6n CANAL. 
f'ource of the fertility of Egypt, and a number of canals 
have been dug to receive and diltribnte its waters; but 
the principal work of this kind was the grand canal, by 
which a communication was mad? between the Nile and 
the Red Sea. It was begun, according to Diodorus Sicu¬ 
lus, by Ncccs fan of Pfammetieus, and continued by Da¬ 
rius king of Per'ia ; and, after having been laid^afide for 
fame time, it was finiflied under Ptolemy II. After his 
reign it fell into difufe, but was again opened in the year 
635, under the khalif Omar. In 775 it was again flopped, 
and only a few traces of it are now fublifting. The canal of 
Faoua was cut from the Nile to Alexandria by Ptolemy, 
to fill the immenfe citterns which were conftrmfted in all 
parts of tliat city, Strabo-mentions a canal between Alex¬ 
andria and Canopus; and Herodotus tells us, that the 
itones for building the temple of Datona in Egypt were 
brought down the canals of the Nile, a diflance of 200 
leagues. A great number of other canals, only taken 
-care of by thofe who derive advantage from them, blue 
from that arm of the Nile which runs to Damietta, and 
fertilize the province of Sharkia. A number of ojher ca¬ 
nals run through the ifland of Delta, many of which are 
navigable : that of Manoof, beginning at Nadir, commu¬ 
nicates with two branches of the Nile, ten leagues below 
the angular point called the Belly of the Cow. The Eu¬ 
phrates never overflowed its fpacious plains, as the Nile 
did thofe of Egypt, but the people, to procure a fintilar 
benefit, made an infinite number of canals, and dug great 
lakes to receive them, under queen Nitocris, mother of 
the lafl king of Babylon. She alfo catifed an immenfe 
lake to be dug, into which the whole river was turned, for 
•the purpofe of building a Hone bridge over its channel to 
‘unite the two Tides of the city. Into that very lake did 
Cyrus turn its waters, when, defpairing to reduce Baby¬ 
lon by force or famine, he opened himfelf a paflage, and 
•eftablilhed the greateft empire of the woild. 
In China there is fcarcely a town or village which has 
not the advantage either of an arm of the fea, a navigable 
river, or a canal. The great or royal Chinefe canal was 
Tmilled about the year 980: thirty thoufand men were 
employed forty-three years in completing it. It runs from 
north to fouth, extending from the city of Canton to the 
■extremity of the empire; and by it all kinds of foreign 
merchandise, entered at that city, are conveyed diredtly 
to Pekin, being a diftance of 825 miles, its breadth is 
about fifty feet, and its depth a fathom and a half, fuffi- 
cient to carry barks of confiderable burthen, with mails 
and fails. 'Phis canal pa lies through or near forty-one 
large cities; it has feventy-fiye vaft.Unices to keep up the 
wafer, and to pals (hips where the ground will not ■'admit 
of fufficient depth of channel, befides feveral thou lands 
of draw and other bridges. Innumerable canals are cut 
from this main canal, and the whole empire abounds with 
rivers, lakes, and rivulets. Thele canals are cut through 
any kind of private property, gardens, plantations, or plea- 
fiire grounds; not even the gardens of the empferor, or 
any of his governors, are excepted ; infomuch that F. 
Magaillaine allures us, there is a paflage by inland navi¬ 
gation from one end of the empire of China to the other, 
being a (pace of 600 French leagues ; and that a traveller 
may go this whole diftance entirely by canals or rivers, 
except a (ingle day’s journey by land, to crofs a mountain ; 
an advantage which this Jefuit, who made the voyage 
himfelf, obferves, is not to be found in any other empire 
in the univerfe. 
