SECOND ENTRY. 



THE SUEZ CANAL AND RED SEA, 



F this chapter should meet the eye of a lover of 

 angling, who is likely to be spending any time in 

 the Suez Canal, may I suggest that he should not 

 forget to include fishing-rod and tackle in his kit? From 

 what I saw and heard of the abundance of fish in those 

 waters it would, indeed, be almost worth the while of a 

 man of leisure to go to Port Said or Ismailia for the express 

 purpose of sport, especially if he also cared for wild-fowl 

 shooting. 



Lazy Arab fishermen, in high-prowed boats, not twenty 

 yards from the Port Said wharves, standing picturesquely in 

 the bows of their boats with nought but a wisp of cloth 

 round their loins, made feeble casts with their nets, and 

 were instantly rewarded with a dozen or twenty fish. This 

 was enough to satisfy their moderate wants, and, their 

 bronze skins shining with wet, they pulled leisurely ashore, 

 cooked their spoil over the embers, squatted on their hams 

 to eat their meal, and fell asleep where they ate, for the rest 

 of the day. Mullet were plentiful, and a large fish, salmon- 



