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 very varied
materials, such as clay, schists, sandstone and porphyry, and is lined
throughout with brick masonry. The construction was effected by means
of a working shaft 45 meters in depth, sunk in the axis of the work,
at a third of its length from the west side. At the upper extremity
are established sluices that permit of securing to the canal a
constant discharge of 8.5 cubic meters per second. Fig. 2 represents
the head of this work.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--HEAD OF THE PRINCIPAL TUNNEL.]

Starting from the tunnel, the canal extends in the open air for a
length of 4,500 meters. To reach the basin of Kioto, it traverses the
Hino-oko-yama chain of hills, through two tunnels of the same section
and construction as the one just mentioned, and of the respective
lengths of 125 and 841 meters. Traction in the tunnels is to be
effected by means of an immersed chain.

On leaving tunnel No. 3, at about 8,400 meters from its origin, the
canal divides into two branches. The first of these, which is designed
to serve as a navigable way, has a slope 0.066 per meter for a length
of 540 meters. It is a true inclined plane, which the boats pass over
by means of a cradle carried by trucks and drawn by a cable actuated
by the fall furnished by the other branch. At the foot of the inclined