The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-15

far as the eye can reach, toss and sparkle the
bright blue waves of the sea--more azure in hue
than those Of the Mediterranean. Turning from
this refreshing prospect, and looking behind
him, he sees stretched In all its sombre simpli-
city, in great sandy waves, the bare, bleak ex-
panse of the desert without tree, shrub, or
blade of grass to break its barren and dreary
monotony.
The roadste3d of Suez and its port are very
large and very secure. More than five hundred
vessels can find place there at a time. Much of
M. de Lesseps' work had already been done here
for him by his rivals Of the 'P and o." Com
pany A magnificent dry-dock hos been con-
structed and the most extensive dredging and
jetty-making operations are in progress. The
dry-dock is upward of 400 feet in length, and
nearly 100 feet broad, while commodious basins,
for the secure anchorage of ships and steamers.
are being formed in front of it, The new piers
are being connected with the railway to Cairo
and the town of Suez by branch lines of rail-
way The Egyptian government, shamed into
activity by the gigantic works carried on by the
canal company, is constructing piers and basins
OF lts own at suez, and what was twelve years
ago one of the fllthiest and most indolent of
Eastern cities is now all life and energy.
Practical Results.
During 1868 20SS vessels, aggregatinp GA. .Ols
tons burden, arrived at Port Said and 270 900
tickets were issued by the Transit Service Ac-
cording to the estimates of NJ. de Lessons this
amount will be increased to 5000 900 tons per
annum the trst year after the completion of the
canal, and that, during succeeding years, this
amount will be doubled But these estimates
are based upon the successful completion of the
canal and the navigation of it by steamers draw
ing from sixteen to twenty-five feet of water The
full purpose of the ship canal will not be at
tanned until the largest vessels are able to pass
through 1t from end to end, SO that steamers
from Liverpool, London, Southampton, Mar
seilles, Trieste, or Brindsi may proceed, without
transshipment of cargo or delay in Egypt,
through the Red Sta to Bombay, Point de Gale,
Calcutta, Hong Kong, Shanghae, or Yokohama,
as may be desired Freights tc Port Said from
British or French ports are no higher than to
Alexandria; but if unloading is to be gone
through with at the former port, the heavy tolls
through the canal, and the reshipment at Suez
for the East, will outweigh the cost of transport
by the present route round the Cape and practi-
callv render the canal financial failure
Whether it will ever pay its constructors as a
commercial speculation when fully dug out for
the passage of large vessels remains to be seem
NJ. de Lesseps and the French engineers. backed
by French capital, have constructed the work.
British commerce in the East must furnish the
tolls and help to make it pay.
An Experimental Trip.
An American correspondent who visited the
Suez Canal in the beginning of this year, thus
sketches his impressions of that division of the
works which extends from Ismailia to Port Said:
Ten miles rapid steaming due east, sharp
turn to the left and we entered the grand canal
SO suddenly that we had hardly time to take O
last look at Timsah and Ismailia, the beauties OF
the desert ere the sand hills shut them from our
sight. Where the canal enters Timsah from the
north the cuttings are deep, and the great heaps
of sand lie on either side sixty or seventy feet
high. The channel through which the water
runs is not one hundred feet wide, and the depth
not over twelve feet. Hydraulic engines OF
enormous power were at work dredging up and
pouring out immense volumes of mud and sand.
Hundreds OF men, mostly Arabs, with barrow,
pick and shovel, were moving the huge heaps
or, waist-deep in the water, turning from our
path their uncouth boats; for much traffic is even
now done upon the canal, and besides the boat
loads of stores and provisions belonging to the
company we saw many cargo that reminded
us of the. suffers stores in the Army of the
Potomac"
The Timsah cutting extends for perhaps half
mile and then the desert is scarcely above
| the level of the water, and, in fact, in MANY
places it is below 1t, so that the water covers
many hundreds of acres, and the course of the
canal is buoyed out sometimes for nearly mile
| AS we left the hills OF Timsah, the wind struck
us sharply, and ever and anon a quantity of the
| light sand of the desert would be caught up by
| it and sent whirling into the water: and look
| ing closely, we could see where it had drifted
| little capes and promontories into the canal.
| Let lis repeat what our captain said upon this
| subject being asked
"Yes, monsieur, this drifting in of the sand
certainly seems to be one of our greatest diff
| culties for the wind blows across the canal all
| the year round-sX months one way six
Of nd
| yard amounts to five hundred tons for the whole
canal. Ii 1t came in at that rate it would be n
| long time before the company would pay any
| dividend: But we do not intend to let it come
extends only to the depth of from to 12 feet:
| below this is stratum of blue mud, mixed with
sort of clay, in which, by the way, we
find great quantities OF beautiful shells
and fossil fish. Well, then, do you see
those two huge engines which we are
approaching-one an hydraulic dredger in the
middle of the canal, the other an iron sh.,fe III
looked like the walking-beam of an immense
steamer, near the edge? Do you see how the
| vast masses OF sand, mud, and water come up
from the dredger, are poured out into the
| 'shute, and thence on the ground sixty or
| eighty feet IRON the edge of the canal Do you
| see now quickly the great heaps rise, and how
they extend, almost without break, all along (?
| Well, monsieur, you would find these heaps
| almost Immediately baked hard by the sun, and
as they are firm enough to bear the railroad
| whlch we intend putting upon them the better
to expedite the mails from India, so we hone
they will be high enough to keep out the sand
| drifts from the canal"
| "And what are your other great difficulties,
mon capitaine?"
''Well, monsieur at Chalouf, near Serapeum.
| we have struck n peculiar hard stone at the
depth of twelve feet, and are obliged to blast to
clear II out ut is aXolite). Then the deposit of
| the Nile mud near Port Said will always keep us
| dredging. But what we fear most Is the Red
| Sea. For a long distance from SueZ il is eX-