Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/174

 338 WORKMEN AND HEROES lower trian the level of the sea. Although these depressions were at all times dry, yet they were called " lakes," and as such figure on the maps, where we read the names " Lake Timsah," " The Bitter Lakes " and others. They were found to be thickly incrusted with salt on the bottom and sides, indicating that at one time they had been filled with sea-water ; it is indeed most probable that the whole isthmus was at a very remote period entirely submerged. In the construc- tion of the canal these depressions were made to play a very important part. The line of the canal was. carried directly through them ; the shallower were brought to a sufficient depth by dredging ; the deeper were simply filled with water and required nothing more for safe navigation than an indication of the channel by buoys. Thus, in the whole length of the canal, reckoned at 88 geographical miles, there are 66 miles of actual digging; 14 miles of dredging through the lakes ; and 8 miles, where neither digging nor dredging was required. Water began to flow from the Mediterranean into the canal in February, 1869, and from the Red Sea in July of the same year; and by October, the lakes, and the canal in its whole length, were filled with water navigable by vessels of the highest class. The water-way thus obtained has a width at the surface varying from 197 feet at deep cuttings, to 225 feet at lower ground. The sides slope to a width at the bottom of 72 feet, and an average depth of 26 f cet is se- cured along the whole course. As the water is at one" level from sea to sea, the canal is without obstruction of any kind. No locks, dams, or water-gates are required, and vessels enter the canal from either end and pursue their journey without interruption or detention. So great, however, was the eagerness of trade to take advantage of the new route, that the volume of traffic increased within a very short time after the open- ing of the canal to such an extent as to cause serious delays in the transit, and a number of schemes were brought forward for building other canals by which the two seas might be united. In the end, all these plans were abandoned, and it was decided to widen the canal sufficiently to enable it to meet the increased de- mand upon its carrying capacity. It may not be without interest to note the growth of traffic in the canal by a few figures. From 486 ships which passed through in 1870, the number rose to 3,106 in 1886 ; while the receipts increased from $1,031,875 in 1870, to $11,541,090 in 1886. The canal, when completed, was found to have cost twenty million pounds sterling, a sum far in advance of the original estimate, but made necessary by the addition of several important items of expenditure that were not foreseen. One of these was the substitution of paid labor for the forced labor promised by the Pasha, but which was made im- possible by public clamor. The Egyptian ruler discovered that he was not living in the times of the pyramid-building Pharaohs, when men were made beasts-of- burden. Another item not provided for was the necessity of supplying the 30,000 workmen employed on the canal with fresh water. . For this purpose, a branch canal had to be dug, by which water could be brought from the Nile. The enterprise thus brought to a happy ending, has already proved of great service to the world. It must be looked upon not merely as a benefit to com-