The Portland daily press., 1870-01-01
Correspondence OF the Press.l
Opening of the Suez Canal.
NUMBER TWO.
CAIRn Nov u. 12

for Cairo; and the following day our party
proceeded in an opposite direction, on board
small steamer, to point some ten miles down
the Gull, for the purpose of thence visiting an
oasis believed by the Arabs to be the place
whore Moses smote the rock and obtained wa
ter, and hence called The Fountains of Noses.
But my researches into biblical lore would
make the locality of this incident much nearer
the centre of the peninsula of Sinai. Then
there are no rocks in the region; but pre-
sumo theologians, if they deemed it necessary.
could easily explain away this difficulty.
On arriving near the shore, we found
crowd OF Bedouins with camels waiting for US
and mounting these ''ships of the desert" two
persons on each, we went surging over tAe low
sand waves at goodly speed, and soon came
in sight of the desert-island. You can hardly
conceive with what delight, not having seen
sign of vegetation for days, we welcomed its
cool, fragrant shades-how, sensibly and in
tensely
eve felt the freshness OF its growing green
That waved in forest tops. and smoothed The air,
And fell upon our strained eyes like a screen
From skies all hot and giitering sands all bare''
We were received at the oasis by company
of mserably-clad natives, who seemed to be its
proprietors, and who, ushering us into small
building, offered us coffee, in cups about half
the dimensions of good-sized English wal
nut; with oranges, bananas, dates and rad
ishes, of course expecting more than All equiv
alent in bucksheesh for these attentions.
The locality, which seemed about twenty
acres in extent, contained FIVE or six springs,
through which by irrigation its dark soil is, or
might be, rendered highly productive. The
water has a mineral or rather brackish TASTE
Where it comes from amidst such an arid waste
is mystery which it will take wiser heads
than mine to determine Date-palms (some of
them now loaded with ripening fruit), locusts,
mimosas, and a species Of savin of vagrant
growth, furnish the residents with abundant
shade from the burning sun; and orange, ban
ana and fig trees, with such few vegetable as
they choose to cultivate, supply their wants as
to food Then there are several species of
shrubs, apparently indigenous, all new to me,
which combine in giving out most delicious
fragrance. But the fences, composed of inter-
laced palm-branches, are irregular and dilapi-
dated, the walls of the fountains are tumbling
in, and on every side is seen that indifference
to cleanliness and order, which peculiarly
characterlZeS the bedouln ARAB.
Indeed, the only thing which these sous of
the desert are not Indifferent to, is money
Buchsheesh is the unceasing demand, every
where, from old and young 1t is shouted in
your ears, often by the respectfully dressed, as
well as the lame, the blind, and vagabond;
and have known girl with gold enough
about her neck to supply her alimental wants
for year, in the most earnest manner praying
for bucksheesh.
may add that our camel-drivers afforded no
exception to the general rule. The moment
we mounted they began to demand their pay;
but, knowing that if they were compensated
beforehand, we should have to make another
contract with them to convey us back to our
steamer, some of us utterly refused to heed
their entreaties, till the work was accomplish
ed. And the wisdom of this course was made
apparent in the end; for those who paid in
advance, were left on shore half a mile from
the steamer, and nothing but an extra sum
would induce their camel-drivers to proceed
further!
That some of them likewise, are treacherous,
has been made painfully evident of late from
the fact that gentleman, DR.. Wilson. who,
ed himself on a visit to the oasis alone, did net
return, and has not been heard of since, al
though a large reward has been offered for in
telligence concerning him.
We returned to Suez in the evening, and
after dinner (never served in Egypt till seven
o'clock p. NJ some of US, desirous to know
more as to the customs and modes of living of
the natives, sailed forth into the narrow
streets, and wandered about till nine Or ten
o'clock.
Here we came upon half dozen turbaned
worthless seated on cushions smoking their
chibogues with imperturbable gravity and un-
alloyed satisfaction, who did not even degn to
notice us. Anon our attention was attracted
to delighted crowd gathered around two or
three men who were dancing to the monoto-
nous beating OF a kind of bass drum; else
where a eoncourse were listening to the harsh
jargon of couple of vocalists engaged in
sort of musical coloquy. Then we passed, a
trio of worthless with heavy horse-pistols in
their belts, who kept aloot from the crowds
apparently officers of the municipality.
A few, by the light of small lamps, were
busy at their trades-some mending shoes,
some stuffing donkey-saddles, some scraping
copper utensils, &c., and not few rolled up
in their tattered bornooses, were asleep on the
ground, wherever they could get out of the
way of the passers-by. The women, black tan,
and mouse-colored, alike had their faces con-
cealed in their head gear, merely leaving
space for their small twinkling eyes-wbilst
everywhere, the dogs which swarm in all Ma
homedan towns, and are particularly active
oil off pioht.f fall harkiny
| and snarling, or engaged in general free
| fight Gaunt, blear-eyed, NANCY, miserable
ours, they seemed to have an especial spite
against us strangers, but we had the means
about us of effectively repelling their ill-will,
| and they were not disposed to come too near
| They seemed TO be common property, or rath-
or nobody's property, and do what they might,
their proceedings were matter of total indif-
| ference to the residents.
The English have built a railway across the
| desert from Suez to Cairo-in length about one
| hundred miles-to accommodate their East
India mails; and the day after our return from
the Wells of Moses, we put ourselves in charge
of it's conductors to be transferred to the Egyp-
| tian capital.
As soon as the sun got toward the zenith,
the heat became oppressive, and the dust roll
| ing up in clouds around the cars, notwith-
standing that we kept our windows closed,
penetrated to every nook and corner; so that
to me, the journey was decidedly irksome, the
more SO from the fact that could hold no
lengthy conversation with my fellow-travel-
lers, who were Egyptians, Turks, Frenchmen,
Germans, ct Get; and the jeu Esprit Of half
Intoxicated ENGLISH MILDLY. at one of the stop--
ping places, uttered in a stentorian voice:
passengers for Sodom. Gomorrab, and tie
cities of the plain, please select their baggage"
was as enjoyable for TIE familiar tongue in
which it was uttered, as tor the humorous Cd
dity of the idea.
But little after midday, we struck upon
| the delta of the Nile, and its tropical grove,
and broad fields of cotton rice, sugar-cane, and
doura Qndian corn) with the laborers every
where busy at work irrigating and cultivat-
| ing the soil, were sources of ample interest to
me for the remainder of the journey.
We arrived at Cairo about four o'clock p.
NJ, and found that through our agent, the
munificent Khedive had provided for US ex-
| celent quarters at the new "Auric' hotel.
In conclusion l have only to state that heat,
dust and over-exertion, aggravated by those
insatiate pests of Egypt, viz, flies and mos
| quitoes, have produced quite an amount of
| sickness among travellers, and forced not a