A great artificial channel cutting the isthmus of Suez, and thus forming a waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; was planned and undertaken by the French engineer Lesseps, through whose untiring efforts a company was formed and the necessary capital raised; occupied 10 years in the construction (1859-69), and cost some 20 million pounds; from Port Said on the Mediterranean to Suez at the head of the Red Sea the length is about 100 m., a portion of which lies through Lakes Menzaleh, Ballah, Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes; as widened and deepened in 1886 it has a minimum depth of 28 ft., and varies from 150 to 300 ft. in width; traffic is facilitated by electric light during the night, and the passage occupies little more than 24 hours; has been neutralised and exempted from blockade, vessels of all nations in peace or war being free to pass through; now the highway to India and the East, shortening the voyage to India by 7600 m.; three-fourths of the ships passing through are English; an annual toll is drawn of close on three million pounds, the net profit of which falls to be divided amongst the shareholders, of whom since 1875 the British Government has been one of the largest.