The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-05-12
Letter from Rev. DIR. Hoge.
Jerusalem. April 5th. l8SO

luxury and poetry of foreign travel, mas
much as my friend Mr. P. takes upon
himself all the cares and vexations Incl
dent to such a journey in the way of
making every arrangement necessary with
regard to guides, hotels, and routes, leav-
ing to me nothing but the enjoyment.
Thus far all has gone well, with the ex-
ception of one unpleasant affair of which
| will give you the details before / con
clude this letter Cairo was so full of in
terest, and all the land of which it is the
capital contained so much that could be
studied to best advantage on the spot,
that came away with reluctance, although
we remained longer in Egypt than we at
first intended. In my last letter l did
not attempt to give you any account of
our visit up the Nile; that would have
required too much time and space, and l
cannot now refer to anything omitted in
former communications.
Modem Travel
We engaged our dragoman, a Syrian
by the name of Michael Abdou, in Cairo
and had our contract with him drawn up.
and signed, and attested at the office of
the American consul. 1t would interest
many of your readers were l to copy and
publish the contract, as it would show
what caution is necessary here in the
East IN making bargains. Our contract
specifies infinitely the kind of tents.
horses, and servants the dragoman must
provide; the number of meals he is to
furnish each day and the quality of the
provisions; 1t gives us the choice of re-
naming in our tents or of staying at
hotels in the cities we visit, at the drago-
mans expense; it requires him to pay
all the fees ordinarily given to those who
are the custodians of shrines and sacred
places inspected by tourists; and it speci-
ties the amount we are to pay the drago-
man for all these services, and the times
when these payments must be made
Such Is now the completeness of the ar
engagements for foreign travel that one
may so through Egypt, Palestine, and
Syria, In tents with nearly all the com
forts and ,conveniences to be found in
good hotels in Europe and America. The
luggage is transported on the backs of
mules; the cook goes in advance with his
portable stove and stores of every kind,
so that at the hating place for dinner
the traveller finds it prepared, and at
night, the tents, which have been sent on
before, are already pitched and ready for
occupation.
Departure from Egypt.
On leaving Cairo we commenced our
journey across the desert until we reach
ed Ismalia, decaying town which de-
nves its interest chiefly from being sit
uated on Lake Timsah, or crocodile lake,
through which the great Suez Canal
passes, not far from the heights of El-Gisr,
from one of which the vast mountains of
the peninsula of Sinai can be seen. At
Ismalia we took our passage on a small
steamer to Port Said 1t was beautiful
moonlight night, and we sat on the deck,
with the desert on each side of us, as we
ran along between the banks of this won
derful canal meeting from time to time
the great ships of the Peninsular and
Oriental line, some of them from 900 to
5000 tops burden, and thus had an OPP
portunity of getting such impressions as
come only from actual inspection of the
magnitude of this enterprise by which
the waters of the Mediterranean and Red
Sea are connected The average width
of this canal is two hundred feet, with
not less than twenty-six feet Of water in
the shallowest places. At intervals, there
are wide basins where the largest ships
can pass each other without inconven-
fence. The management is by telegraph,
and there are stations on the banks, few
miles apart, by which the position of every
ship in the canal is reported. The great
commercial Importance of this canal is
evident when it is remembered that it is
about twelve thousand miles from Lon
don to Bombay by the Cape of Good
Hope, while by the Suez Canal it is less
than eight thousand miles From Trieste
to Bombay by the Cape Of Good Hope it
is thirteen thousand miles, but by way of
the canal it is less than five thousand
miles, thus saving more than half of the
distance Last month seventy steamers
passed through it. The construction of
such a work is an era in the commercial
annals Of the world. Port Said is one Of
the best harbors on the Mediterranean,
with depth of twenty-six feet, and pro-
tected from the sea by an immense break
water mile in length There are few
places in whose streets and hotels one
hears more languages spoken in the course
Of a single hour, Arabic, Russian, French,
Spanish, German, and English too, not
only by travellers but by residents One