To the present century belongs the famous “Caledonian Canal,” as the waterway is often called that extends in a straight line for more than 60 miles across Scotland, in north-east and south-west directions. The canal work here was commenced in 1802, under the direction of Telford, and though it was opened for traffic in 1822, the work as it now exists was not completed until 1847. But the length of the actual canal construction in this case did not much exceed 23 miles, for a natural waterway, navigable for ships of any burden, is formed by the series of narrow lakes that fill what is called the “Great Glen of the Highlands.” This glen has many of the characteristics of a great artificial ditch: its highest point is only 90 feet above the tide level in Loch Linnhe; a circumstance not a little remarkable in so mountainous a country. What is also remarkable is the great depth of these lakes, which in some places exceeds 900 feet. The banks also are generally very steep, and indeed at one time it was impracticable to pass along the shores of Loch Ness, the longest of the lakes. But there are now good roads along both banks. Although the ground traversed by the artificial channels of the Caledonian Canal is chiefly alluvial, the cost of the undertaking proved to be great, amounting, it is said, to about one and a quarter million pounds sterling. Indeed, had it not been for the introduction of steam navigation before the completion of the work, and the consequent increase and facility of water conveyance, it is doubtful whether the utility of this canal would have been commensurate with its cost, or its receipts have made any profit for its promoters. By the Caledonian Canal large steamers and other vessels may pass from sea to sea, and in the summer time the steamers that traverse it are crowded with tourists attracted by the magnificent scenery it presents throughout the greater part of its length.
But whatever had previously been done in canal construction was surpassed in enterprise and importance by Lesseps’ great work in Egypt.
As we have already seen, the idea of opening a waterway between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean is by no means a product of the present century. The ancient Egyptians do not appear to have cut directly through the Isthmus, but Herodotus describes a canal made by Necho about the year 600 B.C., from Suez through the Bitter Lakes to Lake Timsah and then westward to Bubastis on the Nile. He mentions certain water gates, and states that vessels took four days in sailing through. This canal became silted up with sand ages ago, but it was cleared out again and re-opened in the seventh century of our era by the Caliph Omar, and traces of it are still visible. According to some recent discoveries in the chief archives of Venice, as early as the end of the fifteenth century, when Vasco da Gama had discovered the Cape of Good Hope, and the Portuguese took that new route to India, hitherto the exclusive property of the Venetian and Genoese merchants, a re-cutting of the Isthmus of Suez was thought of. Plans were prepared and embassies sent to Egypt for paving the way for the accomplishment of this great enterprise, which, it is said, was only foiled by the persistent opposition of some patricians, who were probably bribed by foreign gold to prevent the execution of the plan. One of our Elizabethan poets, Christopher Marlowe, appears, in the following lines, to have anticipated M. de Lesseps:—