The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1923-07-27
PORT SAID 'TOPSY
CITY'OF EGYPT
Has Neither Ancestry fOr Tradi.
ton and "Just GroWed."
CEASELESS SONG OF LABOR

O-nOl.GSS SSANS ~
In contrast 10 Luxor, where one
moves under the spell Of $500 years
ago, Egypt has city, Port said. which
possesses no more of a past than
1Opsy, writes Maynard Owen Williams
staff correspondent OF the National
Geographic society, from Egypt.
Port Said Is city without roots
whose sand foundations were spewed
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 nondescript as It's
population. The high iron fence which
separates tie parade frol1 the canal
marks the boundary line between cG0l
laZiness ANA fevcriSlI activity.
"In the harbor. small, powerful tugs
snort here and there amid the traffic.
white rOwboats with plain fiat avn
ings move like palsled shuttles he
tween gang plank and customs quay,
trim cutters from the British meu-o-
war suggest order In the midst 0t
chaos, and always the coolies coailng
the liners tr0t up the steep planks,
singing ceaSeless song OF ceaseless
toll.
Although these grimy drudges 20
not belong to the nobility, Port Said
owes them much, for this city not only
protects one end of the jugular vein
or hamstring Of the empire from en-
vious wolves but has the more profit
able, II less picturesque honor of being
the worlds greatest coaling station.
In such tiny. obscure ports as
Otaru, ships can be coaled In short
order by machinery. But the day Of
coaling machinery in Port Said Is just
now dawning.
CoaIinq and the CoolIe.
Before the mail boats are securely
tied up, night,black barges covered
with night-black men with milk-wliite
eyes have attached themselves to their
stuunch tanks and the fuel is pouring
aboard 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 oxldlzed
metal.
"The baskets are not passed from
hand to hand. Each man shoulders
his load and trOts with it up the steep
plank, soon rcappearing to jump down
into the dusky depths Of the barge.
STEAMER 10 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 II
be the coolie.
During night coaling, plank with
six coolies on 1t dropped with thud
to 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 sacriege! 1t is
even limited that the mail was de
layed. But the =. and Q. liners have
side ports and 1t was not one OF them.
so Jove withheld his thunderbolts.
The coolies gave the excuse that they
were tired.
Never Hurry-Except for Drinks.
"But that takes you to the other
pie are always tired. Tennis is game
in which the ball hovers in the air
like n white-breasted gull. Bathing Is
ev0n less strenuous. being conducted
according to Graeco-Roman rules. Golf
moves with dignity rather than mean
( descent language. But the drink
! steward has developed winged heels
: while carrying libations to the gods of
the veranda.
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
, Kitchens and Kipling. ostrich feather
| fans, kimonos. sun helmets. japanese
and Syrian damaScene. Oriental silks,
! Partisan post cards and cosmetics, and
Abyssinlan weapons. Is the De Les.
/ sepS monument, situated near the In.
ncr end of the western breakwater.
"A canal service dredge In action
develops 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
sQuea continues the procession Will
go by.
ut is thought that when Kipliug
wrote Of thirst culture and the equality
of man east of Suez he misplaced
Port Said, for the only thing the curo
dealers do not keep nor their Gus
toners ask for. are the Ten Command.
ments. And when the missionary
ashore from China boat deplores con-
dltions In his sociological discussions
with n red-capped NJ. P, that weary
individual to whom even murder would
be a relief. DULY answers
"'You think Port Said is bad? You
ought to have seen it before the war;"
Woman Wins Election From Husband,
Running against her husband for
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