SUEZ CANAL. This great canal, which may be said to have converted Africa into an island, runs for nearly 100 miles from Port Said on the Mediterranean to Suez on the Red Sea, forming a channel navigable for large ves sels between the two. It is not the first work of the kind constructed in the same locality — a large canal from the Red Sea to the Nile be ing known to have existed from six centuries before the Christian era to the latter part of the 8th century after it, when it finally became choked up and useless. Napoleon I, when in Egypt, had thoughts of making a great ship canal across the isthmus; and from that time various schemes for accomplishing this were proposed. At last, about 1854, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer, obtained from the late Said Pasha, viceroy of Egypt, the con cession or exclusive privilege of making a ship canal from Suez to Tineh on the Mediterra nean; and after his plans had been weighed and debated for years he was able to form a com pany in 1858_for the purpose of carrying them out. Half the shares were taken in France, one fourth in Egypt and very few in England, owing to Lord Palmerston's objections on political grounds and Robert Stephenson's on engineering considerations. After many com promises the following important conditions were agreed to: The land on both sides of the canal is to be retained by the company for 99 years. The quantity of this land is only to be sufficient for the purposes of the canal and for the various works at Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez; none of it is to be sold to other parties. All persons residing upon the conceded land are to be subject to the same local and consular jurisdiction as residents in other parts of Egypt. Some of the privileges originally granted to the company by the viceroy of Egypt were bought back by him at very high prices; some others he was unable to fulfil and paid a corresponding compensation by remit ting certain demands which he would have been otherwise entitled to make. In these and in other ways the viceroy became largely inter ested in the scheme. In November 1875 the British government bought from the viceroy his interest in the canal, consisting of 176,602 shares, for $20,000,000.
The work was begun on 25 April 1859 and it was estimated that the canal would be wholly completed in 1864, at a cost of $30,000,000. It was opened only on 17 Nov. 1869, and the total cost was about $80,000,000. Large numbers of men were of course required for the works, and crowds of Fellahin, Arabs, Nubians, Ne groes, Sicilians, Greeks, etc., were engaged upon them, while dredges and other machines of great power were also employed. To facili tate the construction of the great canal a service canal 20 feet wide and five deep was constructed for part of the distance, by which men and materials could easily be conveyed. A canal was also constructed for bringing fresh water from the Nile at Bulak near Cairo, since with out an extensive supply of this necessity of life the canal works could not have been carried on in the waterless region of the isthmus. This canal reaches the salt-water canal at Ismailia, about midway between the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea, and then runs almost parallel to the course of the ship-canal till it arrives at Suez. Previously existing canal works were partly available for the fresh-water canal. It has proved a boon to the country all along its banks. It is about 40 feet wide and 9 deep, and is used for navigation as well as for domestic purposes and irrigation. From Is mailia to Port Said fresh water from this canal is conveyed through large pipes. Plugs are in serted in the pipe along the route where neces sary to allow the withdrawal of water for domestic or other purposes. The great canal itself differs in dimensions in different places, being narrowest where the amount of cutting was greatest. For about four-fifths of its length (77 miles) it was at first 327 feet wide at the surface, 72 at the bottom and 26 deep; for the remainder (22 miles) it was only 196 feet wide at the surface, the other dimensions being the same. Many portions of the canal were easily enough made, but at other points the ex cavation demanded an immense amount of labor.
In one place the workmen had to cut a passage 90 feet deep and 200 wide through sandstone rock. Port Said was chosen as the Mediterra nean entrance of the canal instead of Tineh, be cause here the deep water is nearer the shore. It has grown up since the works commenced, and possesses basins, quays, a lofty lighthouse with electric light, etc., and a harbor protected by two breakwaters or piers, the one 2,070 yards long, the other 2,730. Leaving Port Said the canal first passes for about 24 miles along the eastern margin of Lake Menzaleh, an extensive and very shallow lagoon. The water of the lake is not admitted into the canal, which is confined between embankments, and is from 26 to 29 feet deep — much deeper than the lake. Beyond Lake Menzaleh occurs a sandy strip of three or four miles, after which the canal enters Lake Ballah, where embanking and dredging had again to be resorted to; passing through this for about eight miles it next runs through a land portion of the same length, in which occurs the formidable cutting mentioned above, and it then reaches Lake Timsah, about half way across the isthmus. This is a small lake, and had long been dry, but is now filled with sea-water, and abounds with fish. Lake Tim sah is a stopping place for vessels passing through the canal, and affords a large space suitable for anchoring. Between Port Said and Lake Timsah the canal is nearly straight, and between the former place and Lake Ballah quite so; the southern half of its course is more winding. On the western shore of Lake Tim sah is situated the town of Ismailia, which owes its existence entirely to the canal and the rail way which connects it with Zagazig, Cairo and Alexandria. At Ismailia the fresh-water canal is connected with the great canal by means of locks, their levels being different. In the nine miles through which the great canal is carried after leaving Lake Timsah enormous quantities of rock had to be removed: then come the Bit ter Lakes, like Lake Timsah formerly dried up, but now filled with sea-water; then a length of 17 miles, partly through a shallow lake, partly through a sandy,desert, after which the canal reaches its terminus at Suez. Extensive works have been constructed here, among which are a mole 850 yards long; a dry dock, 413 feet by 95, built by the I(hedive of Egypt; another, 360 feet by 85, for the Peninsular and Oriental Company, etc.
The shipping passing through the canal has steadily increased since its opening. In 1870, 486 vessels, of a total burden of 654,915 tons, sailed through it, yielding the company an in come of $1,032,000; in 1874, 1,264 vessels of 1,649,188 tons passed through and the receipts amounted to over $5,000,000. In 1913, 4,979 ships of a total tonnage of 19,785,040 passed through the canal, the passengers on these ships numbering 282,235. In 1918, 2,522 vessels of 9,251,601 net tons passed through the canal. The following table covers the ships of those nations chiefly represented in 1913: The tolls chatged were nine francs per ton for laden passenger or cargo steamers and war ships; six and one-half francs per ton for ships in ballast without passengers and 10 francs for each passenger. Successive reductions in the tolls in 1911, 1912 and 1913 have made the charges equal to the rates proposed for the Panama Canal. (See PANAMA CANAL). The fact that Britain was miserably represented on the board of management in course of time created much dissatisfaction among British shipowners, and in 1883 there was much talk about the construction of a second canal. This came to nothing, but led to the widening and deepening of the existing canal and the con struction of large basins to allow north and south-going vessels to pass each other. The depth is now (since 1913) 36 feet, accommoda ting vessels of 31% feet draught. An electric lighting system has also been installed which permits of navigation being carried on at night. The distance between London and Bombay by the old route round the Cape is about 11,220 miles; by the new route opened up by the canal 6,332 miles. Steamships are allowed to sail at a speed of five to six knots an hour along the canal. Consult (Statesmans' Year Book' See