Tanitic, the Pelusian, and others.

"It is full of islands, on some of which are the remains of Roman towns.
The average depth of the water is not more than three feet; but it
abounds in fish, and it is the abode of vast flocks of aquatic birds,
which are hunted by many English sportsmen, who camp out there to enjoy
the shooting. The morass has been partially drained, which accounts for
the low water in the lake at the present time; and undoubtedly it will
all be above the ordinary level of the Nile at no very distant time.

"The Suez Canal extends in a perfectly straight line, north and south,
through this lake and the low land around it. But we will not meddle
with the canal just yet, for we shall have a great deal of time to talk
about it while we are going through it; for it is a hundred miles long,
and steamers are required to move very slowly, except in the lakes now
forming part of it. As this canal is one of the most important
enterprises ever carried through to a completion, I have asked Mr.
Woolridge to give us an account of its construction and uses. Then I
shall invite you to adjourn to the promenade deck, where I have prepared
something more in relation to Egypt, the 'Land of Goshen.'

"This canal takes its name from the isthmus or city of that name, or the
Red Sea; more properly from the former, as it makes its passage through
it," Mr. Woolridge began. "Our old friend, Ramses II., of whom we have
heard so much in the last four weeks, is said to have been the first to
dig out a Suez Canal, though I cannot inform you by what name he called
it in the Egyptian language; but that was a small affair compared with
the one before us. But our friend's canal got filled up from the amount
of mud and sand lying loose around here.

"Darius I. of Persia cleaned it out, though it was suffered to become
useless again. Then the Mohammedan conquerors of Egypt opened it once
more; but they lacked the modern facilities for handling mud and sand,
and it went to ruin again, and was useless till a comparatively modern
date.

"When Napoleon I. was in Egypt the subject attracted his attention, and
he employed an expert French engineer to examine the matter. This
gentleman declared that the level of the Red Sea was thirty feet higher
than that of the Mediterranean; and this report knocked the scheme
higher than a kite. But in 1841 the English officers employed in this
region proved the fallacy of the French engineer's conclusio