This proposal, made by Captain W. Allen, of H.M.’s navy, was based on the knowledge we now possess that the level of the Dead Sea is at least 1300 feet below that of the Mediterranean or Red Seas, and that the Sea of Galilee is, in like manner, depressed to the extent of about 650 feet; so that the mean level of the valley of the Jordan, with its two lakes, may be taken at 1000 feet below the neighbouring seas, and its extent as covering about 2000 square miles. This vast area Captain Allen proposed to convert into a great inland sea by cutting a canal from Acre across the plain of Esdraëlon to the Jordan, a distance of about 40 miles on the map, and another from Akabah, on the Red Sea, to the southern limit of the Dead Sea, a distance of about 120 miles. The summit level of the plain of Esdraëlon may be as low as 100 feet above the sea level, or as high as 200 feet, and from the appearance of the banks of the brook Kishon, near its junction with the sea, and the hills that bound the plain on both sides, the ground is rocky nearly throughout its whole extent at a small distance below the surface. The proposal, therefore, as described in the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ was to dig a canal through a rocky country for 30 or 35 miles in length, and with a mean depth of 80 to 100 feet. A plan has quite recently been put forward for the construction of a parallel canal to that across the Isthmus of Suez, by way of the Euphrates Valley, the Persian Gulf, and Syria. The proposal is to create a navigable highway from Sonëidich to the Persian Gulf, by making the Euphrates flow to the Mediterranean and Antioch. The river from Beles to Felondjah (near ancient Babylon) would be deepened, and the waterway would be carried from the Euphrates to the Tigris by the canal of Saklavijah. Thence the route would be by the Tigris from Bagdad to Kornah, Bassora, and Fao on the Gulf. The author of this proposal[164] estimates that the canal would shorten the route to Bombay by six days, and it would irrigate and restore fertility to a great part of the country through which it would pass. The estimated capital required would be 1,500,000,000 francs (60,000,000_l._ sterling). FOOTNOTES: [138] The immediate cause of this occurrence does not appear, but it is obvious that there would not be much employment for a canal at this early date. The first ship would no doubt be constructed anterior to this period, but the vessels of that day were rude and small. [139] The Red Sea is 1500 miles in length, and, besides being narrowed in its middle channel, is so deep that there is hardly any place where a vessel can anchor. Sailing vessels have to contend with currents that are blowing steadily to the northward for a great part of the year, while for some months there is little or no wind. [140] Herodotus, book ii., secs. 159 and 160, Cary’s translation. [141] Washington Irving’s ‘Successors of Mahomet.’