The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-12-31
PRESS.
Friday Morning, D:cembsr 81, 1862
Correspondence of the Press.l
Opening Of the Suez Canal.

| To the Editors of the Press:
This will reach you from the far land of the
Pharaohs. where I have been a wanderer for
the last ten days. Leaving Portland for Que.
bee in September, I had quick passage in the
Montreal Steamship Company's splendid
steamer, the Austrian, across the Atlantic
and have since travelled over portions of Ire
land, Scotland, England and France, concern
ing which may have something to say at my
future leisure.
AT Marseilles, under the auspices of gen.
tleman who speaks several languages, COM
pany of twenty-five persons, myself included,
was got up, for the purpose of attending the
festivities of the grand opening; and the good
| steamship Anglia, was taken up for our ac.
commodation.
We had hardly got to sea when heavy gale
set in, before which We ran for eight or nine
hours under full head of steam, when a sea
broke over the stern, sweeping our decks and
nearly extinguishing the fires; and our cap
tain decided to bring the ship round head to
the wind. In this position we rode out the
storm without further trouble; but in conse-
quence of the delay thus occasioned, notwith-
standing the beautiful weather ard favorable
winds which ensued, we did not reach the
mouth of the canal, at Port Said, till day af-
ter the grand procession of ships had left for
Suez. -f
We followed as soon as possible, and having
the canal all to ourselves put on full steam
and overlook the fleet at Ismalia ON Lake Tim
cab, or Lake Of the Crocodiles-but our speed
created wave on either side against the
hov be ro1J. e.
hour, which, if it produced no other damage,
played mischief with the small barges and
boats of the natives that by scores were scat
tered along the banks, dasbing them against
each other, and in many cases upsetfng them.
apparently to the infinite amusement of their
owners and the bystanders!
The names Of the ladies and gentlemen com
posing our party had been forwarded from
Port Said to 1smalia, and Immediately on our
arrival, we all, "per ordre du Khedive," re-
ceived notes of invitation to the grand ball
that was to take place in the evening (my
name, as rendered in the Franco-Arabic, be-
ing BdsnainskiD. As to these festivities, all
care to say is that if the flutter of countless
flags and streamers emblazoned with the in
sigma of all nations, the twinkle of an infinite
number of lamps illuminating every nook and
corner, the flash and glare of continuous fire.
works, the rumbling dissonance of huge
mouthed cannon, and the punishment of any
quantity of wives, &C., be taken as the meas
ure of success for such an occasion, this
desideratum was certainly reached.
Ismalia, in the main, has evidently sprung
up to meet the exigencies of business conse-
quent on the work of constructing the canal
1t is built on an oasis at the northern part of
the lake-the barren sands of the desert lying
beyond-and care has been taken to lay out
its streets quite regularly and sufficiently
broad, while most of the buildings are alto
gether superior in size and mode of construc-
tion to those of Egyptian towns in general
A salubrious climate is claimed for it; and
great expectations as to its future prosperity
have caused the construction of railway
across the desert thence to Cairo; which city,
in turn, is connected by rail with Alexandria
and to supply it with fresh water, canal
has been constructed to the Nile, sixty or sew
enty miles distant! At present it contains
about 5000 inhabitants.
The next day the ships, all but an Egyptian
and French frigate, which had got aground
line and proceeded on, with orders that each
| should remain at least quarter of mile be-
| hind the other; and our ship, being last, had
advanced but five or six miles when night ap-
preached, and we were obliged to obey the sig
nal of coming to anchor.
| ascended TO Ine masI-nead examine our
| surroundings. On every side stretched the
| DESERT apparently without limit-an ocean of
| sand; and saving that, sunward, with the aid
of my lorgnettes, I could just detect a train of
camels, afar of, slowly plodding along the
trackless waste, there was no sign of life-all
was bare, blasted, barren.
Beautifully did the sun go down amidst an
array of fantastic clouds, gorgeous in gold,
vermilion and purple, which the far lone
sands strangely reflected; whilst, opposite to-
with their bases apparently resting on the
| horizon
Upheaved
In huge redoubts and towers relieved
Against the deeply blue abyss,
| As outposts of some frontier hold
OF heaven, o'er which great banners flow
With golden fringes!
1t was scene that one would remember for
DusS ~ NV PAOSChSC VI ShC Auh
moon, the cloud array departed, and the des-
| ert became of misty white, reminding me of
some wide lake of Maine covered with its win
ter coating of ice and snow, and in the clear at
mosphere the larger stars seemed nearer than
usual; so singularly vivid were the pulsations
of their light. With an ordinary pair of lorgn-
cites, I could even see the satellites of Jupiter
distinctly
| There was strange fascination in the deep
quiet and loveliness of the scene; and after
| night-fall some of us went ashore and wander
ed away into the solitude; till discovering in
the distance what appeared to be the low,
white walls of fortifcation, we rambled
| thitherward, and mounting, by means of O
drift of sand, to their top, we found them to
enclose burial place of perhaps a quarter of
an acre in extent. Five or six graves, each
with simple cross at its head, occupied one
corner, but there were no inscriptions to indi-
cate who they were that lay beneath, and we
could only Judge that they were dearly below
ed, since it must have been only at large ex-
| pense that SO massive an enclosure, in a re-
mote place like this, was erected for their pro-
lection against the wandering bedouins. Who
| ever they were, mortal remains never found a
more lovely resting place!
The next morning at daylight, we were
again underway, and after following the canal
eight or nine miles, opened upon long, ir-
regularly shaped sheet of water, known as the
Laes Amers (bitter lakes), which extended be-
fore us to the horizon. Here the ships could
exercise greater freedom in their movements,
and stretching away, under full head of
steam, in the course of a couple of hours all
had passed beyond their solitary boundaries
and again entered the Canal; and at about
four o'clock in the afternoon, our ship bring
ing up the rear (that of the French Empress
having taken the lead), anchored amidst the
roar of a thousand cannon, and the futter of
] tens of thousands of flags (among which the
stars and stripes were conspicuous although
not an American vessel was presently pro-
claiming the success of magnificent enter
prise by which the length of the voyage to In
dia will be reduced at least five thousand
miles.
But something more ought to be said in re-
gard to the Canal. 1t varies from 16O to 200
feet in width; and among the forty or more
vessels which formed the grand procession,
there were several drawing at least eighteen
feet of water, SO that the claim that it carries
a depth of twenty feet in $ shoalest portions
may be correct
As to its stability, the fact may be stated
| thot tho ctrata tbrouoh which it is cut in most