m 
from the Nile to the Red Sea, 
been able to accomplish. They proposed to reconstruct the ca- 
nal in four sections, forming three levels, and following exactly 
the ancient line. The first section extends from Bubastis to 
Seneka, or Abaceh, about 12 English miles. Its bottom to be 
on a level with the low-water of the Nile (about 10 feet above 
the Mediterranean) ; its depth, to be sufficient to receive the 
full rise of the inundation, which is here 18 feet; and its walls, 
to rise 4 feet above the extreme height of the water. The se- 
cond section , to be on the same level as the last, to include the 
whole line of the Wadi as far as the Serapeum, and to receive 
18 feet of inundation. It is, however, to be supplied with wa- 
ter from the Canal of Cairo, and on this account is to be con- 
nected with the first section by a lock. Both these sections 
would begin to be navigable when the Nile has risen 6 feet, and 
they would continue open from August to March, about seven 
or eight months. To continue the navigation longer would be 
useless, as that of the Nile itself is confined nearly to the same 
period. The first section would be cleaned by a current let in 
from the Canal of Cairo, when its bottom was dry in consequence 
of the subsiding of the Nile. The second could be cleaned in 
the same manner, but would need the less cleaning, inasmuch 
as the water it received would have previously deposited its mud 
in the Canal of Cairo. The third section , consisting of the basin 
of the Bitter Lakes, 27 miles long, would be filled at first from 
the Nile, but would receive supplies from the sea afterwards. 
Its water, kept at the level of the low tide at Suez, would be 
two or three feet below that of the second section, during the 
height of the inundation, but from 1 to 9 feet above it at other 
times. It would be connected with the second section by a lock, 
and to prevent the impure waters of the Bitter Lakes from 
being mixed with the Nile water, the basinfuls employed in the 
passing of vessels would be discharged into the desert by a sluice. 
The fourth section , from the Bitter Lakes to Suez, IS miles 
long, would be cut to the depth of ten feet below the low-water 
level of the Ked Sea. It would communicate with the sea by 
one lock, and with the lakes by another. It would, besides, 
have flood-gates and sluices for employing the high tide in ex- 
cavating a channel at its extremity in the Gulf, to the depth of 
two or three fathoms at low-water. 
