en. i.] Suez Canal. 7 



" bottles," slung behind them, so that the march of 

 modern progress has not yet obliterated all the old 

 customs and utensils of these singularly primitive people. 

 We took about a hundred tons of coal on board here. 

 This was brought to the side of the vessel in lighters, 



SHE OF THE MARKET. 



and carried up sloping planks by some fifty or sixty 

 swarthy fellows, who kept up a droning chant the whole 

 time. They each carried up about a hundred weight 

 at once in a basket ; and the whole gang reminded one 

 of a colony of black ants, as the}' swarmed up one plank 

 in quick succession, and trotted down another, after 

 disposing of their dirty load. Perhaps the Pyramids, 

 and other gigantic architectural erections, were reared by 

 myriads of ant-like workers, similar to these we now saw. 

 Two mail steamers entered the Canal before us, and it 



