The digging of the canal was the greatest blow ever given to Egyptian commerce.

The canal of Sesostris and of Pharaoh Necho was a purely local affair, affecting Egyptian commerce alone.

Its ruins show it gradually emerging from the Neolithic stage about 4000 B.C., when Egyptian commerce was well developed in its seas.

Lastly, the monarch had been endeavouring to form new connections with the coast countries of eastern Africa, and open them to Egyptian commerce.