The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-04-28
THE SUEZ CANAL.

Its Present Condition-The Traffic
Upon it
Egypt Correspondence, March Is, ofthe Boston Ad
vertiser.
The facts are these Except tbt
week of Serapeum, the canal is essen
TALLY the same as on the week Of the
opening. Except in two or three places
the sides have not fallen in. There i
nowhere any indication Of the sand blow
ing in to any considerable degree. Sand
bars are forming on the east side OF West
jetfy, at Port Said the channel at Lake
Ilmsah is shallow now-not much more
than nineteen feet, as on the day OF the
opening. Through the canal the water
IS as high, judging from the piles driven
into the sides for the use of the dtedges,
as hen we passed through in Novem-
| Der last. We met two steamers ON their
way to Bombay, an English vessel going
This was evidently all the business Of
the DAY, and from the report of the
company made at the expiration of the
| opened, 1t Is a fair average of the amount
OF work done The company say that they
register one thousand five hundred tons
udy. IO 4iICSSdSGilCS LII pClIdiCO OOul-
pany will heuceforth bring their pass en-
gers from Hong Kong to Europe directly
through the canal The Peninsular and
Oriental Company with their character
perhaps conservative is the word l walt
viii for the present. transfer their mails
and passengers from the steamer to the
railway at Suez, and again at Alexandra
from the railway to the steamboat. But
more than tWo-thirds OF the vessels
which have passed through the canal
since its Inauguration have gone under
the British flag.
The Aisle is on her way to Bombay
through the canal second time. In
speaking of his passage homeWard Capt
Lapierre, in private letter which |
have seen, says that he passed through
the canal In fourteen hours, using only
one boiler, without experiencing any
difficulty or meeting with any obstruc
ton. Although the northeast wind was
blowing almost gale against the star
board bow, he was not prevented from
keeping his ship Ia the channel of the |
canal. As we passed the Aisle she was
drawing without cargo, four metres and |
tWo-tenths.
A large part Of the dredging machines |
are drawn up and out of use one only is
employed between Ismallia and Port |
Said. Three are engaged in completing |
the work to be done at the Serapeum, |
and four are deepening the channel III |
the Bitter Lakes.
The months OF July and August viii |
settle the question of evaporation, which |
still haunts the brains OF some men. If |
the water IS not fatally reduced at that |
time, and the Canal Company conclude
to give the PeninSular and Oriental
Company the eleven thousand one hun
dred and tWenty-slx metres OF land at
Port Said, required by them as the con-
dillon on which they will lnaugurate
their service through the canal, We may
safely regard the canal as z success, not
as financial scheme, but as giving y 4
poleon foot-hoId in Egypt, and Eng land
an opportunity to get her cotton from
India cheaper than she can buy 1t IN
America Poor Egypt is gaining moth
ing by it. 1t is difficult to see how her
wealth or civilization Is to be promoted by
by the passage Of India cotton through
her Eastern boundaries in two days.
The local business through the canal IS
transacted by a French company, who
own five steamers about fifty feet long by
ten across the beam, with engines OF eight
horse power, each one carrying the mails
and sixteen passengers from Ismalia to
Port Said for twenty francs apiece. The
accommodations are very poor, and all
elegance Is dispensed with, AS | sat On
my Yalise en- the upper deck, with the
steam blowing in my face, L could not
help contrasting the passage ofycsterday
with the triumpal passage Of inauguration
week, when some OF the proudesE steam
ers in the world were riding or these
same waters, and their arrival at eyrey
considerable place and their departure
we're heralded by the booming ofcannon,
md every night was made light as day
1y Examinations and pyrotechnics. We
ode into the wharf at Port Said with no
other band of music than the putting OF
)ur little high pressure engine, with no
light in the harhor, nothing but the north
tar to guide our course.