SUEZ. 35 



our German decks all these either tied up for 

 us, or were tied up for by us. The only craft 

 that received no consideration on our part were 

 the various picturesque Arab dhows, with their 

 single masts and the long yards slanting across 

 them. Since these were very small, our suction 

 dragged at them cruelly. As a usual thing four 

 vociferous figures clung desperately to a rope 

 passed around one of the snubbing-posts ashore, 

 while an old man shrieked syllables at them 

 from the dhow itself. As they never by any 

 chance thought of mooring her both stem and 

 stern, the dhow generally changed ends rapidly, 

 shipping considerable water in the process. It 

 must be very trying to get so excited in a hot 

 climate. 



The high sandbanks of the early part of the 

 day soon dropped lower to afford us a wider 

 view. In its broad, general features the country 

 was, quite simply, the desert of Arizona over 

 again. There were the same high, distant, and 

 brittle-looking mountains, fragile and pearly ; 

 the same low, broken half -distances ; the same 

 wide sweeps ; the same wonderful changing 

 effects of light, colour, shadow, and mirage ; the 

 same occasional strips of green marking the 

 water-courses and oases. As to smaller detail, 



