d
along with them other vessels of various build, in which the blunt stem
and curved poop of the Greeks were combined with the square-cabined
barque of the Egyptians. At the same time, in order to transport the
squadron from one sea to another when occasion demanded, he endeavoured
to reopen the ancient canal.

He improved its course and widened it so as to permit of two triremes
sailing abreast or easily clearing each other in passing. The canal
started from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, not far from Patumos, and
skirted the foot of the Arabian hills from west to east; it then plunged
into the Wady Tumilat, and finally entered the head of the bay which now
forms the Lake of Ismailia. The narrow channel by which this sheet
of water was anciently connected with the Gulf of Suez was probably
obstructed in places, and required clearing out at several points, if
not along its entire extent. A later tradition states that after having
lost 100,000 men in attempting this task, the king abandoned the project
on the advice of an oracle, a god having been supposed to have predicted
to him that he was working for the barbarians.*

* The figures, 100,000 men, are evidently exaggerated, for
in a similar undertaking, the digging of the Mahmudiyeh
canal, Mehemet-Ali lost only 10,000 men, though the work was
greater.

[Illustration: 405.jpg THE ANCIENT HEAD OF THE RED SEA, NOW THE NORTHERN
EXTREMITY OF THE BITTER LAKES]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken from the railway
between Ismailia and Suez, on the eastern shore of the lake.

Another of Necho's enterprises excited the admiration of his
contemporaries, and remained for ever in the memory of the people. The
Carthaginians had discovered on the ocean coast of Libya, a country rich
in gold, ivory, precious woods, pepper, and spices, but their political
jealousy prevented other nations from following in their wake in the
interests of trade. The Egyptians possibly may have undertaken to
dispute their monopoly, or the Phoenicians may have desired to reach
their colony by a less frequented highway than the Mediterranean. The
merchants of the Said and the Delta had never entirely lost touch with
the people dwelling on the shores of the Red Sea, and though the royal
fleets no longer pursued their course down it on their way to Punt as
in the days of Hatshopsitu and Ramses III., private individuals ventured
from time to time to open trade commun