To fulfil these conditions, the receipt of water for the alimentary and irrigating Canal may be established a little above Boulak at Kusr el Nil where the mouth of the Kalidj Zafranieh is, which loses itself to the north of Cairo in the Kalidj Manjeh, the ancient canal of Trajan and Amrou; this canal was partly re-excavated by Mehemet Ali to nearly the same dimensions as those required for the new Canal, and as far as Tell el Zoudieh. By following this track a great economy is already obtained. The Canal also exists farther on as far as Belbeïs, but of smaller dimensions; from Belbeïs, in order to maintain the water at a suitable height, the Canal is made to pass a little more to the East outside the cultivated lands, which will give the Company an opportunity of irrigating and fertilising the bordering tracts at present uncultivated. The canal then proceeds northward as far as _Ras el Wady_ (head of the valley), the Pitoum of the Bible. This course exists of small dimensions, but in several parts of its route it may be turned to account. There will not be great expense in completing the line as far as Lake Timsah; life would thus be given to Cairo by traversing it with a navigable passage, of which it is destitute at present. It would then be necessary, during the time of the low water, to raise the waters of the Nile to a height of three _metres_ by means of steam pumps of 500 horse power; and when the barrage, for which His Highness Mohammed Saïd Pacha has a project, is completed, the reflux will facilitate, with the assistance of steam power, the introduction of the waters of the Nile into the Canal during the six months of the low waters. The width of the Canal has been fixed at 25 _met._, measured on the water line at the time of the inundation. This width is sufficient to allow two steam boats to pass each other without inconvenience. Moreover, precautionary measures may be adopted at the entrances of the locks, to prevent collisions, if it should become necessary hereafter.