12 AUGUST 1893, Page 1

On Sunday, the canal across the isthmus of Corinth—begun by

Nero, and completed, nearly two thousand years later, by a Greek engineer, M. Matsas—was opened by the King of Greece, who steamed through the canal in his yacht, accom- panied by a procession consisting of four Greek torpedo- boats and other vessels, including three English men-of-war and an English despatch-boat. The canal, which will be practicable for all but the largest vessels, will greatly facili- tate the navigation of the eastern portion of the Mediter- ranean. Vessels bound from Italy to Constantinople and the Black Sea will no longer be obliged to weather Cape Matapan, and will gain, it is said, as much as twenty-four hours in time.