The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1923-10-05
PORT SAID 'TOPSY
CITY OF EGYPT
Has Neither Ancestry Nor Tradl-
ton and "Just GroWed."
CEASELESS SONG or LABOR

In contrast 10 Luxor, where one
moves under the spell Of $500 years
ago, Egypt has city, Port Said. which
possesses no more Of past than
Topsy writes Maynard owen Williams
staff correspondent Of the National
Geographic society, from Egypt.
port Said Is a city without roots,
whose sand foundations were speweo
up by dredges and whose buildings and
population were dropped off by passing
ships. II has neither ancestry nor ira
ditlon. 1t just growed.'
THE city Is as nondescrlpt as Its
population. The high iron fence which
separates the parade FROM the canal
marks the boundary line between cool
IaZiness and feverish activity.
IN the harbOr. small, powerful tugs
snort here and there amid the tra!lic,
white rowbOats with plain fiat avn
ings move like palsied shuttles be-
tween gang plank and customs quay
trim cutters from the British memo
war suggest order in the midst OF
chaos, and always the coolies coaling
the liners trOt up the steep planks,
singing a ceaseless song OF ceaseless
toll.
although these grimy drudges do
not belong to the nobility. Port SAID
owes them much, for this city not only
protects one end Of the jugnlar vein
or hamstring of the empire from en-
yiOus wolves but has the more proht-
able, If less picturesque honor Of being
the worlds greatest cOaIing' station.
In such tiny, obscure ports as
Otaru, ships can be coaled in short
order by machinery. But the day Of
c0aling machinery in Port Said Is Just
now dawning.
Coalind and the Coolie.
Before the mail boats are securely
tied up, night-back barges covered
with nlglt-black men with milk-whlte
eyes have attached themselves TO their
staunch tanks and the fuel is pouring
abDard in an endless line of limp bas
kets borne on the shoulders OF sweat
ing men, whose limbs, deeply coated
with coal dust, seem made Of Ox!dlzed
metal.
"The baskets are not passed frO1o
hand to hand. Each man shoulders
his load and trots with it up the steep
plank, soon reappearlng to jump down
into the dusky depths Of the barge.
'Steamer to barge, barge to pile, pile
to barge, barge to leviathan or tramp ;
one would think that half the sooty
fuel would be lost through frequent
handling. But no one can teach PORT
Said anything about contingencies i;
lie the coolle.
During night cOaling, plank with
! six coolies on 1t dropped with thud
70 the barge deck and for weeks the
! coolies refused to coal at night, ex-
.cept those ships that have side ports.
This was an awful sacrilege! 1t Is
even limited that the mail was de.
layed. But the =. and o. liners have
side ports and it was not one OF them,
so JOve withheld his thunderbolts.
The coolies gave the excuse that they
were tired.
Never Hurry-Exeept for Drinks.
"But that takes you to the other
side Of the iron fence. There the peo-
pie are always tired. Tennis is game
in which the ball hovers in the air
like a white-breasted gull. Bathing Is
even less strenuous, being conducted
according to Graeco Roman rules. Golf
moves with dignity rather than incan-
descent language. But the drink
| steward has develored winged heels
while carrying libations to the gods Of
the veranda.
1.-The main attraction of Port Said.
aside from the lighthouse whose beams
sweep the shipping safe to port and
the shops where cigarettes, novels by
EIichens and Kipling. ostrich feather
fans, kimonos, sun helmets. Japanese
and Syrian damascene. Oriental silks,
Partisan post cards aud cosmetics. and
Abyssinian weapons, is the De Les
seps monument, situated near the in.
ner end Of the western breakwater.
"A canal service dredge in action
develops a squeal that reminds one Of
Circes captives. frantic with remorse
and Inconsistencies. But the humble
and complaining dredge Is the pro-
tector of traffic and as long as the
squeal continues the procession will
go by.
'It is thought tn It when Klpling
wrote of thirst culture and the equality
of man east of SuAz' he misplaced
Port Said, for the only thing the curio
dealers do not keep nor their Gus
toners ask for. are the Ten Command.
ments. And when the missionary
ashore from a China boat deplores con.
ditIons in his sociological discussions
with a red-capped NJ. P, that weary
individual to whom even murder would
be relief. DULY answers:
"'You think Port Said Is bad? You
ought to have seen 1t before the war -"