416 NOETH-EAST AFRICA. 



Traces of the former presence of the waters of the Red Sea may here he still 

 traced all the way to the Bitter Lakes. The waters have gradually retired, and if 

 the town had to follow the progress of subsidence it would have to be again dis- 

 placed and rebuilt some two miles farther south at the entrance of the canal. 

 Here has been created the modern port of Tewfik, enclosed by two diverging piers 

 7,700 feet long, and lined with warehouses belonging to the Suez Canal Company. 

 At the end of one of these piers a few trees have been planted round the statue of 

 Waghorn, a man distinguished beyond all others before the time of LessejDs by his 

 persistent endeavours to open up more rapid communications between England and 

 her Indian possessions. 



Suez, which has lost the aqueducts constructed under the Ptolemies, now receives 

 its supply of fresh water through a canal derived from the Nile and running 

 through the Wady-Tumilât. Hence the town might now be freely developed 

 without running the risk of perishing from thirst, as at the time when it had to 

 depend entirely on the brackish wells sunk at the foot of the Jebel-Attakah. But 

 after rapidly expanding at the time of the construction of the inter- oceanic canal, 

 Suez has again diminished in population and importance. It derives little advan- 

 tage from the ever-gi'owing traffic between the two seas, because most of the inter- 

 minable line of steamers pass on after getting their papers signed. The chief 

 depots of supplies for the shipping have been established, not at the head of the 

 Red Sea, but at Port Said, at the northern extremity of the canal, facing Europe. 

 Nevertheless, sufficient local trade has been developed in connection with the 

 through traffic to enable Suez to rank next to Alexandria and Port Said in the 

 general commerce of Egypt.* 



BaLBKIS ZagAZIG BUBASTIS. 



At present the railway connecting Cairo with its port on the Red Sea skirts the 

 northern foot of the advanced spurs of the Arabian or coast range, running thence 

 to the canal along the depression of Wady-Tumilât. Here was the land of Goshen, 

 cultivated by the " Impure," that is, by the Hebrews in bondage ; and the Tumilât 

 Arabs, who give their name to the district, have also become agriculturists. The 

 presence of the Israelites in this region is still commemorated by the Tell-el-Yahud, 

 or " Jews' Hill," a small eminence lying not far from the station of ShiMn-el~ 

 Kanater. Here have been discovered some vestiges of an edifice erected by 

 Ramses II. t 



Farther on stand the towns of Balheis and Bordein, in this vast and well- watered 

 plain, where every village is surrounded by cotton plantations and by the tall 

 chimney of some factory built amid the palm- groves, where the raw fibre is cleansed 

 and compressed into bales for exportation, mostly by Greek agents of the growers. 



* Trade of the Port of Suez in 1880 according to Amici : — 



Arrivals 581 vessels of 682,110 tons 



Departures. .... 563 ,, 677,626 „ 



Total . 1,144 ,, 1,359,736 ,, 



