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.
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