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

on the eastern shore OF the Mediterranean, ia
miles north of Alexandria and twenty miles
north of Damietta. Externally its appearance
is not unlike that of the majority of mushroom
American towns similarly situated 1t is an
anomalous sort of place. Bounded northward
by the ocean and southwark by the desert, 1t is
equally the product of both. Viewed geologi-
cally it is the practical result of struggle be-
tween salt water and sand; commercially posi-
bly, it is a compound of modern commerce and
aboriginal Arab Ignorance aud filth. When the
works were commenced at Port Said in 1859,
there was only space on the small strip of sand
for few tents for the engineers the first huts
erected there were built ON piles both the
dredgings from harbor and channel made the
| land, and now one thousand acres have been
reclaimed for the company's workshops and
buildings, and the town of Port Said is as much
q creation of VI. de Lesseps as the canal. The
| provisions, and even water had at first to be
brought on camels from Damietta, or by sea,
thirty-fve miles; but now Ismailia supplies it
| from its fresh-water canal, fifty horsepower
| engine forcing the water through two pipes to
| the northern extremity of the canal. Now
| comfort and many of the luxuries of life are
| easily procurable-at all events in much greater
abundance and with more facility than in the
ancient town of Dametta.
1t contains nearly one thousand houses, aud
population which, though like that of Cairo-not
the Egyptian, but the American Cairo-largely
floating, may be fairly estimated at between
5000 and 10000. This population is thoroughly
cosmopolitan in its character for small as the
towns, it numbers representatives from all parts
of the world. Every civilized and uncivilized
country apparently sends its delegate to the
canal congress. The activity and hustle of the
place. heightened as they are by the picturesque
effect produced by the motley groups of French,
Egyptians, Arabs, English Americans, LGvan-
tines, Italians, and Greeks working together
harmoniously, form its principal attraction. On
the occasion of Mr.. Halls visit there in October
1867, he counted twenty-five large sized vessels
in the dUdnt port or basin. Most of them were
from North British seaports and were freighted
with coal and other supplies for the company.
By far the larger number, fully two-thirds, of the
inhabitants are employed directly or indirectly
by the Canal Company or by the contractors,
Messrs. Boril, Lavalley & Co.
The Jetties.
One of the chief difficulties apprehended by
the early surveyors and engineers of the canal
scheme was the choking up of Port Said by the
Nile deposits, and these etties have been con-
structed mainly with a view to obviate this diff
Guilty, well as for purposes of protection to
INC SnlpplnI SCehllS lIauslI JHIOuSu Jue Cdndl
They are two in number, known respectively as
the East and West Jetty. The length of the
latter will be 300 yards and of the former 1000
yards. The distance between their respective
ends will be about four hundred metres Q3OO
feeD, and they will form between them it is
estimated. a basin or harbor 500 acres in extent
completely protected from wind or storm. and
spacious enough to accommodate all vessels
seeking transit through the canal. These jetties
are constructed of what appear to be immense
blocks of stone. They arc not stone, however.
but sand, dredged up from the bottom of the
canal, mixed with hydraulic lime (chauG du
ThieD, and then put into wooden cases or
moulds and allowed to dry. The lime is
quarried a few miles down the canal, there
ground, and thence transported to the works.
Eight mills are kept constantly grinding on
| this novel, unique, and really interesting
! process. After sufficient time has been allowed
| to form and harden them, the wooden castings
are removed, and the suns rays, which in this
latitude are intensely hot, complete the process
of making the block. Two or three months suf-
flee to harden them. They weigh twenty tons
each, and cost about 1000 francs apiece. When
sufficiently dry and ready for use, they are
lifted up bya travelling steam crane (grue a
Udpeau0 on to trucks, passed to a tramway, and
then pushed by locomotive down to where the
lighters are moored to receive them. They now
take q short sea voyage. After being trans
ferred from the truck by another travelling
crane, they are deposited in an inclined posi-
| ton, in rows of three, on another lighter,
whence they are taken out to the position they
| are destined to occupy on the jetty, and there
sunk. The rate of progress has been from
thirty TO forty blocks daily. Over $4,000 have
been already submerged and but little remains
to be done to complete these magnificent piers.
The dimensions of these piers, or ietties, are
twenty-six yards at the base, six yards at the
summit, and twelve yards in height.
Division of Port Said LaISe MenznluiD.
| This division is fourteen and a half miles long,
extending from Port Said to Kilometre Twenty
three, and includes the heavy work on the jetties
already described and the deepening of the
canal which lies through the middle of Lake
Menzalah, which is itself only separated from
the Mediterranean by low, narrow ridge ol
sand. The labor performed in this division has
been immense. Fears were entertained by many
that the sand thrown up by the dredges to form
the banks of the canal would be too weak to
withstand the combined action of the wind and
waves in the lake, and the canal would in con
sequence be liable to frequent interruption
Fortunately, these fears have proved groundless
and all cause for such apprehension is now re-
moved. In this division 364,36i cubic metres
were eXcavated during the month ending Octo
Der 10, 1868, which, added to the previous exca
walton of 6,012, 723 metres, left then total o
2,766 049 metres yet to be taken out.
Division of EI-i;uisr.
This is the longest division of the canal anC
includes all lying between Kilometre Twenty
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