
(30 feet 6 inches French), or 3£ feet 6 inches English measure 
above that of the Mediterranean at Tyneh at low water. The 
mean rise of the tide in the Red Sea at Suez, was found to be 
about 5 feet 6 inches French, and that of the Mediterranean 
about a foot. It is evident, therefore, that, were a channel cut 
• The section which accompanies the Map exhibits the levels from Suez to 
Tyneh ; but it is necessary to explain, that it does not follow the series of lagoons, 
but proceeds through the Bitter Lakes to Moukfar ; and from Moukfar to Pelu- 
sium, it follows the dotted line on the Map. This was the line surveyed. The 
depth and length of the section being on very different scales, the declivities ap- 
pear a thousand times steeper than they actually are, and the profile in this respect 
is not correct. 
