  We present the first results of a galaxy redshift survey, ESO Slice Project
(ESP), we are accomplishing as an ESO Key--Project over about 40 square degrees
in a region near the South Galactic Pole. The limiting magnitude is $b_J =
19.4$. Up to now $\sim 85\%$ of the observations has been completed and $\sim
65\%$ of the data has been reduced providing $\sim 2000$ galaxy redshifts. We
present some preliminary results concerning the large scale galaxy
distribution, the luminosity function and the properties of galaxies with
spectra showing prominent emission lines.
