520 
THE SUEZ CANAL. 
that would convert the narrow canal into an open strait. In 
such a case, it is impossible to estimate, or even to foresee, the 
consequences which might result from the unobstructed ming¬ 
ling of the flowing and ebbing currents of the Red Sea with 
the almost tideless waters of the Mediterranean. There can be 
no doubt, however, that they would be of a most important 
character as respects the simply geographical features and the 
organic life of both. But the shallowness of the two seas at 
the termini of the canal, the action of the tides of the one and 
the currents of the other, and the nature of the intervening isth¬ 
muses, render the occurrence of such a cataclysm in the highest 
degree improbable. The obstruction of the canal by sea sand 
at both ends is a danger far more difficult to guard against and 
avert, than an irruption of the waters of either sea. 
There is, then, no reason to expect any change of coast 
lines or of natural navigable channels as a direct consequence 
of the opening of the Suez Canal, but it will, no doubt, produce 
very interesting revolutions in the animal and vegetable popu¬ 
lation of both basins. The Mediterranean, with some local 
exceptions—such as the bays of Calabria, and the coast of 
Sicily so picturesquely described by Quatrefages*—is com¬ 
paratively poor in marine vegetation, and in shell as w r ell as 
in fin fish. The scarcity of fish in some of its gulfs is prover¬ 
bial, and you may scrutinize long stretches of beach on its 
northern shores, after every south wind for a whole winter, 
without finding a dozen shells to reward your search. But no 
one who has not looked down into tropical or subtropical seas 
can conceive the amazing wealth of the Red Sea in organic 
life. Its bottom is carpeted or paved with marine plants, with 
zoophytes and with shells, while its waters are teeming with 
infinitely varied forms of moving life. Most of its vegetables 
and its animals, no doubt, are confined by the laws of their or¬ 
ganization to warmer temperatures than that of the Mediter¬ 
ranean, but among them there must be many, whose habitat 
is of a wider range, many whose powers of accommodation 
would enable them to acclimate themselves in a colder sea. 
* Souvenirs d'un Naturaliste, i, pp. 204 et seqq. 
