284 Mr Maclaren’s Account of the Ancient Canal 
the walls were of less stable materials, and the drift sands were 
constantly filling up its bed, there are vestiges which indicate 
that its breadth was from 60 to 80 metres, (190 to 260 feet). 
Of the depth, the engineers do not speak very decisively. Be- 
tween the gulf and the Bitter Lakes the walls were found reach- 
ing down 4 or 5, and in some cases 7 or 8 yards (metres) ; but 
this included the thickness of the earth accumulated on the 
banks from repeated cleanings. The probability is, that the ex- 
treme depth of this part, when the canal was full, was from 12 
to 15 feet, that the wall rose 2 or 3 feet higher, and that the 
water line, at the height of the inundation, was about 27 or 28 
feet above the Mediterranean, or from 2 to 3 feet above low wa- 
ter at Arsinoe. The communication with the sea at this part 
might continue open six weeks, or, at most, two months ; but 
boats might perhaps navigate the canal for five or six months in 
the year. 
We may now compare the results which the French survey 
affords, with the statements left us by ancient writers respecting 
the canal, first premising a few words as to its history. 
Since the floods of the Nile, when not stopped by artificial 
barriers, must have flowed through the Wadi to the Bitter 
Lakes, and reached to a point within 2 or 3 miles of the Gulf, 
the practicability of forming a canal must have suggested itself 
at a very early period. The sandy isthmus north of Suez, 
which is but a yard above high-water level at present, has un- 
doubtedly been raised a little, by deposits of soil and sand, in 
the course of 3000 years, it is therefore probable, that in those 
remote ages, when the canal was first thought of, a trench or 
furrow 1 or 2 feet deep, and 2 or 3 miles long, would be suffi- 
cient to unite the waters of the Nile and the Red Sea, and to 
afford the ancients a practical demonstration of the respective 
levels of the Delta and the Gulf. Aristotle, Pliny and Strabo, 
ascribe the plan of cutting the canal to Sesostris. The two for- 
mer say, that it was abandoned, in consequence of the waters of 
the Red Sea being superior to the soil of Egypt. Strabo men- 
tions this opinion, but treats it as unfounded. Herodotus says, 
the design was first undertaken by Necos, the son of Psammiti- 
cus (about 600 years before Christ), and was prosecuted to its 
completion by Darius (Hystaspes) ; that the canal was filled by 
