There is no possible doubt then as to the success which will be obtained in the fixing of the moveable downs, nor as to the pecuniary advantages which result from it, for the maritime pine answers well in Egypt, and other kinds of trees may be found still more productive. The cost of sowing will be less than in France, on account of the low price of labour, and the profits will be more considerable and more quickly obtained, on account of the hotter climate, and the consumption on the spot of all produce now wanting, and which is obliged to be procured from a distance. We estimate the superfice of the downs to be fixed in this part of the Isthmus at about 2000 _hectares_, but if seed-plots and replantations were made upon all the downs naturally fixed, 100,000 _hectares_ of forest might thus be formed. It is for the Company to decide what extent of country it will be suitable to cultivate in this way. A final objection has been made to the Canal by assuming that steam navigation, by the agitation of the water which it produces, would quickly destroy the banks of the Canal,—banks formed in a moveable soil which would fill up the trough. To guard against this inconvenience, which might, in fact, be apprehended, we have adopted very gentle slopes (two on the base line to one in height); then we have covered these slopes with stones for the whole height on which the agitation caused by the passage of steam-vessels could be felt. We have in our favour the example of the Caledonian Canal, thus furnished with a covering of stones formed of simple materials. This is what M. Flachat says, in the description that he gives of this Canal, according to the reports of the Commissioners of the House of Commons: “Steam navigation especially demands attention. Difficult, perhaps even impossible, upon ordinary canals, where it causes an agitation which rapidly destroys the banks, it is organized on the Caledonian Canal, and presents nothing but advantages. With a speed of 11,000 to 12,000 _met._ per hour, all that has been observed is _a general plashing, which is not more than that produced by a moderately gentle wind_. The only precaution taken was, to collect on the banks and made ground all the large pebbles with which the land is filled, and to cover with them for a foot in height below the line of the water, the banks which, from the coarse composition of the soil, were too easily disturbed by the agitation of the waves. But wherever the ground had a good proportion of sand, there was nothing to be done.” Finally, it has been assumed, that the Government of Great Britain, yielding to a national prejudice, would put obstacles in the way of the project of cutting through the Isthmus, if it should be ascertained to be feasible, and that the English capitalists would not be disposed to concur in the undertaking. The future alone can show what truth there is in this assumption; we cannot at all conceive the opposition of the Government