Red Sea and the Mediterranean, but they did not think of cutting a canal direct, and they took the Nile as the intermediary route. Very probably the canal which united the Nile to the Red Sea was commenced under Sesostris, if tradition may be accepted. It is certain, however, that in 615 B.C., Necos undertook the excavation of an ‘alimentary’ canal across the plain of Egypt opposite Arabia. This canal might be ascended in four days, and its width was that of two triremes abreast. It was continued by Darius, the son of Hydaspes, and probably completed by Ptolemy the Second. Strabo saw it in use for vessels, but the very slight ‘fall’ between its point of departure near Bubastes to the Red Sea rendered it navigable only for a few months in the year. This canal served for commerce up to the age of Antoninus, when it was abandoned, then silted up, but restored by the Caliph Omar. It was finally filled in in 761 or 762 by the Caliph Al-Mensor, who wished to prevent food from reaching Mohammed-Ben-Abdullah, who had revolted against him. During Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, the traces of the work were discovered in the desert of Suez, and, surprised by the tide, the French were nearly lost some distance from Hadjaroth, the same place where Moses had encamped three thousand years before.”
“Well, captain, if the ancients failed to make this canal, which would shorten the distance from Cadiz to India by water by nearly 6,000 miles, M. de Lesseps has done it, and before long he will have changed Africa into an immense island.”
“Yes, M. Aronnax; and you have reason to be proud of your countryman. He is a greater hero to a nation than a great general. He began, like many others, under slights and rebuffs, but he has triumphed, for he has brain and good
