New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-25
THE SUEZ CANAL.
THE VOYAGE FROM SEA TO SEA.
RROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE

i>'''~'
Lakes, our vessel, the Seminar. found no obstacle
There was no reason why she should and there is no
mart of the whole canal where ship of her class
drawing II feet inches aud less than 200 feet long,
may not pass with ease. do not mean that TINS Is
the limit; far from it, shall state that by ana Dy
Our delays and the amazing length Of our voyage
were due-with the exception of the ~ minutes
lost by breaking the ter-rope to the ships ahed Oh
us-mainly to one ship. The SennarWas not making
the passage for the first time. She had come up Vi,
Tuesday from the Red Sea- her regular station, and
had passed straight through from Suez 10 lSlailla'
ffty-one miles in seven hours and half. 10 the
big ships the Serapeum section had proved very for
midable. Where it bends, they had gone ashore on
the edges of the channel Where it is straight they
had sometimes found the depth IN the center oil the
channel insufficient.
THE FAMOUS sERAPEUM ROCK.
II is Just after passing the station, which, as
well as the whole section, takes the name
Serapeum that the famous rock occurs OF
which we first heard in Port Said. The rock
is real rock but the Port Said stories about 1t were
the widest fctons gave in one of my first letters
the account which came to me from NJ. de Lesseps;
an account which treated the rock as suddenly dis
covered horror limiting at foul play, even suggesting
that the thing had been rolled into the canal, ana
describing how they tried first Of all to drag 1t out
by ropes and that failing, attacked it with powder
II would be unfair to hold NJ de Lesseps responsible
for these wonderful statements. do not know that
he made them, though they were related to me as
coming direct from him, and my informant
was person whom at that time
it had not occurred to me to distrust.
If he made them, or any of them, he made them l
dare saw in good faith. The same man who ex-
planned to me the absurdity of the account explained
also that NJ. de Lesseps was more likely than any
body else to have been deceived by it. For NJ. de
Lesseps is not an engineer. He conceived the idea
of the canal he believed in its practicableness, he
had the Incompatible energy and force, and persua-
siveness to make other people believe in 1t, and put
money into it, and so has carried the scheme on his
shoulders from the beginning. But he has left de-
tails to Others and technical details of engineering
more than all. He has been the soul OF
the project Its brains, in the sense
of professional knowledge and capacity, have
been supplied by Others 1t is perfectly possible that
NJ de Lesseps heard of the Serapeum rock for the
first time week before last None the less, the rock
has been perfectly we'll known TO engineers and con-
structors for some two years. There is ridge ex-
tending from the land above the banks down through
the banks and directly the bed of the canal
which it cuts at right angles, at depth of not more
than 70 feet. BY an error that seemed-as so many
things in the last few days have seemed-unaccoUnt-
able the extra time necessary to cut away this
the time came to be estimated for completing the
work and fixing the date of opening The contractors
reckoned up their cubic meters remaining to be ex-
tracted as if their dredges were equally efficient
against mud and against solid granite. The result
was that the day for opening drew rapidly near
while no impression had been made on the Serapeum
ledge and that for a time there was prospect that
all ships drawing more than u or 10 feet OF water
would have to content themselves with reaching
IsmaIlia BY great exertons, the rock was got down
TO about 16 feet, and by the time that had been
done it had come to be well understood that vessels
of greater draught than 16 feet II at most would
not be taken through the canal at present. So the
rock which at first had been bugbear proved in the
end convenient scapegOat. 1t has had to answer
for a good many sins not its own The Peluse and
the Fume scTaped it, reducing 1t little at the
expense of their kees and for the contractors bene
fit The Others so far as l know, went over without
touching. For part, we should not have sus-
pected its existence but for the stories which
sharpened our curiosity and kept us alert for the
sight of the thing. We could detect only slight
traces of the ledge. Probably it had been buried by
the excavated sand piled up on the bank
AN ADMIRALs BREAKFAST.
Our Impotence during the morning was aleviated
by message from the Admiral, inviting us
to breakfast We accepted with alacrty hav-
ing some curiosity to know what the breakfast
of an Egyptian Admiral like. 1t was
served at 10 o'clock and this was the bill of fare,
each dish being served separately: l, soup, pates
d1talie roasted chickens g. potatoes fried IN oil
a. kind of pancakes, also in oil, with sugar; 5,
potatoes. almost sweet. boiled and cut into slips,
eaten with pepper and SALT 6, macaroni boiled, and
grated cheese; q tomatoes stuffed; 3, boiled rice,
Phuile; @ coffee. Some of the dishes seemed more
italian than Arabic: and the whole menu is to be
taken. not as a model Arab breakfast but what an
Egyptian Admiral ont of provisions able TO sup
ply to his guests He did not SIT at table with
but sent polite message of regret that he could
not offer anything better Our provisions from
the Touareg were still abundant, and indeed were
not consumed when our voyage, which lasted three
times as long as we expected, came 10 an end.
In Serdpeum were out of the region OF the flying
sand. The banks fell at a smooth and regular angle.
like those of a railway. scanty vegetation APP
peared due to the fresh water canal which here
formerly effected a junction with the maritime and
supplied il with water till that of the was let In
The desert is behind u.s. and the country through
which we Journey though sterile. is not the shining
floor of level sand which grew familiar to us north OF
lsmailia Low mills rise near, two mountain ranges
meet on the horizon TO right and left ON the right
Ghebel Genetfe and Attaka, trendng south from the
far west and breaking off suddenly IN steep terraces
that 20 pluHging down into the Red Sea. They end
almost as the easterly ridge OF the Shehanq loan
Jack SON. On the left is the range which, IL we could
follow il. would lead us to the slopes of Sinai.
THE BITTER LAKES.
During our delay with the TuddeF our friends had
crept far ahead. At II the last OF them vanished
into the Bitter Lake. They left between them and
us q straight section Of the canal, glimpse OF the
green water of the lake. and nothing else. Where
fore we knew aud reoiced in knowing that our path
Law open TO the lakes and through the lakes, and we
made haste TO believe that should rest that night
in the harbor of Suez At H. the Seminar passed ont
from between the lncOsng banks OF the canal, ana
entered the north end of the great basin OF the
Bitter Lakes ! knew well enough the history OF
the Bitter Lakes; that they had been dry depres-
sion of the earth once filed, long since dry and that
they had again been filled by the canal for which