In 1868 excellent progress was made. Messrs. Borel and Levalley had dredged at Port Said 123,000,000 out of their total quantity of 165,000,000 cubic feet. On the 15th April 1,200,000,000 cubic feet still remained to be excavated in the Maritime Canal. Between Port Said and Timsah, 5¼ miles had been done with 156,000,000 cubic feet of excavation, and at El Ferdane, 3¾ miles had been done with 34,000,000, Couvreux thereby finishing six months in advance of the contract time. The monthly work at this time was 74,500,000 cubic feet, accomplished with 8 elevator dredgers, 30 dredgers with barges, 22 long trough dredgers, 22 inclined planes, and 7500 labourers. Besides the ordinary work of canalisation along the line of route, very extensive harbour operations had to be undertaken at Port Said and Suez. In the former case, two moles were erected, the western 2700 yards long, and the eastern 1950 yards, and requiring 250,000 blocks of artificial stone, each of 350 cubic feet and weighing 20 tons. A dock basin, 76 acres in extent had to be provided, and another basin, called the Basin de Commerce, of 10 acres extent and 37 feet deep. At Suez, the roadstead had to be dredged, and dykes and embankments constructed, the latter involving the submergence of 2,300,000 cubic feet of stone. The Suez breakwater, when finished, had over 1600 yards of stonework. In 1869, early in the year, the moles at Port Said were completed, and the maritime canal, from Port Said to the Bitter Lakes Canal, was fully open. In March the flooding of the Bitter Lakes was commenced, and they were excavated to the Red Sea, for a distance of 22 miles, by hand, and for three miles by dredgers. Later on, the canal was fully opened. The total length of quays at Port Said is over 3 miles. The inner port has an area of 130 acres, and the outer port an area of over 4000 acres. There are, besides, 120 acres of docks, and 10 acres of channel. Port Said has now a permanent population of over 17,000, and Suez one of 11,000, whereas the total population of the Isthmus in 1859 was only 150 inhabitants.