The Virginia enterprise., 1908-06-05
A VENERABLE OLD MAN.

the Christian era Chats an awful long
time, Strabo; but I'll not dispute the
word of a gentleman) Seti cut a canal
81 miles long from Bubastis near the
present town of Zigzag-I mean Zaga-
zig to Heroopolis, at the head of the
Bitter lakes. then forming the north
ern extremity of the Suez gulf.
Herodotus-another old-timer who
juggles with centuries as the circus
clown juggles with his old hat-says
that 500 years later Necho the Persian
tried little canal building, keeping
at it till the mere trifle of a hundred
and twenty thousand lives had been
sacrificed in the job, and only aban-
doning 1t when the great oracle of that
day (whom he consulted) prophesied
that the most dire results would fol-
low the completion of the work, and
the entire land of Egypt be given over
to the stranger and the barbarian.
Then, successfully, the Roman en-
perors Trajan and Hadrian; the
Arabian conqueror Amron; the great
Napoleon, who held the hollow of the
Heavens in his usurping hand; Me-
hemet Ali, who had butchered 400
Mamelukes before supper, but had not
the daring to brave the ancient
prophecy; French engineers, English
engineers, Austrian engineers, each
and all, tried their hand, but to no
definite end. They disagreed as to the
level of the two seas. Napoleon's en-
glneers estimated that the Mediter-
ranean was 80 feet below the level of
the Red sea. calling for a scheme of
sluices and locks. Waghorn, an Eng
lishman. declared that the level of the
two waters was identical.
Meanwhile. young Frenchman was
dreaming dreams; he was eloquent;
he was convincing; and he finally
convinced Said Pasha that the future
was lettered big With the name of
Ferdinand de Lesseps, and if a con-
cession were given to him, he would
make Egypt and France both immor-
tai. He got the concession. Said
cared nothing for the ancient oracle
that had frightened his grandfather
Mehemet. and SO Fate swept on with
her relentless broom and Said was
gathered to his fathers; Ismail the
magnificent, the eXtravagant, a prince
Of immense fortune, succeeded his
uncle and also succeeded in plunging
his unhappy country up to the neck
in bonds and mortgages galore: Eu-
rope stepped in; England became the
purchaser Of 1smails personal hold
ing (only S2O,000,000 saved from the
wreck of $s5.000,000) which he sur
rendered to his creditors a short time
before his dethronement and Danish
ment to Naples.
1smail not only incurred, in his brief
rule OF 16 years, debt of over $780,
100000, but he mortgaged the souls of
generations of Egyptians yet unborn.
And thus did the prophecy come
true! The ancient oracle spake not in
vain. The land of the Pharoahs and
the Ptolemies, of Alexander and Cleo
patra, has passed into the hands of
the stranger.
The canals varied and almost tragic
history lent an added interest to the
dull and monotonous aspect that it
presents, the fiat sandy banks melting
out into the desert, unbroken save for
the occasional government stations, a
steamer tied to the bank waiting for
ours to pass, or collection of mud
houses belonging to Arabs, whose
camels and donkeys were tethered
nearby.
At times, small boys would race
along the banks, easily keeping pace
with the slowly moving steamer, cry
ing for "Backsheelsh," to which the
passengers and crew responded by
tossing fruit and packages of food and
money to them.