ft. at the bottom, the depth of water being 28 ft.  The surface of the water in the two seas being level, no locks are required; sluices or floodgates only being provided where it enters the Eider and at its termination.  The country being generally level there are no engineering difficulties to contend with, except a boggy portion near the Elbe; the ground to be removed is chiefly sandy loam.  Four railways cross the canal and two main roads, and these will be carried across on swing bridges.  The cost is estimated at L8,000,000.  About six thousand men are employed on the works, principally Italians and Swiss.—­The Engineer.

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THE KIOTO-FU CANAL, IN JAPAN.

Japan is already traversed by a system of railways, and its population is entering more and more into the footsteps of western civilization.  This movement, a consequence of the revolution of 1868, is extending to the public works of every kind, for while the first railway lines were being continued, there was in the course of excavation (among other canals) a navigable canal designed to connect Lake Biwa and the Bay of Osaka, upon which is situated Kioto, the ancient capital of Japan.

The work, which was begun in 1885, was finished last year, and one of our readers has been kind enough to send us, along with some photographs which we herewith reproduce, a description written by Mr. S. Tanabe, engineer in chief of the work.

The object of the Kioto-Fu Canal is not only to provide a navigable watercourse, putting the interior of the country in connection with the sea, but also to furnish waterfalls for supplying the water works of the city of Kioto with the water necessary for the irrigation of the rice plantations, and that employed for city distribution.  It starts from the southwest extremity of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, and the area of which is 800 square kilometers.  This lake, which is situated at 84 meters above the level of the sea, is 56 kilometers from the Bay of Osaka.  As this bay is already in communication with Kioto by a canal, the Kioto-Fu forms a junction with the latter after a stretch of 11 kilometers and a difference of level of 45 meters between its extremities.

[Illustration:  FIG. 1.—­EXTREMITY OF LAKE BIWA AND BEGINNING OF THE CANAL.]

The lake terminates in a marshy plain (Fig. 1), in which the first excavation was made.  This is protected by longitudinal dikes which lead back the water to it in case of freshets.  At the end of this cutting, which is 100 meters in length, begins the canal properly so called, with a width of 5.7 meters, at the surface, and a depth of 1.5 meters, for a length of 540 meters.  It then reaches the first tunnel for crossing the Nagara-yama chain.  This tunnel is 2,500 meters in length, 4.8 in width and 4.2 in height.  The water reaches a depth of 1.8 meters upon the floor.  It was pierced through