1st. The indirect Canal has to cross the Nile, and this condition is almost impossible to be carried out. The crossings of rivers are attended, as is well known, with difficulties, even when there is only a draught of water of 2 to 3 _met._: what would they be for a Canal which is to be 8 _met._ deep? And even one of the most decided partisans of the indirect track has not hesitated to declare frankly, considering this immense obstacle, which alarms but does not discourage him: “that the maintenance of such a depth presents difficulties which have never been surmounted nor even attempted.” It is true that at first the help of the barrage was reckoned upon in risking the crossing of the river; but this barrage can only serve at the low waters during four or five months of the year, at the time when the lands are irrigated to prepare for the summer crops; the reserved waters of the Nile will never, even at their _maximum_, be more than 4 to 4½ _met._, which is very far from 8 _met._ Above the barrage, at the point where the ships are to cross, the breadth is 2000 _met._ and if a transverse channel were dug there, how could it be prevented from filling with alluvium and mud? During the increase of the waters, how could a current of five miles an hour, be crossed by sailing vessels against the wind blowing from the east and south? Against this formidable obstacle to the crossing which cannot be avoided, an expedient not less surprising, and still more impracticable, has been devised; the barrage is set aside, the employment of it being too hazardous, and the Nile is to be crossed by a bridge Canal. But can we form an idea of a Canal 8 _met._ deep crossing a river like the Nile above the barrage? According to the very calculations of those who propose such schemes, there would be required 1,213,147 _met. cub._ of water _per diem_ to supply the upper basin, and as this enormous quantity of water would have to be raised thirty _metres_ above the level of the two Seas; the engines required for this purpose must represent 5620 horse power by calculation, corresponding to 6000 horse power in those to be provided; not to speak of the obstacles that such a colossal work would oppose to the ordinary navigation, it would be an expense upon that point only of 50 to 60,000,000 _francs_. And the bridge Canal after all these sacrifices, would not be more firm or more durable than any construction of that kind. And moreover for this super elevation of level there would be required ten locks in addition to the fourteen already on the line.