Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/261

 Anchored in the roads outside I counted not less than twelve war steamers flying the Turkish or Egyptian colors, the “Crescent and Star.”

At noou ithe * Arabia,” under the charge of a pilot, steamed slowly foward the en- france to the eanal, aud was soon anclosed between two walls of sand. There is here neither “tow-path” nor “heel-path,” and litile to remind an American of bis former experience wlio has in old times traveled on the “raging canawl” in New York or Obie. Atl mexsurcments eud distances being in French meters, kilosneters avd hectares, I will, for the couvenience of the reader, re« duce (hemto English. Our steamer draws sixicen feet, vut under lor keelis six feet to spare, which is inereascd three feet more at high tide, And here I may as well explain the maiter of tides. ‘The ordinary vise and fall of the tide at Port Said, on the Mediter- ranean, igoneand a half fect, and at Suez three and a half feet. At the Hquinox the maximum rise and fall is about: double.

There being no gates or locks to interfere with the free inflow and egress of the ocean ut either end, the tides slightly effect the depth of waterin the canal, aud produce a eurrent which never exceeds two miles an hour, andislost in the lakes which form over one-haif the whole course, At the water line the width of the'cunal when fin- ished according toits eniarged scale will be three hunred feet, the depth thirty feet, and fle breadth af the bottom seventy fect, ‘This will give space enough for the keels of > large ships to pass each cther without inconvenience. At present the average width is about two hundred feet, with not less than twenty-four feet of water in the shilowest spots. At frequent intervals there are wider busins where ships can meet and piss each other. The management is by telegraph, and every few miles we se upon the banks a neatly fitted up telegraph stalion, from which the position of every ship im the canal is reported at head- guariers. The maximum spced allowed is sight miles an hour, which would take a ship through the nimety-six miles between Suez and Port Said in twelve hours, but no steaming ig allowed after dark, so that we can only reach Temailia, the half way station to-night.

From the deck of our steamer the view is unique. Wo are high outof the water and I can see over the top of the banks a deser: of sand strethcing tavay as far as the eye can reach. Near the entrance at Suez and moor-