New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-15
A NIGHT ON THE BITTER LAKE.

grOwls our skipper, wlping the last drops o.
the departing squall from his bushy beart
and bluff English face. ''Let em just come
here and try; that's all ~
This is our sixth squat since We got into
the canal" remarked l; pretty well fol
ono mornings work! No getting to Suez
to night, chr
Wed ha' done it right enough If they d
let us 20 full speed, but halt speeds the rule
here. Wen be getting into the Bitter lake
bout shutdown, and then I'll anchor for the
night aud go on to Suez tomorrow
We are by this time about midway
through the famous canal, and have had
time ~ get somewhat used to panorama
which is utterly new to us both. Our first
feeling las is the case, l should Judge, with
every one who has seen it, is one Of Cisap.
pointment; for, great achievement as it un-
doubleday is, it is 80 utterly dwarfed and
OvershadOwed like the Don and Volga
railway or tho nicholas column" at Ibraila)
by the Iimitless desOlation which surrounded
it, that the statistics Of its expenses and
labor appear actually fabulous. Nor has il
even the element Of beauty to recommend
it. Two interminable ridges of yellow sand
growing gradually higher as we advance
s0uthward; huge dredger, every now and
then, lying like a astle upon the water,
with it's clamorOus freight of blue-shirted
workmen and Ted-capped boys, who
rush to stare at us AZ we pass; a few
little stations, consisting chiefly of one hut
apiece, and with a resident population Of
two men and q dog; an occasional pas
s,nger steamer from Ismailia, go diminu-
tive that you almost expect to see "Com-
plete ut los cd" labeled upon it's bulwarks--
such are the leading characteristics Of the
famous international thoroughfare. But as
we gradually realize the utter barrenness
nj = no rLnIo lolil Cf Nd
Of shelter, the treacherous nature Of the
soil, the merciless heat, which presses
sorely upon us even in April, we begin to
admire, in our own despite this little rib
bon of light green water drawn athwart
the dull, brassy yellow Of the everlasting
desert, and to appreciate the magnitude Of
the task which, began by an Egyptian king
nearly thirty centuries ago, has received
its completion in our own day from the
hand of q French engineer.
Here comes another one of them putin
Bllies'" remarks the skipper, with grand
contempt, as little toy steamer skins past
s,with accommodations for one passenger,
provided he we're thin one. They're
al'ays atryin' to haggravate US by passin'
us that way; but if we could only put ON
steam we'd show them fun. Only this
Uornn', when you was below, waitin'. one
on 'em come by, and the skipper hollers out
10 me: Shall throw out q rope and tow
your and l says to him, says l: No,
thankee, it's only blind men as is towed by
dogs"
And with an approving chuckle at his
own sledge- hammer wit, the worthy skip-
per walks aft.
The black rain-clOud has vanished as
suddenly as it came, and the sun looks
down upon lis once more in all his merci-
less spleEdor from the bright, cruel, cloud
less sky. There is q hot, dreamy languor
IN the air. and silence as of utter exhaus-
ton. The long, hazy ripple in our wake
dies without sound upon the thick, life
seems to drag after us like a spent runner.
Two black skeletons suddenly appear on
the right bank, moving slowly along the
waters edge with their long, noiseless
stride, and the sight of living being IN this
great sepuchre of nature startles us like
an apparitiOn. Then comes a momentary
glimpse Of the world Of life and action, ss
we swing round projecting corner into the
great basin, along which rise the towers
md minarets Of Ismailia. 'tbe city Of is
MALTA Pasha."
The pilot boat fits alongside like FREELY,
whisks away our Port Said pilot, and re.
places him with a 1.-THE, swarthy, keen-eyed
half.caste. and then the desert engulfs us
pnce more as we head southwark, on toward
The Bitter lake.
Midday changes TO afternoon, afternoon
wanes into evening, and at length there
rises before us bOundless waste of smooth
water, all afame with the splendOr of
the sunset; the far-famed Bitter lake,
ANAL that. in the age OF railways and
wears in the living impress
If time when the Pharaohs still |
'egned in Memphis, and when the white. |
bed priests oflsles watched the stars from
he summit of the Great Pyramid. Smooth |
sdeless, liteless. it stretches from sky to /
,ky in all its weird and desolate beauty; |
and, far 10 the west. wave after wave OF |
purple hills surge up against the burning |
ky: while to the east, rs lar as the eye l
AN reach, extends-dim, and vast, and un.
mighty desert. beyond which
;e Mecca and Jerusalem.
As we swept into the lake the SUN ''goes !
'ut," mo other word will express it, and,
4 a moment. earth and sea and sky are I
ne great shadow. In the gathering dark
ess and overw helming silence the captains
oarse cali sounds indescribably strange
nd unearthly:
"Stand by your anchor.'
cay, ay. sir"
LET go"
The rattle Of the chain, the splash OF the
ling anchor, break upon Une stliAess ioI /
moment with unnatural lOudness, and
len the silence returns like wave. The
olation is now complete have seen the
Oxen Neya at midnight, and the Dead sea
the gray of the early morning; but
lostlier sight than the Bitter lake. in the
10 interval between sunset and noonrlse,
have never yet seen. However. the
ostly dimness does not endure long.
dden as flash of lightning there falls
ross the shadowy waste Of water broad /
ver sheen. and I'D rises the full moon in