Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/34

12 have supposed, to crush them to the earth, were piled on their backs. All hands helped the men to their feet, and off they started for the Custom House amidst the shouts and gesticulations of their comrades. We were, however, spared the annoyance of unpacking our baggage; the Director-General of Customs having, through Mr. Cook’s agent, sent instructions to pass all our baggage and effects unexamined.

During dinner we made a discovery which relieved us of our difficulty. We learned that a P. and O. steamer was to leave Port Saïd at 4 o’clock for Alexandria, and we resolved to take passage in her, and by this way to go on to Cairo. The “Dakatlieh” was airy and not very full of passengers, and after the close packing of the “Tanjore” we felt very comfortable ndeedindeed [sic]. We had a good night’s rest, and were up betimes to view the African coast, evidences of which first appeared in the distant lines of feathery palms. We had been coasting for many miles off the Delta of the Nile, and all along our track the waters of the Mediterranean had changed their ordinary deep green into a lighter tinge, in consequence (as I was informed by Mr. Le Mesurier, of the Egyptian Railway Department) of the influx of the Nile waters.

It is unquestionable that the Nile carries down large quantities of mud into the Mediterranean, which is taken up by the prevalent east-ward current, and finds its way into the harbour of Port Saïd, where dredging operations have constantly to be carried on at heavy cost in order to keep the channel of the required depth. The Damietta branch of the Nile may, from its position with reference to Port Saïd and the ship-canal, be considered the more immediate cause of the silting up of the canal bed.

This source of expense and danger to the navigation Mr. Le Mesurier proposes to meet in the following way :— It will be observed on referring to a map of the district, that between the harbour of Port Saïd and the Suez Canal on the one side, and the Damietta branch of the Nile on the other, lies the great inland lake of Menzaleh, through which the canal has been carried, chiefly by dredging, for a distance of twenty-seven miles. The portion west of the canal still remains under water, but that to the east is now dry. This western portion, covering an immense area, Mr. Le Mesurier proposes to convert into a great precipitating basin for the Damietta branch, the effect of which would be ultimately to convert