According to a statement in Russell’s _Egypt_, this canal was begun by Mehemet Ali in October, 1819, and finished early in December of the same year. It is forty-eight miles long, eighteen feet deep, and ninety feet broad. It is said that 250,000 persons were employed in cutting it, and that 30,000 men, women, and children perished in the undertaking; but I believe this number to be much exaggerated. Before the construction of this canal, the produce of Upper Egypt was brought down the Nile in boats to Damietta, and there transhipped into sailing vessels; and, in fine weather, even open boats frequently undertook the voyage to Alexandria. This occasioned much loss of time; and as they were frequently wrecked, much destruction of life and property; for which reasons Mehemet Ali decided on undertaking the construction of this Grand Canal. Unfortunately for the inhabitants, the Pacha was anxious to see his work completed in a short space of time, and the poor Fellahs were driven in from the country like a flock of sheep, and set to work,—the greater part unprovided with tools, and all ill-fed, and unpaid; exposed on a scanty allowance of water to the heat of a broiling sun by day, and with little or no shelter from the noxious dews at night. Under these circumstances, it cannot be wondered that the destruction of human life was immense; but the Pacha troubled himself little about their sufferings. He saw his work rapidly progressing; and the first boat started just two months after its commencement. The Mahmoudieh Canal, though certainly a grand undertaking, is, nevertheless, incomplete; there are no locks at either end to communicate with the Nile and the harbour of Alexandria; the goods are landed at the latter place, and carried by railroad to the canal close by; and when they arrive at Atfeh, are again disembarked, and transported to the Nile, which is shut out by a badly constructed barage. The Nile, in the lowest season, is below the canal; and the canal is several feet above the sea in the harbour of Alexandria. It makes a considerable circuit round the eastern end of the lake Mareotis; and, I believe, had a skilful engineer been employed, it might have been greatly shortened. At daylight on the morning of the 25th we embarked in one of the Pacha’s steamers. I was accompanied by Mr. Larking, the English Consul, and his lady,—the former in very bad health,—by Captain Martin, Mr. Waghorn,—the active agent for the transport of goods and passengers (and indeed the first projector of the enterprise) up the Nile and across the Isthmus,—and several officers of the Carysfort. Mr. Larking has the management of a farm belonging to a relation of his, on the banks of the canal, which he conducts as nearly after the English method as the difference of the country will allow. There was a very good house on the estate, besides other extensive buildings.