Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-09-19
there and the everlasting Martello

| towers are dlODS ilS COdosS' w ACH
about half WAY through the strait you
come ia sight of the ceie5ra,td fortress
Rock of Gibraiter, the ancient Pillar
! of Hercules, and steamers pass close to
it to signalize. If mail steamers they
| 90 in and anchor AID passengers have
from four to six hours there 10 thor
oughly enjoy themselves in sight seeing.
The town is on the west Side where
! the rock has slope but the eastern
! and northern are very precipitous, the
north side facing the Spanish shore
! and neutral ground goes up like WALL
Looking up you notice that it has ports
with guns and galleries cut in through
/ the solid rock. If time permits you to
! go to the flagstaff very fine view is
obtained. The ridge on top is very
narrow, and On the whole rock where
ever a gun can be planted it is done,
military law in its strictest form is
carried out here. After 8 p. N. no one
! is allowed in or out of the place or about
without a pass. 1t is said that over l.
900 guns are here, SOHO of them so
tons in weight.
| On the;oppOsite side of the strait is tie
| Spanish Fort Centa, another Gibralter
on smaller scale, which Spain Is very
anxious to change for Gibralter. Glib
1alter from London in 1920 nautical
miles. Here you come into the deep
: blue sea of the Mediterranean.
: If daytime the snow-cOvered noun
! tains of Spain are seen good ways off.
Then you lose sight of Spain and next
day see Africa again off AlgierS and
continue along its shores twenty to
thirty miles off until it is lost about
10 miles from Malta. Here again if
in mail boat you call at Malta and
have few hours to see it, and it is
well worth visit. If not stopping,
/ you pass it and see the island of Sicily,
the last of Europe. l have seen Mount
Etna in eruption 12O miles off.
Prom Malta Crete may be sighted in
the distance, but usually nothing is
seen until Damietta, Egypt, thirty
miles from Port Said. Port Said,
5000 miles from London, is the Medi-
I terranean entrance of the Suez canal.
The town is built on the land and with
its small gardens is worth a visit il
only to get away from the dust of coal
ing, all indispensable proceeding for
steamers
After coaling you enter the canal, a
ditch wide and deep enough for almost
the largest steamers afOat. 1t is 26
feet deep, 30 feet broad at the bottom
and about 100 feet at top; it at this
end has three shelves or slopes before
bottom is reached. The banks are
not hing but sailed sand. All the way
through there is nothing worth seeing
except 1T the stations, where, with
fresh water from the Nile, almost any
thing will grow. IsmaIli has a palace
of the khedives and is a very pretty
place surrounded by sand. There is
small lake here.
Then you again enter the canal for
about nine miles when you reach a
large lake called the Bitter lake. The
waite, is very salt and very bitter.
After passing through this lake about
90 miles you again enter the canal for
Suez Here tie canal is cut like rail-
way cutting with the water run in and
most arid banks. Here can be seen
boats in the fresh water canal and the
trains running to Suez. In this part
of tile canal a most extraordinary phe-
nOmenOn occurs. A regular tide flows
in and out from the Gulf of Suez with
a fall of about six feet and is lost in
the large lake, while at the Port Said
end there is very little tide either way.
Heavy rains are frequent while form
eTly rain was thing almost unknown.
There was no difficulty in cutting the
Suez canal, rock being almost unknown
In it, quite different from the Panama
canal. Labor was forced but it has to
be paid for at Panama. The Suez is a
most successful undertaking.
After leaving the Suez canal you
pass down the Gulf of Suez, narrow
sea with most barren, parched shores;
pass Zafarana, so miles from Suez. It
is the place where the ISraelites are
supposed to have crossed the Red sea
dry footed. The. bills around Mount
Sinai can be seen. a most desolate-
looking country, but so celebrated in
bible history.
The passenger can realize the verse
in the bible, Take up thy bed and
walk, " as especially appropriate. From
Tulv tO Oat,,hpr ho will hava IN cloon ON