Asiatic Breezes Part 22

"Of course you all recognize the sh.o.r.e before you," he continued.

"There isn't much sh.o.r.e there, only a strip of sand, with water beyond it," added Mrs. Woolridge.

"What country is it?" asked Miss Blanche in a whisper to Louis, who had his mother on one side of him and the fair maiden on the other.

"Egypt," replied Louis, wondering that she did not know.

"The water you see is Lake Menzaleh," answered the captain. "It is not much of a lake, as Americans would look at it. It is a sort of lagoon, covering from five hundred to a thousand square miles, according to different authorities; but the inundation of the Nile makes varying areas of water. The Damietta branch of the great river empties into the sea about thirty miles to the west of us, and this lagoon covers the region between it and the Suez Ca.n.a.l.

"The lake is separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow strip of land, which you can see, through which are a number of openings, such as we find in the sand-spits along the sh.o.r.e of our own country. But unlike our inlets, they were formerly mouths of the Nile, or at least of streams connected with it; and all of them have names, as the Mendesian Mouth, the Tanitic, the Pelusian, and others.

"It is full of islands, on some of which are the remains of Roman towns.

The average depth of the water is not more than three feet; but it abounds in fish, and it is the abode of vast flocks of aquatic birds, which are hunted by many English sportsmen, who camp out there to enjoy the shooting. The mora.s.s has been partially drained, which accounts for the low water in the lake at the present time; and undoubtedly it will all be above the ordinary level of the Nile at no very distant time.

"The Suez Ca.n.a.l extends in a perfectly straight line, north and south, through this lake and the low land around it. But we will not meddle with the ca.n.a.l just yet, for we shall have a great deal of time to talk about it while we are going through it; for it is a hundred miles long, and steamers are required to move very slowly, except in the lakes now forming part of it. As this ca.n.a.l is one of the most important enterprises ever carried through to a completion, I have asked Mr.

Woolridge to give us an account of its construction and uses. Then I shall invite you to adjourn to the promenade deck, where I have prepared something more in relation to Egypt, the 'Land of Goshen.'

"This ca.n.a.l takes its name from the isthmus or city of that name, or the Red Sea; more properly from the former, as it makes its pa.s.sage through it," Mr. Woolridge began. "Our old friend, Ramses II., of whom we have heard so much in the last four weeks, is said to have been the first to dig out a Suez Ca.n.a.l, though I cannot inform you by what name he called it in the Egyptian language; but that was a small affair compared with the one before us. But our friend's ca.n.a.l got filled up from the amount of mud and sand lying loose around here.

"Darius I. of Persia cleaned it out, though it was suffered to become useless again. Then the Mohammedan conquerors of Egypt opened it once more; but they lacked the modern facilities for handling mud and sand, and it went to ruin again, and was useless till a comparatively modern date.

"When Napoleon I. was in Egypt the subject attracted his attention, and he employed an expert French engineer to examine the matter. This gentleman declared that the level of the Red Sea was thirty feet higher than that of the Mediterranean; and this report knocked the scheme higher than a kite. But in 1841 the English officers employed in this region proved the fallacy of the French engineer's conclusion, and the subject came up again for consideration.

"This time it was the Vicompte de Lesseps, another French engineer, who took up the subject. He was born at Versailles in 1805, had been educated for the diplomatic profession, and had served his country acceptably in this capacity at Lisbon, Cairo, Barcelona, and Madrid. In 1854 he began upon the work, and two years later obtained a concession of certain privileges for his proposed company, which was duly formed, and began the actual work of construction in 1860. Nine years after it was completed, and formally opened with extraordinary ceremonies and festivities, and has now been in successful operation about twenty-two years. Queen Victoria of England made the distinguished Frenchman a K.

C. S. I."

"What does that mean, papa?" asked Miss Blanche.

"It is a big distinction, and that is all I know about it," replied the speaker with a laugh; for he was not student enough to look up what he did not comprehend.

"Knight Commander of the Star of India," added Louis, who had looked up the abbreviation.

"Thank you, Mr. Belgrave. From 25,000 to 30,000 men were employed upon the work. It was delayed by the necessity of completing a fresh-water ca.n.a.l to Ismalia, about half way through to Suez, and by some trouble with Ismail, who had succeeded as viceroy. The original capital of the company was about forty million dollars of our money; but the total cost, including the auxiliary works required to put it in running order, was one hundred million dollars. Yet it is good stock to-day; and all the steamers that used to be obliged to go around Cape Good Hope pa.s.s through the ca.n.a.l, and did so before some of you were born.

