The Republican journal., 1869-01-07
The Suez Canal
As seen from the Beck OF sFae EIt41e Hob
ERelY.'l

The Suez Canal Company have been 1.
years at work upon their gigantic labor and
as they announce positively that the cana
will be opened within a year from the pres
ent time, perhaps youwill allow me to give
brief account Of its present appearance
as seen during very careful examination
OF the whole line from my canoe.
The canal is to be 100 miles long, anl
100 yards wide Cat the waters edge). The
depth throughout will be 25 feet in the mid
die. The direction is nearly north ant
south, with a few turnings, but no locks o.
bridges. There will be slight tidal cur
rent along it, but no one can say at what in
tervals. Already about so miles Of the cu
is filled with salt water, and is traverseG
daily by numerous small vessels and some
steam-launch mail-boats, while the count
less barges, dredges, and coal-boats, all
worked by screw propellers, which ply day
and night, make din and hustle in the
sandy desert very unromantic, indeed, but
exceedingly interesting to observe.
Of this so miles many parts arc not wide
enough yet for large vessels, and only a
small portion is excavated to the full depth
The remainder Of the canal is more or less
dug out. While some parts are quite dry
others are put under water to moisten the
sand others have great blastines of rocks.
and one long section Of 20 miles has to
wait until the sea is admitted into the great
dry basin Of future lake.
The sensation of wonder at the prodici-
Gus scale OF the operations in progress i'll
creases day by day as one moves along
what seems to be wide river with villages
on the banks and smoky tunnels and sails
on the surface. The hydraulic machines,
which groan and snort and rattle their
chains as they work, are of enormous size
and though each of them seems to be pour
ing forth volume Of mud, yet the mind
finds it hard to believe that all Of these to-
gether can lift up and throw over the banks
enough to make any appreciable progress
between yesterday and to-day. The sand
dredged from below is either carried out to
sea in barges or further inlaud) is deliver
ed in a stream from lofty iron tube, 220
feet long, with its mouth over one bank, or
it is hoisted up an iron inclined plane and
cast upon the shore, until the heap on each
side Of the water is 50 feet high The en-
gines for this purpose are 40 in number, and
each of them cost 40,000l. The expenses
at present amount 200,0007. every month,
and the work has already absorbed eight
millions sterling.
Port Said is the little town at the north
entrance of the canal. 1t is built Of wood,
with wide, straight streets, and houses that
look like brown paper, and that wonld burn
from end to end in ten minutes. Hotels,
cafes, shops and bazaars are crowded by
5000 people of every nation, but with the
Greek and Levantine element largely pre-
ponderating.
The two long piers of the harbor stretch
their white arms into the sea, but the area
enclosed seems very small and completely
piers are made e1 of biocks Of sand comentcd
with lime, each block being cast separately
in a mould, aud then carried out to its place
in a barge.
The magnitude Of this part OF the work
may be family estimated when we know
that each block weighs ten tons, and that
there are %, 900 Of them.
Ismaila is the pretty town halfway along
the canal, which here enters the Lake Tim
sab (''crocodile lake.") Here the Arabs
and their camels and the jackals of the
Desert are alongside the steamboats,, the
whlrring lathes and sounding foree-ham-
mers Of the company's workshops, the tall
poles of the electric telegraph, and the hot
rails of the railway, while cool and sweet
draught Of Nile water may be had from the
fresh water canal which comes hither all
the way from Cairo, and then branches out
north and south along the whole extent of
the salt water canal.
The sweet-water canal is already a bless
ing to Egypt 1t is from 30 to 10 feet wide,
and boats with all sorts Of cargoes are
towed through it be men on foot, or sail
along gaily if there is breeze to lilI their
snowy wings. Ny canoe excited the great
est delight among all this river population.
both when she skinned over the water with
her blue sails, or rested by the bank with
her cabin rugged up, and my dinner cooked
and my little reading lamp and mosquito
curtains arranged for the night. manag-
ed to sleep thus in the canoe very comfor-
tably, though the nights are cold and on
Lake Timsah a jackal paid me a visit at
a very unfashionablo hour by lnoou-liyht
During one day violent gale swept across
the canal. To look at the Desert was to
see a vast yellow picture Of men and cameIs
dimly floating in a sea Of sand without any
horizon. The quantity of sand whiskcd
from the plain and cast into the canal wafer
by wind like this will be serious matter
to deal with. One ounce Of sand per square
yard amounts to 800 tons on the whole
canal, and the wind sometimes blows in this
way for month together.
AT Chaloof | found IA, 900 men at work
They labor very hard indeed, running up
the hill with baskets of sand on their heads
About 1000 donkeys walk in long lines,
with neat mat baskets on their backs. In
curious and close contrast to these simple
carriers, the mighty power of steam tolls
and pufs as it hurls up huge bulks Of heavy
clay, and it is, perhaps, only in Egypt that
one could see human aud animal power
exerted in such competition with steam
power. The laborers are sent from all
parts Of Egypt. They must come, but
they are highly paid-from 2f. to 3t. a
dav. Prices both Of labor and Of food have
risen very much since the canal has been