Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-19
STATION ON
CANAL BANKS

and another at our PROV. The latter
threw its rays this way and that across
the channel in front of the steamer, turn
ing the waters of an opalescent blue re-
minding one Of the Blue Grotto of Capri.
We passed many ships In the distant
they appeared only as two blazing eyes
shown by the retiectors which all vessels
are required to keep lighted as they pass
through. AS the ships came nearer they
rose ghost-like up from the water, the
masses of hullS and rigging with the fiery
eyes making one think of demons about
to attack him.
The trip through the canal is slow. The
ships are allowed to go only five or six
miles an hour, and now and then they
have to tie up to posts which have been
set into the banks of the canal to allow
other steamers to pass. These posts are
to be seen everywhere along both sides
of the waterway from Port Said to SueZ.
In most places they are about 100 feet
apart, and are so arranged that ships can
be made stationary as others go by.
Parts Of the banks are walled with
stones to prevent the sand falling in and
filing up the canal. but notwithstanding
all the year round. Not far from Port
Said I saw great pumps operated by
steam sucking the sand from the bottom
of the channel and carrying 1t through
pines far out over the desert. l am told
that the process of cleaning and deepen
The improvements at Suez.
The Suez canal of 1907 is far different
from that which was opened in 1869. AS
originally planned the channel was less
than twenty-five feet deep and SO con-
structed that 1T could not have accommo-
dated the shipping which goes through to-
day. 1t is now about thirty feet deep, and
there are improvements under way to make
it's depth thirty-five feet. Since the begin
ming of last year ships with a draft OF
twenty-seven feet have been allowed to
pass through, and the day will come
when ships of thirtythree and thirty
four feet draft will be admitted. The
canal has been widened so that its aver
age width at the surface is about 300
feet, and the curves in 1t have been
rounded off as to shorten the time of
transit and enable ships to pass the more
easily Within the past year or so more
than 22,O0000O tons of earth, mud and
sand have been taken out of it, and the
shipping facilities have been greatly i'm
proved both at Port Tewfik and at Port
Said. Here at the southern end of the
canal they are now dredging out basins
which are intended to accommodate the
golfers and tank steamers carrying coal
oil, and at Port Said the coaling arrange
ments have been so improved that the
largest steamers can load thousands of
These improvements have been made
on account of the crowded condition of
the canal and the imperative necessity
Of deepening it in order to accommodate
the big steamers now building AS it is
it is a question whether thirty-five feet
will long be deep enough, for ships
grow bigger and bigger and their
draft deeper and deeper from year to year.
There has been a demand for a second
canal on account of the crowding, and
the steamship owners of the world have
complained again and again of the heavy
tolls Not long ago it was stated that
the money was ready in London to build
a British canal a. cost from S300OO,0OO
to s35 OOO, 600, and it was suggested that
such a canal might be constructed from
the town of Ell Arish on the Mediter-
ranean on the borders of Egypt to Akabah
on the Red sea beyond the Egyptian
frontier. Such a canal would take adj
vantage Of the Gulf of Akabah but 1t
would, / am told, be still about twice as
long as the SueZ canal. According to the
concessions granted to the canal COM
pany any Egyptian canal made parallel
to the present one will have to be made
by it or with its consent
FRANK G. CARPENTER