"As the commander observed a little while ago, the ca.n.a.l is 100 miles long. The width of the water surface is from 150 to 300 feet, though it has changed somewhat since the ca.n.a.l was built. At the bottom it was 72 feet wide, and the shoalest place has 26 feet in depth. As you see around you, two breakwaters had to be built, involving an immense amount of labor and expense; for one of them is nearly 7,000, and the other a little more than 6,000, feet in length.

"The highest level on the isthmus is 52 feet, so that they did not have to dig very deep anywhere; and there were several depressions in the level, which made the work still less. The ca.n.a.l pa.s.ses through three lakes: first, Menzaleh, 28 miles; Timsah, 5 miles; and the Bitter Lakes, 23 miles. Every five or six miles there are side basins where one ship can pa.s.s another. That is all I need say at present; but as we are sailing through, there will be much more to say."

The usual applause followed, and then the commander took the rostrum.

CHAPTER XIX

THE JOURNEY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

Captain Ringgold suggested to the magnate of the Fifth Avenue that he had omitted something, as he pointed to the long piers which extended out into the sea.

"I had it on my tongue's end to mention them; but I am not much accustomed to speaking before an audience, and I forgot to do so,"

replied Mr. Woolridge. "But then they are engineering work, and I doubt if this company would be interested."

"I was wondering where they obtained all the stone to build them in this place, where there appears to be nothing but sand and mud," interposed Mrs. Belgrave. "They must be nearly a mile long."

"They are quite a mile long," replied Mr. Woolridge.

"Did they bring the stone from the quarries away up the Nile, where they got the material of which the pyramids are built?"

"Not at all; that would have been about as big a job as digging out the ca.n.a.l."

"Hardly; for they could have brought them by water about all the way,"

said the commander. "But the material did not come from those quarries."

"No; they made the rocks," added the magnate.

"Made them!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"There is a great deal of such work done in the United States, and in some of our cities there are streets paved and sidewalks built of manufactured stone," replied Mr. Woolridge. "At the town which you see, the piers start out about two-thirds of a mile apart, and approach each other till they are less than a third of a mile from each other. They were built to protect the port from the north-west winds which sometimes blow very fresh here, and to prevent the harbor of Port Said from being choked up with the Nile mud from the mouths of the great river.

"These piers were constructed by a French firm. The first thing was to manufacture the artificial stone, which was composed of seven parts sand, of which there is a plentiful supply in this vicinity, and one part of hydraulic lime, imported from France. I suppose the latter is something like the cement used in New York in building sewers and drains, or other works in wet places. This concrete was mixed by machinery, then put into immense wooden moulds, just as you make a loaf of sponge cake, Mrs. Blossom, where it was kept for several weeks. These blocks weighed twenty tons each."

"Goodness! They were heavier than Mrs. Grimper's sponge cake!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.

"Considerably," laughed the magnate. "The solid contents of each were thirteen and a third cubic yards. How big a cubic block would that make in feet, young gentlemen? I hope you are not neglecting your mathematics for geography and sight-seeing."

"About seven feet," replied Louis, after some mental figuring.

"A little more than that," added the professor.

"Seven feet is about the height of the cabin of this ship, and one of them would just stand up in it," continued Mr. Woolridge. "They made thirty of them every day, and twenty-five thousand were required."

"This is about as wonderful as the immense work of the ancient Egyptians," said Mrs. Belgrave.

"But all this labor was done by machinery. The moulds were removed from the blocks, and they were exposed to the air in order to harden them more effectually. They were then hoisted on peculiar boats, built for the purpose, with an inclined deck, from which they were slid into the sea. They made a tremendous splash when they were dumped overboard; and it was a sight worth seeing if we had happened to be here twenty-four years ago."

"It wasn't convaynient for some of us to be here at that time," said Felix.

"That is so, my broth of a boy; but some things happened before you were born, as well as since."

"Sure, the pyramids were built before your honor was barn."

"True for you; some things happened before I was born, and even before the twin cupids came into the world; for I believe they are the oldest persons on board," replied the magnate. "They kept dropping these tremendous blocks into the sea till they came nearly to the level, and then they built the walls as you see them now. I suppose you have noticed that lighthouse on the little strip of land between the sea and Lake Menzaleh. That is also built of these artificial stones, and it is one hundred and sixty-four feet high. It is provided with electric lights, which are to be seen from a distance of twenty-four miles. It is, therefore, one of the largest in the world. I believe I have covered the ground now, and I won't say anything about Port Said till we are moored in the grand basin."

"You have disposed of the _pierres perdues_ very nicely indeed, Mr.

Woolridge," said the professor.

"Who are they?" asked the magnate, who had forgotten all the French he ever knew.