226 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 



1904. 



dirty Arabs who did the coaling with baskets. As the air was 

 full of coal dust, a half dozen of us secured a boat and went 

 ashore, spending the afternoon in roaming the sandy streets, 

 followed by a crowd of beggars, jugglers, pox-pitted street 

 venders, sellers of indecorous photographs, and all of the riff 

 raff of the nastiest of all the cities of the Orient. 



Port Said is built on soil chiefly sand that was dumped there 

 during the excavation of the canal. It is a busy bustling place, 

 due to the constant arrival and departure of steamers. It has 

 a fair harbor made by two breakwaters that extend out into the 

 shallows, one 7000 feet, the other 6000 feet. 



We expected to get away early the next morning, but the mail 

 from Brindisi being late, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon be- 

 fore we entered the canal. According to rules, we steamed at 

 four miles an hour, tying up to the bank when another boat was 

 met. As we passed by three during the night, this occasioned 

 quite a delay. It was quite cool, and a light overcoat was 



IN THE SUEZ CANAL. 



necessary after the sun set, but we did not stay long on deck as 

 both sand flies and moquitoes were quite abundant. 



In the light of our own American canal projects, it is interest- 

 ing to remember that the Suez plan was entertained and dis- 

 missed as impracticable by Napoleon I, who was advised by his 

 engineers that the Red sea was 33 feet higher than the Mediter- 

 ranean, and later when M. de Lesseps had proved that the dif- 

 ference in levels was but six inches, 

 such an eminent authority as Robert 

 Stephenson declared the plan to be 

 commercially unsound. There was 

 also a rival plan brought out for a 

 250 mile canal from Alexandria to 

 Suez. Nevertheless the great work 

 was completed. It is 100 miles long, 

 only about one-quarter of it being 

 artificially made, the rest traversing 

 natural lakes such as Bitter Lake 

 and Lake Timsah. The plan of the 

 canal was for a depth of 26 feet, 

 the bottom of the ditch being 72 

 feet wide and the top about 300 feet. 

 This was carried out in places, but 

 where the digging was especially 

 hard it is somewhat narrower. The 

 canal shows a slight current, and 

 slowly though the boats go through 

 it, there is a constant crumbling of 

 the sandy banks so that a force of 

 steam dredgers are employed keep- 



ing the channel clear, nor is this work allowed to flag for an 

 hour. 



The next morning we were still hemmed in by sandy banks 

 and the scenery was not inspiring, being varied only by an oc- 

 casional station about which clustered a few lebec trees, the big 

 dredges and an occasional native boat with its huge yards and 

 dingy sail. Passing both the old and the modern cities of Suez_ 

 we left the canal, and were in the gulf of Suez. Here the water 

 was of a marvelous blue, the sun brilliant, and the far off, lofty 

 sand dunes, scored and seamed by wind and rain, showed won- 

 derful effects in yellow, brown, violet, and purple. Here we 

 began to get the warm weather. With Asia on our left, Africa 

 on our right, and both in sight, a smooth sea and blazing sun, 

 white flannel and duck suits soon appeared, the punkahs were 

 started in the dining saloon, and the whole of the deck shaded 

 by both top and side awnings. Wind scoops were also placed 

 in the open ports, and we felt at last that we were in the tropics. 



The next point of interest to be noted was the Daedelus 

 shoal, from which our Captain Broun once rescued 180 souls, 

 who, escaping from the wreck of their vessel, were gathered in a 

 shivering crowd waist deep in water. 



We had a further evidence of the genuineness of the hot 

 weather the next morning at 3 o'clock, when the order came to 

 close the ports as the water was slopping into the cabins. How 

 most of them stood it I don't know, but I took a blanket and 

 went on deck, and even then it was stifling. At daybreak we 

 passed the ''twelve apostles," a dozen big rocks rising abruptly 

 from the sea, a grim weather beaten row. It was near here that 

 the Turkish government, after much pressure, erected fine light- 

 houses furnished with the latest illuminating devices, but after 

 keeping them lit for two weeks, the lights went out and not a 

 glimmer have they shown since. As navigation is a bit perilous 

 hereabouts, and mariners need the lights, it is just as well per- 

 haps that I did not make careful note of the quartermaster's 

 opinion of the unspeakable Turk, given as h: told me the 

 story. 



The days were now long, hot, and a bit monotonous. Shut out 

 as we were on the promenade decks by canvas walls, the peeps 

 that we got at the sea showed a glare of light that was almost 

 unbearable. The only relief was when a sudden drenching 

 shower obscured the sun and we saw mountainous islands, dis- 

 tant peaks, and still more distant ranges. We saw however, the 



PORT SAID WATER FRONT- 



