"The Canal is one hundred miles long, from Suez, on the Red Sea, to Port Said, on the Mediterranean. Advantage was taken of depressions in the desert below the level of the sea, and when the water was let in, these depressions were filled up and became lakes (Timsah and Bitter Lakes), as you see on the map. There were thirty miles of these depressions; and then there was a marsh or swamp (thirty miles across), called Lake Menzaleh, which was covered during the flood of the Nile, and only needed a channel to be dug or dredged sufficiently deep for the passage of ships. The first spadeful of earth was dug by Ferdinand de Lesseps at Port Said on the 25th of April, 1868, and the completed Canal was opened for the passage of ships on the 16th of November, 1869. About forty steamers entered it at Port Said on that day, anchored in Lake Timsah for the night, and passed to the Red Sea on the 17th. M. de Lesseps projected the Canal while he was serving in Egypt as French Consul, and it was through his great energy and perseverance that the plan was finally carried out. The Canal was distinctively a French enterprise, and was opposed by England, but as soon as it was completed the English Government saw its great importance, and bought a large amount of stock that had hitherto been held by the Egyptian Government. [Illustration: SUEZ CANAL AND EASTERN EGYPT.] "The line of the Canal where digging was necessary was through sand, but in many places it was packed very hard, so that pickaxes were needed to break it up. Much of the sand was removed by native laborers with shovels and baskets; but after the first two years it was necessary to substitute machinery for hand labor. Excavating and dredging machines driven by steam were put in operation, and the work was pushed along very rapidly; the channel through Lake Menzaleh was made by floating dredges equipped with long spouts that deposited the sand two or three hundred feet from where they were at work, and the dry cuttings at higher points were made by similar excavators mounted on wheels. At one place, just south of Lake Timsah, there was a bed of solid rock, where it was necessary to do a great deal of blasting, and the last blast in this rock was made only a few hours before the opening of the Canal.