Mohammed Saïd Pacha, I think it right to direct the attention of MM.
Linant _Bey_ and Mougel _Bey_ to the principal points intended to serve
as a programme to the precursory scheme which we have agreed to present,
as a preliminary to a more complete report, accompanied by plans, maps,
sections, estimates, and other documents in explanation.
1. For the entrance on the Red Sea side; to show what works it will be
necessary to execute, as jetties, reservoirs, sluices, &c. if the present
port is made use of. To settle the direction of the channel from the
present anchorage of the roads of Suez, to the entrance of the Canal.
2. To show the exact direction of the Canal from Suez, to that part of
the ancient basin of the Red Sea called the _Bitter Lakes_.
3. To explain how it is intended to take advantage of this basin, and
whether, in passing through it, the Maritime Canal is to have one or two
banks, or not to have any at all.
4. To lay down the continuation of the Canal as far as the basin of Lake
Timsah, which is intended to serve as an inland port.
5. Works to be performed in rendering Lake Timsah fit for the object
proposed. To give the length of the quay walls. In its passage through
Lake Timsah, the Canal must be excavated of a greater breadth than in the
rest of its course, in order to allow the vessels to lay at the quays
without obstructing the passage. These quays are to be established, as
far as possible, in the neighbourhood of the fresh water canal.
6. Course of the Maritime Canal from Lake Timsah to Lake Menzaleh.
7. The works to be executed along Lake Menzaleh, or in the lake itself,
for the course of the Canal.
8. Is the opening of the Canal into the Mediterranean to be at the
opening of the ancient Pelusiac branch?
9. To specify particularly the kind, nature, and dimensions of the works
that will have to be executed in jetties, moles, breakwaters, reservoirs,
retaining basins, &c. in order to obviate the objections made up to
the present time, as to the difficulties or alleged impossibilities,
proceeding from alluvial deposits on the coast, and the choking up of the
opening of a Canal into the Mediterranean. This part of the scheme must
be based upon incontestable proofs, exemplifications, and calculations.
10. What is the bulk of water that will enter the Maritime Canal from the
Red Sea at each tide?
11. What advantage may be derived from the height of the tides, both in
the course of the Maritime Canal, in the basin of the Bitter Lakes, and
at the Pelusiac mouth?
12. To calculate for the Maritime Canal at a breadth of 100 _metres_
at the level of low water in the Mediterranean, with liberty to reduce
it to sixty-five or seventy _metres_, in those few instances where the
necessary excavations and removals would be too considerable. The water
line, or depth, is to be calculated at six, at seven, and at eight
_metres_, all below the level of low water in the Mediterranean, in order
that the Company may choose, according to the expense, that one of the
three depths which shall be most advantageous to its interests, combined
with those of the navigation.
13. To obviate the objections relative to the difficulties of navigation
in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Pelusium.
14. To make a rough estimate of the _maximum_ of all the expenses, and to
state the probable date when the Canal can be opened for navigation.
15. To accompany the scheme of the Maritime Canal, with a scheme for a
Canal of communication, of alimentation, and irrigation derived from
the Nile, taking its point of departure between the barrage and Boulak,
to reach the _Wady_, and come as far as Lake Timsah. The dimensions
shall be so calculated, that, taking into account its fall and its
supply, the Canal may water at least 100,000 feddans at the time of the
inundation, and from 20 to 30,000 during the low water of the river. In
the vicinity of Lake Timsah, with which it will communicate, this Canal
is to be divided into two branches, for simple irrigation; the first to
be directed towards Suez, the other towards Pelusium.
16. To examine whether the sands of the downs on the Isthmus, will
occasion any obstacle to the construction and maintenance of the Canal,
and how they may be turned to account by means of the Irrigating Canal.
17. To furnish a _maximum_ estimate of the secondary Canal derived from
the Nile, and to state the length of time required for the works.
18. To give an account of the nature and quality of the materials, which
can be easily, and without great cost of transport, applied in the whole
of the works, and also the localities from whence they are to be obtained.
19. Finally, to furnish an approximate statement of the _minimum_
anticipated revenues, of the grand Maritime Canal, and of the Canal of
alimentation and interior navigation.
