The Isthmus of Suez Maritime Canal: transverse section of the narrow part at El-Guisr and the Serapeum, 1869. This section has been adopted in the deep cuttings to effect the largest saving possible in the quantity of excavation; and therefore, if a future widening of the canal is required, one or both side-slopes must be thrown back, and a considerable portion of the present work interfered with. The reduced width is adopted, as we see, chiefly in those parts where the canal has to be cut through platforms of high ground, as in the El Guisr cutting, nine miles long, the Serapeum cutting of seven miles, and the Chalouf cutting of five miles. The transverse sections will show at a glance the difference referred to. The slope of the banks, above the water-line, is about 1 in 5, which is diminished below the water to 1 in 2, it has been found that the effects of the wash on the banks are chiefly at the water-line, or immediately below it, and that at a depth of 12 ft. the bank is not liable to be worn away by the water. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.