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penditure in strengthening them to resist the erosion of the water; but with no reasonable expence could the banks be rendered secure, if the bends were considerable and numerous; for if they gave way in one place, the whole current might be changed, and numerous breaches ensue, requiring a great expenditure of time and money to repair.
Nature has presented the facilities of a flat country for the canal to pass through, and a descent of nearly 30 feet for the water to scour and cleanse its channel; and what art has to provide is the shortest and straightest feasible channel, that the scouring effect on the bottom may be preserved, while all unnecessary wear of the banks may be avoided; and, further, art should provide by proper contrivances at the mouth of the channel at the Red Sea, that the water may be shut off when necessity requires it for the sake of repairs.
If the shortest and straightest line between the two seas is rendered impracticable by local circumstances, then we ought to prefer the nearest approach to it which these would admit of. I should propose to preserve the width, depth, and form of channel, and the inclination of its bed, uniform throughout; and would therefore avoid carrying it through any lake or lagoons which would dissipate the force of the current, and render its action uncontrollable. I would avoid all sinuosities and expansions as far as practicable, as each of these would check the velocity of the stream, and in passing which, eddies, sandbanks, and shallows would be formed.
I should propose to render the stream perfectly controllable, in the first place, by constructing a basin at its issue from the Red Sea, which would preserve the entrance from the action of storms, on one hand, and, on the other, regulate the issue of water by means of several parallel channels, constructed of masonry, and each capable of
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