870 



NORTH-EAST AFEICA. 



produced by the scene as viewed from the Port Said lighthouse, commanding as it 

 does a panoramic prospect of the city rising above the sands, the vast harbour 

 with its wet-docks and side basins crowded with shipping, the white piers disap- 

 pearing in the distance amid the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and in the 

 interior those huge steamers, like floating palaces, gliding away between the 

 surrounding sand dunes as if propelled by some magic force across the isthmus. 



The traffic of the Suez Canal has developed more rapidly than its constructors 

 expected. Without the aid of tugs, sailing vessels are unable to navigate the 

 Red Sea in either direction, either against the northern winds or against those 

 from the south blowing directly into the gulf. But for the Indian traffic sails 

 have been superseded by steam ; ships of a special build have even been constructed 



Fig. 110. — Tjakk Timsah. 



Scale I : 1 ,000,000. 



«9/- Cr/.sr* 



oT Greenwich 



5a°eo' 



3 Miles. 



for this inter-oceanic service through the canal and the Red Sea, and the mean 

 tonnage continues to increase from year to year. During the year 1883, a solitary 

 sailing vessel passed from sea to sea, whereas on an average ten steamers every day 

 availed themselves of this route. 



Hence the necessity for enlarging this navigable highway has already arisen. 

 Certain sharp turnings will also have to be got rid of, as has already been done 

 at El-Gisr, and several other improvements will have to be made, such as the 

 deepening of the channel, the completion of the stone facing to the embankments 

 where the shifting sands are too easily eroded by the wash, the construction of 

 ports in the riverain lakes, and especially a general widening of the whole canal in 

 order to be able to dispense with the sidings, or " shimting stations," which now 



