THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL.
CAIRO, February 12, 1890.
At 9 P.M., on the 10th instant, the big steamer _Khedive_ anchored at
Suez, the Red Sea entrance to the canal; and I was much interested in
watching the engineers making steam connections to a large dynamo on
deck. The connections were made by copper pipes and flange joints. In
half an hour they were ready. Captain Loggin gave the signal, and the
stately vessel moved on at the rate of six miles an hour towards Port
Said on the Mediterranean. The canal is 87 miles long, and when
completed was 72 feet wide and 26 feet deep, but two years ago it was
decided to enlarge it to 120 feet wide, 27 feet 8 inches deep. They are
now at work on the enlargement, as I saw four immense dredgers lying in
the canal near Suez, and was informed that thousands of men could be
seen during the day at work all along the route.
I stationed myself on the upper deck at 9.30 P.M., and remained there
all night with the kind and pleasant captain for my only companion, only
leaving when we were nearing Ismaïlia at six in the morning; and I was
amply rewarded by sights such as I never expect to see again.
The five thousand candle-power electric light, with a Mangin reflector,
spread the rays out fanlike, and illuminated the canal and vicinity for
half a mile ahead and several hundred feet wide, so that the smallest
thing on the land or in the water could be seen. The electric rays
illuminated the water so that the white-painted buoys, of which you
could often see three or four at a time, seemed to be lighted from the
inside, as if made of translucent golden porcelain, and suspended in
mid-air. The white sand on the banks of the canal might be readily
mistaken for snow, and was in one place piled up fifty feet high, for a
long distance, and the general effect was singularly weird, as the great
steamer moved majestically on. When we reached the small Bitter Water
Lake, the buoys were on stands fifteen feet high, out of water, looking
as if they were made of silver, the pear-shaped domes like illuminated
mosques. Once where there was an opening in the sand-bank, the light
illuminated a hill some distance off, and it seemed as if I were looking
upon a great city, with its mosques, minarets, churches, and buildings
all being destroyed by fire. Several times, when approaching huge
dredging machines, the electric light seemed to transform them into
beautiful flower boats on which fairies might be dancing. As we entered
the large Bitter Lake, the electric lights were put out and the vessel
guided by a pilot increased her speed.
The tide rises seven feet at Suez, and forces the water up the canal to
the Bitter Lakes, which operate like a safety valve, distributing the
water and returning it when the tide recedes.
The Mediterranean being a tideless sea, the water runs naturally through
the canal to the Bitter Lakes. Most of the commerce of the East passes
through the canal, instead of around the Cape of Good Hope, as formerly.
In 1887 there passed through the canal 3,137 vessels, of which 2,330
were British, and only three American. I know of no greater illustration
of the fallibility of human judgment than that the English opposed the
building of this canal. Lord Palmerston said it could not be built, and
if done, would never pay, or be any good to commerce; and now
seventy-five per cent. of the tonnage passing through it is British, and
it is of immense importance to them, both politically and in a business
way. But for the persistent energy of M. de Lesseps, it is safe to say
the canal would not have been built for many years, if ever.
The average passages through the canal from the Mediterranean to the Red
Sea have been eighteen hours, Captain Loggin having made the shortest in
fifteen hours; but when the enlargement is completed, so that vessels
may make an uninterrupted passage each way, the time may be reduced to
twelve hours. The stock of the company has paid as high as twenty-one
per cent., and I was informed that our steamer, the _Khedive_, had
several hundred cases of silk on board, and that she would pay about
seven thousand dollars transit charges. Every steamer passing through
the canal now makes use of the electric light; those not having a dynamo
on board hire one at Port Said in Suez for ten pounds sterling per trip,
including two men to run it.