I do not mean to confine the labours of MM. Linant _Bey_ and Mougel
_Bey_, within the mere limits indicated in this programme.
While bearing witness to the good understanding that I have observed
to exist between them, and the identity of their convictions, as to
the possibility of the communication between the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean, by a Canal accessible to large vessels, I beg them, in
case the opinion of either, upon any question whatever, should not be
entertained by the other, to state the difference of their views, and to
assign the reasons thereof.
Finally, the precursory scheme, accompanied by an explanatory map, is to
be finished as quickly as possible.
(Signed) FERD. DE LESSEPS.
APPENDIX.
No. IV.
PRECURSORY SCHEME OF MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_, ENGINEERS TO THE
VICEROY OF EGYPT.
EXTRACT FROM THE MEMORIAL OF MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_, ENGINEERS
TO THE VICEROY OF EGYPT,[4]
By way of Precursory Scheme for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, by a
direct Maritime Canal from Pelusium to Suez.
The enlightened Prince who now governs Egypt, Mohammed Saïd Pacha,
wishing to withdraw the question of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez
from the uncertainties of theory, and to bring it into practical reality,
has granted a firman by which he concedes to the Universal Company formed
by the capitalists of all countries, who are freely willing to take part
in the undertaking, the construction and working of a Maritime Canal
between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, with an additional Canal for
communication and irrigation, derived from the Nile.
Dictating himself the terms of the Firman of Concession, Prince Mohammed
Saïd has required that the undertaking shall be complete, and that an
attentive examination of the localities be made, in order to profit
by all the advantages offered by nature. He has recommended that the
shortest track be followed, the least expensive, and that which will
admit of the largest ships. His early studies and his experience in
nautical art, have perfectly prepared him for the comprehension of all
the bearings of the scientific question. He has indicated Pelusium and
Suez, as the extreme points of the cutting to be made in that narrow
tract of land, which presents a longitudinal depression across the
Isthmus, of thirty leagues, and which is formed by the meeting of the two
plains descending with a gradual slope, the one from Egypt, the other
from the frontier hills of Asia. He considers that nature has herself
traced out the communication between the two Seas, in the line of this
depression.
Towards Lake Timsah, situated at an equal distance from Suez and
Pelusium, another not less remarkable furrow meets the longitudinal
depression at right angles; it is that of the _Wady Tomilat_ (the
fruitful land of Goshen of Scripture). This furrow still receives, for
a considerable length, the overflowings of the Nile, and also appears
to form the natural track of a canal of communication, commencing at
the river and proceeding to connect itself in the central part of the
Isthmus, with the grand line of navigation to be established between the
Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean.
The Maritime Canal will thus be brought into communication with the heart
of Egypt, by a fresh water canal, which will receive the same navigation
as the Nile, and will serve also for the irrigation of large zones of the
desert, exhibiting at present the most wild and desolate aspect.
Upon these data we have been instructed to make a preliminary report.
Before giving the results of our investigations, it has appeared
necessary to us to justify the idea of a direct track between the two
Seas; for this line never having been executed, although it is the most
natural, it might be supposed that whenever the junction of the two Seas
has been attempted, such difficulties have been met with, that it has
been obliged to be relinquished; but this is by no means the case, as we
shall presently show.
In fact, what M. Lebeau says in his _Histoire du Bas Empire_ (tom, xii.,
p. 490), following Abulfeda, Prince of Syria, historian and geographer,
who was living in the year 753 of the Hegira, is as follows:—
“The coast at Farma (a town a little to the east of Pelusium, on the
Mediterranean) was only seventy miles (106,000 _metres_) distant from
the Red Sea. This space was a very smooth plain, slightly elevated above
the level of the two Seas. Amrou formed the design of uniting them by a
canal, which he would have filled with the waters of the Nile; but Omar
having opposed it, from fear of opening an entrance into Arabia for the
ships of the Christians, Amrou turned his thoughts in another direction.
