IV. The commerce of the Baltic is considerably faci litated and increased by means of different canals, thatl form a communication with different parts of it, with it and other seas, and with the interior of the coun tries, the shores of which it washes.
The ancient Scandinavian chronicles mention a natural water communication between the Baltic and the German Ocean, through the Danish pe ninsula, by means of the Gulf of Kiel, the river Lewensaw, the Lake Flemhud, and the river Eyder. When the communication ceased to be practica ble, an attempt to renew it was made in the middle of the seventeenth century by the Duke of Holstein Gottorp. It did not however succeed, in conse queuce of the opposition of the King of Denmark. The union of Holstein and Denmark taking place in 1773, the proposed canal was begun in 1777, and finished in 1784. It enters from the Baltic by the Gulf of Kiel, near the mouth of the Lewensau, the waters of which serve to supply it. It then joins the northern extremity of Lake Flemhud, joins the - Upper Eyder, passes by Rendsburgh, and falls into the German Ocean at Tonningen. The perpendicu lar fall towards the Baltic is 25 feet 6 inches ; and that towards the ocean 23. To Lake Flemhud, which is the highest point, the vessels are drawn by horses, and elevated by three locks of nearly 10 feet fall each : three other locks lower them to the Eyder ; from Rendsburgh to Tonningen the vessels use their sails. The whole length of the navigation, from sea to sea, is about 105 miles, of which the ca nal is about 20 ; the breadth is 100 feet at top, and 64 at bottom; the least depth is 10 feet, so that it can admit vessels of about 140 tons }Auden. Upwards of 2000 pass it annually. The Baltic and the German Ocean are also united by means of the canal of Stecknits. This canal unites the rivulet of that name, which falls into the Trave with the Devenau, a rivulet emptying itself in to the Elbe at Lauenborg. This navigation is fit only for flat-bottom boats, and is very tedious.
The Baltic has communication with the interior ofl Germany, by the canals of Muhlrose and Finow. The' first unites the Oder above Frankfort, with the Spree, ' one of the tributary streams of the Elbe. The canal of Finow joins the river of this name, which falls in to the Oder, with the Havel, another branch of the Elbe. By means of these and some leaser canals, a ie .D 1 long navigation through Silesia, Brandenburgh, Low er Saxony, and Pomerania, is maintained. There is also an artificial navigation which unites the Vistu la and the Oder ; this is the canal of Bromberg, which joins the Brahe, a tributary of the Vistula, with the Netze, which falls into the Warthe, and the latter into the Oder. The Niemen, in conjunction with
the Dnieper, affords a communication between the Baltic and the Black Sea ; the canal of Pinsk uniting the former river near its head, with the Priapetz, which empties itself into the Dnieper. These seas are also united by means of the Dwina and Dnieper. The boats employed in this navigation ascend the Dwina to the Ulla, which they also ascend as far as the Lake Beloie, out of which it flows. By crossing this lake, they reach the river Essena, which they ascend to Lake Beresina. Here they enter a canal four leagues long, which conveys them into Lake Plawia. From this lake the river Sargutsch flows, which joins the river Beresina, and this latter falls into the Dnieper; but the cataracts in this river, about 250 miles above its ' estuary, greatly impede the intercourse that might otherwise be established by these two navigations, between the Baltic and the Black Sea.
The Baltic and Caspian Sea are united by the ca nals of Ladoga and Vyschnei Volotschok. The canal of Ladoga, so called, not because it enters that Lake, but as winding along its margin, extends from the river Volchof to the Neva. In the original na vigation, the boats passed from the canal of Ladoga up the Volchof to Lake Ilmen, and from this lake entered the river Make ; but in consequence of the fatal accidents that happened on the rapids of this river, one of which is six or seven leagues long, a canal was cut directly from the Volchof to the Mes ta above the rapids. The old route is here only fol lowed at a certain season, and by boats of a peculiar construction. Ascending the Mesta, the boats enter the Lake Mstinskoja, and thence the river Shlina, from which, by means of a canal with a lock, they enter the Sna, and by another lock the canal of Vyschnei Volotschok. This is a league in length, and from it a lock lowers the boats into the Twerza, which they descend to the Volga. In order to facilitate the ascending navigation from Petersburgh, which is rendered tedious by the rapidity of the Volchof and the Mesta, a canal has been cut combining the Tich win, which falls into the Lake Ladoga and the Somi na, which falls into the Molaga, a tributary of the Wol ga. In spring the vessels may draw two and a-half feet water ; but in summer only 26 inches. In autumn, the navigation from Vyschnei Volotschok to Peters burgh is perforated in rather more than a month ; in summer, in three weeks ; and in spring in a fortnight.