DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0175
THE SUEZ CANAL.
these, with only a few short cuttings, extend for 41 miles, the second for 5, the third for
25, making together about 60 miles, and leaving 40 miles of earth-work to be excavated.
Lake Menzaleh was so near the Mediterranean as to be always under water. The others
were deep depressions in the soil, marking the spots where lakes of sea water were left
when geological changes raised this part of the isthmus above the level of the Gulf of
Suez. It was only necessary, therefore, to admit water into them, to bank the channel,
and to make it of the required depth by dredging.
At Suez, the works of the canal consist chiefly of an entrance channel into the Red
Sea, increasing gradually from 72 feet in width at the bottom, to 980 feet of a basin or
dock, and a considerable quantity of reclaimed land. But at Port Said the works are
on a much more important scale. The water was so shallow that within a mile and a
half of the shore there was not sufficient depth to float the vessels which would pass
through the canal. Hence it has been necessary to construct two walls or breakwaters;
one, of the enormous length of 2730 yards, and a shorter one 2070 yards long. These
breakwaters are not built in the solid fashion of those at Plymouth and Cherbourg, but
are composed of blocks of concrete which have been manufactured at Port Said out of
lime brought from Europe and sand obtained on the spot. These blocks—which
weigh about twenty tons apiece, and 25,000, of which have been required—have been
tumbled down roughly one upon another and allowed to settle by their own weight.
Between these two rude walls a passage of depth sufficent for large ships has been
dredged, but the alluvium brought down through the adjacent mouths of the Nile,
which formerly was deposited without hindrance over the whole of the surrounding
coast, is now stopped by the most westerly of the breakwaters, and has not only formed
large accumulations of solid shore on its outside, but has forced its way through the
interstices of the blocks into the passage intended for ships.
The accumulation of mud at the mouth, and of drifting sand along the course of
the canal, involves the necessity of constant dredging. The expense which has thus
to be incurred, together with the enormous amount of capital sunk in the construction of
this great work—about seventeen millions sterling—have hitherto prevented its being
a great financial success. But the continuous increase in the number and tonnage of
the vessels which pass along it, make it probable that ultimately it will be as remunera-
tive to the shareholders as beneficial to the world at lar^e.
There is little to interest the traveller in a voyage through the canal. From the deck
of one of the large ocean steamers, an extensive view is gained over the expanse of
desert on either hand. But passing through it as I did, in one of the Viceroy's steam
launches, nothing is seen but a long monotonous line of sand-banks, which slope
upwards from the water's edge and obstruct the view. Where the canal passes through
the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, the eye can range over the lagoons, but they offer
nothing to attract attention except flocks of birds—pelicans, flamingoes herons, cranes,
and ducks apparently in infinite numbers. After a sojourn in Egypt, even these have
become so familiar as no longer to excite interest. It was at first thought that sharks
and fishes from the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean would pass along the canal into the
Mediterranean. They are, however, kept back by an unforeseen cause. The evapo-
ration in the broad open lagoons is so great that the water in them becomes nearly as
salt as that in the Dead Sea. Fish which are only accustomed to water whose density
and saltness is that of the ocean, find this an insuperable barrier to their farther progress,
171
these, with only a few short cuttings, extend for 41 miles, the second for 5, the third for
25, making together about 60 miles, and leaving 40 miles of earth-work to be excavated.
Lake Menzaleh was so near the Mediterranean as to be always under water. The others
were deep depressions in the soil, marking the spots where lakes of sea water were left
when geological changes raised this part of the isthmus above the level of the Gulf of
Suez. It was only necessary, therefore, to admit water into them, to bank the channel,
and to make it of the required depth by dredging.
At Suez, the works of the canal consist chiefly of an entrance channel into the Red
Sea, increasing gradually from 72 feet in width at the bottom, to 980 feet of a basin or
dock, and a considerable quantity of reclaimed land. But at Port Said the works are
on a much more important scale. The water was so shallow that within a mile and a
half of the shore there was not sufficient depth to float the vessels which would pass
through the canal. Hence it has been necessary to construct two walls or breakwaters;
one, of the enormous length of 2730 yards, and a shorter one 2070 yards long. These
breakwaters are not built in the solid fashion of those at Plymouth and Cherbourg, but
are composed of blocks of concrete which have been manufactured at Port Said out of
lime brought from Europe and sand obtained on the spot. These blocks—which
weigh about twenty tons apiece, and 25,000, of which have been required—have been
tumbled down roughly one upon another and allowed to settle by their own weight.
Between these two rude walls a passage of depth sufficent for large ships has been
dredged, but the alluvium brought down through the adjacent mouths of the Nile,
which formerly was deposited without hindrance over the whole of the surrounding
coast, is now stopped by the most westerly of the breakwaters, and has not only formed
large accumulations of solid shore on its outside, but has forced its way through the
interstices of the blocks into the passage intended for ships.
The accumulation of mud at the mouth, and of drifting sand along the course of
the canal, involves the necessity of constant dredging. The expense which has thus
to be incurred, together with the enormous amount of capital sunk in the construction of
this great work—about seventeen millions sterling—have hitherto prevented its being
a great financial success. But the continuous increase in the number and tonnage of
the vessels which pass along it, make it probable that ultimately it will be as remunera-
tive to the shareholders as beneficial to the world at lar^e.
There is little to interest the traveller in a voyage through the canal. From the deck
of one of the large ocean steamers, an extensive view is gained over the expanse of
desert on either hand. But passing through it as I did, in one of the Viceroy's steam
launches, nothing is seen but a long monotonous line of sand-banks, which slope
upwards from the water's edge and obstruct the view. Where the canal passes through
the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, the eye can range over the lagoons, but they offer
nothing to attract attention except flocks of birds—pelicans, flamingoes herons, cranes,
and ducks apparently in infinite numbers. After a sojourn in Egypt, even these have
become so familiar as no longer to excite interest. It was at first thought that sharks
and fishes from the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean would pass along the canal into the
Mediterranean. They are, however, kept back by an unforeseen cause. The evapo-
ration in the broad open lagoons is so great that the water in them becomes nearly as
salt as that in the Dead Sea. Fish which are only accustomed to water whose density
and saltness is that of the ocean, find this an insuperable barrier to their farther progress,
171