The canals of India are very ancient, and very nume¬ 
rous. Hinddoltan is interfered by many branches of the 
Ganges and Burrampooter rivers, forming the moil com¬ 
plete and eafy inland navigation that can poffibly be cory- 
ceived. The famous canal of Shah Nehr begins at Ragi- 
poor, and is continued alntofl parallel lo the Rauvee, and 
ends at Lahore, a diflance of above eighty miles. The 
intent of this canal feems to have been to fupply Lahore 
with water in the dry feafon, when all the Indian rivers 
are from twenty to thirty feet below the level of their 
banks. Three other canals, for the purpofe of watering 
the country on the fouth and eaft of Lahore, were drawn 
from the fame place. The numerous canals alfo form a 
complete inland navigation along the lower part of the 
Delta, for thofe who do not chufe to go up the Hoogly 
river by lea. There are two of thefe palfages, one named 
the Sunderbund, the otiier the Baliagot; the firft opens in¬ 
to Calcutta river, about fixty-five miles below the town; 
the other opens into a lake on the eaft fide of Calcutta, 
from which a fmail canal has lately been cut to unite the 
lake with the river : this paflage is in ufe to go up the 
Ganges towards Patna, particularly when the Jellinghy 
is too low for navigation, which is generally from Decem¬ 
ber to May. 
About the year 1359, prince Ferofe III. cut a canal 
near the northern hills from the Jumna to his royal palace 
of Sufedon, about twenty miles weft-bv-weft of Paniput, 
to fupply it with water. It was fixty miles in length, and 
pafted over the plains of Carnawl. Not long after he 
founded the city and caftle of Hiftar, about eighty miles 
diftant, due weft from Paniput. His new city was feated 
in a fandy defert on-the way from Perfia to Delhi, fo that 
the travellers were often greatly diftreffed for water. By 
the perluafion of a dervife, who had predicted his accef- 
fion to the throne, he continued the canal from Sufedon to 
Hilfar, an extent of 114 miles. He again cut a canal from 
the river Setlege to Hiftar Perofebad, to extend the com¬ 
forts of travellers. Its length was 100 miles. Its mouth 
was fuppofed to have been at the conflux of the Beyah with 
the Setlege. Thefe imperial works were taken up again 
by Shall Jehan, who not only repaired and cleanfed that 
part of the canal between the hills and Sufedon, but con¬ 
tinued it by a new cut to Delhi, over the plains of Pani¬ 
put. The reader is referred to the Ayeen, vol. ii. p. 107 ; 
Dow’s Feriflita, vol. i. p. 366 ; and Major Rennel, p. 72. 
There is perhaps no part of the world, whqre inland 
navigation is carried through Inch an extent of country as 
in Ruftia, it being poflible in that empire to convey goods 
by water from Aftracan to Peterlburgh, through a (pace of 
1434 miles; and, from the frontiers of China to the fame 
capital, a diftance of 4472 miles. 
The communication by water between Aftracan and Pe- 
terfburg, or between the Cafpian fea and the Baltic, is 
formed by means of the celebrated canal of Vilhnei-Vo- 
lolliok. This great work, which was begun in the reign 
of Peter the Great, was carried on under the direction of 
Captain Perry, a celebrated Englilh engineer ; and it has 
fince been lo confiderably improved, that veflels now reach 
Peterlburgh in lefs than half the time they formerly did. 
The Slilina, the Mafia, the Volkof, and the Neva, may be 
conlidered as the fame river flowing through different 
lakes, and only changing its name at various intervals. 
By uniting therefore the Slilina, which communicates with 
the Baltic, with the Twertza, which flows by the Wolga 
into the Cafpian fea, is formed the junction of thofe two 
Teas. This junction is made by the canal of Viffmei-Vo- 
lofliok, « here the Shlina is united to the Twertza by fe¬ 
veral canals and rivulets, which are fupplied with water, 
and the veflels navigated by the operation of locks and 
Unices. Veflels having by thefe means pafted into the 
Shlina, they proceed without interruption through the 
lake Maftino along the Mafia; and thence, crofting the 
lake Ilmen to Novogorod, defcend the river Volkof; and 
the Ladoga canal, which pafles by the mouth of the river 
Volkof, and joins the Neva near the village of Schluflel- 
burg, brings them to the capital of the empire. 
A fclieme has been projected to form a canal, fo as to 
efFeft a communication between lake Ladoga and Bielo- 
Ozero to (he Duna, in order to unite the White fea and 
the Baltic, and to improve the inland commerce between 
Archangel and Peterfburg. Some part of this plan has 
been finiflied. The grand project of uniting the Cafpian 
fea and the Baltic with the Black fea, by the junction of 
the Don with the Wolga, was planned by Peter the Great. 
Thefe two rivers-approach each other within the diftance 