There was an ancient canal, called Trajanus Amnis, which Adrian caused to
be brought from the Nile near to Babylon, in Egypt, as far as Pharboëtus,
now Belbeïs. He met at this place with another canal, commenced
by Nechos, and continued by Darius Hystaspes, and the two together
discharged themselves into a lagoon of salt water, at the outlet of which
Ptolemy Philadelphus caused a large trench to be made, which conducted
the waters as far as the town of Arsinoë, or Cleopatris, at that part of
the Gulf where Suez now is.
“The whole of this canal, being filled up with sand, had become useless
at the time of the famous Cleopatra. Amrou was not deterred by the
ancient prejudice, which, supposing the waters of the Red Sea to be
higher than the soil of Egypt, created a fear of opening a passage for
them; and he made it navigable for the transport of the corn of Egypt
into Arabia. It is that which is now called Khalig, which passes through
Cairo, but it only goes as far as the lagoon called the Lake of Sheib.
The remainder, as far as the Red Sea, is entirely filled up, although
some traces of it are still distinguishable.”
We have thought it necessary to quote the entire passage, because it
clearly establishes the question of the Canal, and certain facts to which
we shall return hereafter.
After Amrou came the Sultan, Mustapha III., _who took great interest in
the scheme for the junction of the two Seas by the Isthmus of Suez_, and
who intended to execute this work at a time of peace. (See _Mémoires sur
les Turcs_, by M. De Tott, Parts iii. and iv.)
M. Lepère proposed, it is true, the track of the secondary canal between
Alexandria and the interior of Egypt; but his opinion upon the direct
track by the Isthmus of Suez is expressed in these terms:—
“In this project of the Canal of Suez, we have expressly based the choice
of the ancient direction by the interior of the Delta towards Alexandria,
upon commercial considerations peculiar to Egypt, and upon the fact that
the coast near Pelusium does not appear to allow of a permanent maritime
establishment. Nevertheless, we think it right to acknowledge, that,
waving these considerations, it would still be easy (although, on the
contrary, it appeared difficult, and even dangerous, before the invention
of locks) to open a direct communication between Suez, the Bitter Lakes,
and the Ras-el-Moyeh, continued upon the eastern bank of Lake Menzaleh,
as far as the sea near Pelusium.
“We think that a canal opened in this direction would have an advantage
_which the interior canal would not_. In fact there might be constant
navigation upon it, which would not be subject to the alternations of the
rising and decreasing of the Nile. It would be easy to maintain a greater
depth in it than in the first canal, by means of a current fed by the
immense reservoir of the Bitter Lakes.... I will add, that if I did not
perceive some difficulties in excavating, and maintaining at a proper
depth, the channel between Suez and the roadstead, I would propose to
establish a direct communication of the two Seas by the Isthmus, for the
use of corvettes and even of frigates, which would become the complement
of this grand and important operation.”
It will be seen then, that M. Lepère himself acknowledged, that the
direct track was the most advantageous for the commerce of the world,
while the interior Canal was especially advantageous to Egypt. It is
evident that with the two Canals, the one direct, on a large section, the
other on a small section and derived from the Nile, all interests are
most abundantly satisfied.
We will finish these observations by quoting the opinion of two
distinguished staff-officers, MM. Galinier and Ferret, who have surveyed
and well investigated the Red Sea. They have given a clear, rapid, and
judicious analysis of the question.
“It is not in the accomplishment of this project (the interior
canal), that the real junction of the two Seas consists. This
problem will not be resolved, until the Isthmus shall present
a practicable opening, by which all ships may pass without
unloading. In order to this, it must be operated upon directly
from Pelusium to Suez; on this line the desert is narrower than
anywhere else. It is also in this direction, that the great
depression of which we have spoken extends, and at the bottom
of which the grand basin of the Bitter Lakes is situated.
