280 Mr Maclareifs Account of the Ancient Canal 
tern half of the valley, beyond Ras-el-Wadi, the accumulating 
drift-sands of the desert have obliterated all traces of the work, 
except at some spots *. In this track, it is observed that the 
canal has an extra breadth (sixty or eighty metres), and origi- 
nally, it may be presumed, an extra depth, too, to provide 
against the copious deposits of drift-sand. M. Le Pere, the en- 
gineer, thinks, that a branch of the Nile has, at one time, flowed 
through this valley, which is extremely probable ; for its bot- 
tom, for many miles, is still two or three feet lower than the sur- 
face of the Mediterranean. The river, however, must have left 
this channel, at a very remote period ; for the Pelusiac branch, 
'which was recognised as the eastmost, by the most ancient Greek 
writers, has been distinctly traced twenty or thirty miles to the 
northward. 
The fourth section of the canal reached from the entrance of 
the valley at Abaceh to Bubastis, on the Pelusiac branch. Its 
length is computed to be 19,486 metres, or twelve miles. The 
country here being covered by the annual floods, is all under 
cultivation, and it is traversed by several aqueducts, now used 
solely for irrigation, but some of which are believed to be the re- 
mains of the ancient navigable canal. The details of the survey 
of this section are not given in the French report. 
The French memoirs, bulky as they are, have not thrown all 
the light on the construction of this canal, which could be desired. 
I shall, however, give as distinct an account of the work as their 
widely scattered details will supply, premising a few indispensa- 
ble facts respecting the levels. Taking the low-water level of 
the Mediterranean as a basis, (in which the rise and fall scarcely 
exceeds a foot), we find the elevation of various points to be as 
follows : 
Above the Mediterranean 
in French feet. 
High water at Suez, - 30^ 
Low water, ditto, - - - - 25 
Mean, 27\ 
Extreme height of the Nile at Cairo, in ordinary floods, 39 £ 
Lowest point of depression at ditto, - - 16 
Mean, - 27\ 
Hence it appears, that the Nile, at Cairo, during the height 
* The double line in the map, marks the vestiges of the canal. The single line 
merely indicates its position. 
