The making of the canal was facilitated by the existence of three or four valleys or depressions (formerly lakes), which, when the water reached them, became converted into lakes. Immediately south of Port Said the canal crosses Lake Menzaleh (twenty-eight miles long); and three more—Lake Ballah, Lake Timsah (five miles long), and the Bitter Lakes (twenty-three miles) are traversed to the south of it. The highest point or elevation that was cut through does not exceed fifty feet above sea-level. At intervals of five or six miles sidings or side-basins are provided to enable vessels to pass one another. By 1890 the canal had been deepened to twenty-eight feet, and widened between Port Said and the Bitter Lakes to one hundred and forty-four feet, and from the Bitter Lakes to Suez to two hundred and thirteen feet.
In 1875 Lord Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of England bought for the British Government the khedive’s shares—nearly half the canal stock—for $20,500,000. They are now valued at about $150,000,000, and bring in over $5,000,000 annual revenue.
From Suez there is a tourist route to Mount Sinai, near the coast, under the range called Jebel-et-Tih past Elim, Pharaoh’s Quarries, and Rephi-dim. The Sinai District comprises Mount Horeb, the Valley of Jethro, Church of the Burning Bush, Chapel of Elijah, and other historical sites. Thence it leads to Akabah, and up the deep pass of Wady Moosa, to Mount Hor (or Petra), Zoar, and Mount Seir, Beersheba and Hebron. (See [Holy Land]).
GREAT ASSYRIAN MONARCH, ASHURBANIPAL, AS A LION HUNTER
This famous conqueror was one of the most enlightened of Assyrian rulers. He encouraged literature, and through his wise counsels the annals of Babylonia and Assyria, written on clay tablets, have been preserved for us in the library of his palace. From these we have learned practically all we know of Babylonian-Assyrian history and religion.
BABYLONIA—ASSYRIA
In the very first ages of the world, Babylonia, with Egypt, led the way as the pioneers of mankind in the arts of civilization. Alphabetic writing, astronomy, history, chronology, architecture, plastic art, sculpture, navigation, agriculture, textile industry, all had their origin in one or other of these two countries.