Everything therefore points out this spot in the strip of land
for the construction of a canal. Everything, with one single
exception, which is, that there is not, they say, any port
at the extremity of this line of navigation; that of Suez
is partly filled up with sand, and upon the Mediterranean,
not a harbour, not a single roadstead, which now affords
any safety. Yet more, some travellers have stated, that if
it were required to form a port, it would be necessary to
contend against masses of sand, which, continually shifted
from west to east by a tolerably rapid current, seem to oppose
any maritime establishment upon that coast. In fact it is,
they say, for this reason that Alexander laid much farther to
the west the foundations of the town which bears his name,
and which he wished to become the emporium of the world. But
is the objection very serious at the present time? can the
obstacle, which occasions this anxiety, resist the constructive
means which are at the disposal of our engineers? We think
not. To create a port without the assistance of nature; to
put a restraint upon the sea; to reduce it to subjection; to
impose upon it an artificial roadstead; and to maintain that
roadstead, in spite of the natural causes operating to destroy
it: is a problem which has ceased to terrify modern art.
“Let us take the port of Pelusium,—see how easily the
difficulty would be removed! Suppose the Bitter Lakes to be
filled with the waters of the Arabian Gulf; by the action
of the tides alone, more than 700,000,000 cubic _metres_ of
water might be turned to account, the velocity of which would
constantly scour the channel, and prevent the accumulation of
sand at its mouth.
“After all that has been done by printing, the mariner’s
compass, steam,—the nineteenth century, by the realization
of this vast undertaking, would again change the face of the
globe. But, not to carry our views and our anticipations so
far, in a zone nearer at hand, Arabia and Abyssinia, the vast
country of the Gallas, the deserts of the western coast
of the Red Sea, with their roving populations, attached by
powerful ties to the vast circle of traffic which our continent
unceasingly creates and feeds—will enter into the pale of the
European world. Navigation and industry charged with the supply
of immense countries destitute of everything, will take a more
extensive range. In the wake of commerce, enlightenment and
civilization will penetrate, by degrees, that dreary night
which envelopes the Mussulman world.”
The advantage of the new track being thus sufficiently proved from a
general point of view, we shall now enter into the details of the scheme
with regard to its execution. We will begin with the levelling of the
line from Pelusium to Suez. These levels were taken by some engineers
attached to the French expedition, and the difference between the level
of high water at Suez, and of low water at Tineh, was found to be 9
_met._, 90, in favour of the Red Sea. Although this result has been
explained by geological and historical considerations, the fact appeared
so extraordinary that several travellers came to the spot to verify it.
Some English officers amongst others, operating first with the barometer,
and afterwards with the boiling water process, were not able to discover
any perceptible difference between the levels of the two Seas. These
investigations, published in a pamphlet which has come before us, and
which were known to the learned world, had occasioned much uncertainty,
when, in 1847, a society established for the investigation of the Isthmus
of Suez, and at the head of which were MM. Négrelli, Robert Stephenson
and Talabot, caused a complete survey to be made by French engineers,
under the direction of M. Bourdaloue, well known for his improved methods
of levelling, and his numerous labours in that particular branch. These
able and experienced surveyors, provided with good instruments, and
accompanied by a numerous staff, were formed into several divisions,
which operated separately, and thus were able to obtain divers
verifications.
To give still greater facility and more security to the operations of the
engineers, His Highness the viceroy, who had generously provided for all
the requirements of the expedition, condescended to make choice of one
of us to direct the whole of the operations, with the assistance of a
brigade of Egyptian Engineers and a Company of artillerymen, who assisted
in all the operations of levelling and verification.
M. Talabot, the engineer, in a report published in 1847, has entered into
all the details of these operations, and has given an irrefutable proof
of the results obtained. As these results differed very widely from those
obtained by the engineers of the French expedition, it was difficult to
believe in so great an error.
M. Sabatier, Consul General of France in Egypt, having been informed
of the wish of some learned Frenchmen to have a fresh verification,
spontaneously applied to the viceroy of Egypt, and one of us was
appointed to undertake it in consequence.
The verification was made in 1853. It resulted in favour of the surveyors
of 1847. For, the new levels only differ 0 _met._, 1814, from those of
1847, and give as the difference of level between the station on the
quay of the hotel at Suez, and low water in the Mediterranean 2 _met._,
4286, instead of 2 _met._, 6100 found by the operations in 1847.
