The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-11
DR.. Shops Restorative

Yankee Doodle Dandy! Me just come
from New York and the boys on the
street would run after us shouting
'Yanki Yanki'
I'VE stepped off the landing-stage
and at once were in the heart of the
city. Interesting Port Said, said to be
the wickedest and most vile city in the
world, yet containing so much of inter
. est to a westerner- Streets narrow but
clean, the buildings low and small, lit
tie tiny street cars with a track IS inch
gauge, quaint old carts pulled by an
Client GOnkeyS, men all wearing loose
clothing and the inevitable 'fez,' wo-
men with faces all covered except the
eyes. We headed first for the post
office, as we had many letters to mail.
We found q very fine building. built
around an open court, into which you
walk and transact your business, stand
ing out of doors. We passed some very
good hotels, but most Of the stores
We're very small, much of the merchan-
merchants follow you down the street
trying to make a bargain with you.
You literally nave to force your way
through the crowd of merchants of all
sorts and degrees, who are trying to
force you to buy. We purchased some
.tODeeS or hats, such as are worn in
India and other hot countries. great
helmet like concerns, lined with cork,
and having an open-air arrangement
around the inside band. Then / bought
some 'Turkish-delight,' and an English
paper a week old, that is the paper was
a week old, but I think the candy was
about a year old
I'VE only had an hour in this town
and longed for a day to spend there.
We were rowed back in safety, and at
5 o'clock started again on our long
voyage to Bombay.
1.-THE Suez canal is 1O2 miles long,
and not wide enough for two ships to
pass except one of them is tied up to
the bank. The first few miles of the
al Nrr77 lou ,--s-I,z
ground, what at one time was a lake
now mostly dried up. On the lake we
saw thousands of ducks. But soon we
had passed this and were in the canal
proper, low banks with dreary stretches
of sand on either side. And here is
where you get your idea of the desert.
Nothing but sand, no trees or grass or
houses, just sand, and not smooth, as
1 had imagined, but all in little mounds
of unequal size stretching away as Jar
as you can see. 1t must be most ter
rllle tc be lost in sIIch d place.
Every hundred feet or so there is
set into the banks on either side stout
posts or piles. To these one of the
ships must tie up when two are pass
ing. Native boatmen are carried along
for the purpose of rowing to the shore
and making fast the ropes The ships
are allowed to go only five miles an
hour. and with the frequent tyings UP
you may know our progress was not
very rapid. The banks are faced with
waves made by the ships would soon
destroy the banks of sand Every
precautfon is taken for the safety of
the vessels. Pilots are furnished. and
every few miles is a station connected
with telegraph. These stations have
signals by which the ships are con-
trolled. Some of these stations are
very beautiful. having pretty buildings
nicely painted. though small, sur
rounded by great palm trees and green
grass, especially beautiful because
seen in contrast with the desert so
barren. We passed some of the most
beautiful parts of the canal. including
two lakes, the city Of Ismailia and
some monuments, during the night
and so we missed them.
When I aWoke next morning and
went on deck. it was hard to realize
that We were living in the goth CEN
fury but rather that I was taken back
about 1000 years. For there stretch
ed the great desert about which I had
read so often, with the occasional
Arab hut. and fewer palm trees Then
the next moment I was reminded If
Bible times and the story of Mary ard
Joseph and Mary. for there was a man
riding one of those little donkeys fol
lowed by his wife patiently striding
behind. and we just about this time
passed the ford of the old camel trail
from Syria to Egypt. But more than
any of these was the sight along the
canal The waterway was being
widened. and they were at work on