IV 

 SUEZ 



SOMETIME during the night we must have 

 started, but so gently had we slid along at 

 fractional speed that until I raised my head and 

 looked out I had not realized the fact. I saw a high 

 sand bank, yhis glided monotonously by until I 

 grew tired of looking at it; and got up. 



After breakfast, however, I found that the sand 

 bank had various attractions all of its own. Three 

 camels laden with stone and in convoy of white-clad 

 figures shuffled down the slope at a picturesque 

 angle. Two cowled women in black, veiled to the 

 eyes in gauze heavily sewn with sequins, barefooted, 

 with massive silver anklets, watched us pass: 

 Hindoo workmen in turban and loin cloth furnished 

 a picturesque note, but did not seem to be injuring 

 themselves by overexertion. Naked small boys 

 raced us for a short distance. The banks glided by 

 very slowly and very evenly, the wash sucked after 

 us like water in a slough after a duck boat, and the 

 sky above the yellow sand looked extremely blue. 



25 



