Canals

are generally for navigation, and consist of a number of sections, each on a different level, the boats being transferred from one to the other by locks, inclines, or lifts. Under the Ptolemies, before the Christian era, there was a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile. The ship canal in Holland is very important, as it connects Amsterdam with the North Sea. The Canal du Midi is the chief in France, connecting the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. In Britain the most celebrated was the Bridge water Canal, in Lancashire and Cheshire, until the Manchester Ship Canal (a water-way for ocean steamers from the estuary of the Mersey) was finished. The greatest achievement in canal making has been the Suez Canal. There are a number of irrigation canals in dry and hot countries, e.g. India.