The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-08-26
Through the Suez Canal.

After coaling Mt Malta we steamed
down the Mediterranean, over the
smoothcst sea and beneath the buesi
sky it ever was my happy portion to
see. 1t was about five o clock one morn.
ing when we first saw the lighthouse at
Port Said, and about eight we entered
4 between the two piers which guard the
entrance to the canal and stretch far out
| into the Mediterranean. Passing a
Turkish frigate and French ram we
slowly steamed close to the left-hand
shore and made fast to buoy. No
sooner were we fast than the Arabs
swarmed on board, and soon coal was
coming over the s de and into the bunk
ers at a rapid rate from barges along
side On the left-hand for long dis
lance stretched coal sheds for this is the
great coaling port of steamers bound
eastward, there being quite difference
in the price here and az the other end of
the canal. On the right was the town
OF Port said, while in front, lost far in
the desert, appeared the canal, the
! grandest engineering feat of the age.
Just fancy the amount of labor when
it was necessary to carry the sand a
mile of into the desert, and at the
same time prevent the surrounding
sand from drifting and rolling into its
| place. Just take handful of sand out
from pile and see how quickly the
hollow is filled up, and you can then
form some idea of the undertaking. /
was told out there that the English
abandoned the work through inability
to obtain laborers at any price, and
that the French only succeeded by con-
Wet labor; that the soldiers stood
| guard, and refusal to work was in
stantly followed by a shot; and that
every foot of the canal is monument
to some poor devil sent in short order
to the Arabian paradise However this
was, the canal was finished, and is to-
day the only route for steamers to the
East. About one o'clock the pilot came
on board, and in few minutes we left
our moorings and steamed into the
canal. The channel has about twenty
six feet of water in it, and which is only
kept at that depth by constant work al
the dredges and by strengthening the
sides by sinking rock and waling up
the sides where they are the most
threatening. On both sides the en-
bankments rise up to a height of ten or
fifteen feet, and are composed of the
dull, brown sands which stretch away
on both sides as far as the eye can see,
the horizon shrouded in the blind
ing glare of the heated air rising
from the burning sands till the eyes
ache and the heart sickens at the dis
NAL scene. With what relief we turn
to the canal stretching like blue
sparkling ribbon and feast our eyes at
the sight of a station looming up a half
mile ahead with its little cottage, its
shrubbery and trees, planted right in
the midst of a desert and drawing life
from a soil which has been brought a
hundred miles to make life endurable
to the station-master, banished away
out here, hundreds of miles from his
own fair France, for who else but a
Frenchman would ever think of bring
ing his garden with him, with its flow
ers and trees. out here in this wilder
ness of sands? We tied up for few
seconds to. let one of the large P. & o.
steamers pass us; for every vessel must
give way to the "Royal Mail" except
men-of-war, which have the right of
way everywhere. The canal is not
wide enough for vessels to pass each
other, so every quarter of mile or so
there is a wider place for tying up, and
the vessel reaching there first makes
fast to the bank and allows the other
one to pass, except in the case of yes
sci carrying the mail or man. of-war,
both of which go right on through
without stopping, except during the
night. f.
On the right-hand side runs track,
and | was startled by the familiar sound
of the engine whistle, and the next min
ute train swept on by at the rate of
forty miles an hour, while overhead,
Like strings of ghosts
The teleg aph posts
|... Came quickly trooping by.
noticed ON the other bank verita.
BILE caravan, such as one reads about
and sees so much in pictures of the
great desert-horses and camels, and
the old man all wrapped up in his white
clothes, with the same long ri4e, with
its crooked stock, which I have seen
duplicated on canvas, till felt an incli-
nation to extend hand and say: "How
are you, old boy?' for old acquaintance
sake. And then l thought what diff
ference between the two banks. Here
the railroad, the telegraph-and there
the old Arab travelling, as his father and
his grandfather and his great-grand-
father did a hundred years ago;' a cen
fury separated by this narrow stream.
AT dusk we tied up, having made
about thirty miles, as we were only al
lowed to go "slow" through the canal
for fear of injuring the banks. The
next morning found us on our way, and
soon we were threading the crooked
channel through the lake with the town
of lsmailia broad off the port beam.