There cannot be a moment’s hesitation in making choice between the
levellings of 1799 and those of 1847 and 1853, for the two latter
were taken under the most favourable circumstances by experienced
surveyors provided with the best instruments, and were verified several
times without finding any perceptible difference by these various
verifications; whilst the levelling of 1799 was undertaken in the midst
of the vicissitudes and dangers of warfare, in a hostile country, and in
a climate to which the engineers were not accustomed. One part of the
operations was performed with the spirit level; another rather important
portion could only be done with the water level; the surveyors frequently
differed; none of the divisions of these levellings could be verified;
and if the last operations had been retarded ever so little, the
incidents of the war would have made them impossible; the operations had
to be performed with rapidity, and the levels taken in long lengths; with
frequent interruptions, and without the check of any verification. This
is what M. Lepère has stated in his memorial, where he expresses himself
thus:—
“Pressed for time, disturbed by the hostile demonstrations of the Arab
tribes, frequently obliged to suspend operations, obliged in fine to
take a great part of the observations with a water level, with no
possibility of making any verification, it is not at all surprising that
the able engineers who conducted these operations under such exceptional
circumstances should have arrived at uncertain results.” We have
therefore adopted the levels taken in 1847 and in 1853, as the only true
ones, the only ones that were verified, and the only satisfactory ones.
We give an abstract of them in the following table:—
STATIONS WITH THE LEVELS TAKEN IN 1853, COMPARED WITH THE LEVELS TAKEN AT
THE SAME STATIONS IN 1847.
| Taken from low water | Variation
| in the Mediterranean | from the
STATIONS. | at Tineh. | Levels of
+------------+------------+
| 1853. | 1847. | 1847.
+------------+------------+-----------
Low water in the | | |
Mediterranean at Tineh. | 0 _m._ 0000| 0 _m._ 0000| 0 _m._ 0000
| | |
Stations of the German | | |
Engineers at Tineh. | 1 _m._ 5586| 1 _m._ 7400| 0 _m._ 1814
| | |
Station at the Staff 29 L. | | |
1853, point 26 of | | |
Bourdaloue’s triangulation | | |
of the most elevated Lagoons| | |
of Lake Menzaleh at Ras el | | |
Ballah. | 1 _m._ 9800| 1 _m._ 9800| 0 _m._ 0000
| | |
Station 4 L. 1853, | | |
Bourdaloue’s point | | |
A, which was found and | | |
verified. | 7 _m._ 8210| 7 _m._ 4300| 0 _m._ 3910
| | |
Bourdaloue’s Station Staff | | |
at the mouth of the Canal | | |
(this staff is not certain).| 3 _m._ 8280| 3 _m._ 0800| 0 _m._ 7480
| | |
Station 3 L. 1853, at the |16 _m._ 5950|16 _m._ 2300| 0 _m._ 3650
Serapeum, or Bourdaloue’s | 2 _m._ 4100| ---- | ----
No. 83. | | |
| | |
Upon the most elevated | 2 _m._ 0300| ---- | ----
deposits in the basin | 1 _m._ 8600| 1 _m._ 8000| 0 _m._ 0600
of the Isthmus. | | |
| | |
Station 2 L. 1853, and | | |
Bourdaloue’s Station B. | | |
30, on a block of | | |
petrified wood, covered | | |
with sandy secretions, | | |
placed upon the deposits in | | |
the basin of the Isthmus. | 2 _m._ 4380| 2 _m._ 1100| 0 _m._ 3280
| | |
Station 1 L. 1853, at the | | |
Persepolitan monument, | | |
upon a block of sandstone, | | |
south of the Bourdaloue | | |
excavations. |11 _m._ 6300|11 _m._ 3700| 0 _m._ 2600
| | |
Station on the Caravan Road, | | |
at the Staff Station, | | |
3 L. 1853. | 2 _m._ 3900| ---- | ----
| | |
Station at the staff at | | |
the starting point | | |
No. 1, L. 1853. | 1 _m._ 5186| ---- | ----
| | |
Station on the quay of | | |
the Suez hotel, the same | | |
as that of M. Bourdaloue. | 2 _m._ 4286| 2 _m._ 6100| 0 _m._ 1814