Port Said

“ Signals break from the escort and are answered from our bridge. I turn to a sergeant who is shambling to and fro by the machine-room door, and inform him that Port Said is in sight, and that he will be in harbor in an hour or so.
And then, just as suddenly as we entered, the door of that heated chamber of the sea opens and we pass out into a warm humid wind. The wind and the news wake everybody. The soldiers, who have encamped on our after-deck during the voyage, suddenly display a feverish activity. ”

“ In the daytime we have that strange fascination linked to the boundless plain of sand—the mirage flickering on the horizon, the clear pale blue and pink shades that steal over the desert at sundown, with the golden glory of the sunset sinking slowly into the waters of the Bitter Lake, whilst at night the banks of the canal are illuminated by the broad shafts of light, that sweep from the electric lamp in the bows of every ship.
We spend a dreary Sunday at Port Said, amid its dirty streets, rubbishy oriental shops, thievish donkey-boys, and a population which gathers in the scum of the earth. ”

“ She extends beyond us and towers above us, and even the warm humid breeze of Port Said in August is shut out from us. Up from below comes a suffocating stench of hot bilge. The ship is invaded by a swarm of Arab cargo-men, who begin immediately to load us from our neighbor. Cargo lights, of a ghastly blue color, appear at the hatchways. Angus and his chums take up their kits and fall in on the bridge-deck. Officers hurry to and fro. Hatches are taken off, and the cold air of the holds comes up in thin wisps of fog into the tropic night. ”

“ The sea is most unwholesome and stagnant. The houses of Port Said looked like painted wooden toys. The streets were broad, but the shops were full of nothing but rubbish, and were surrounded by dogs and half-naked, dark-brown gutter-boys. There is a circular garden in the centre of the European part, with faded flowers, and a kiosk for the band to play in. The most picturesque and the dirtiest part is the Arab town, with its tumble-down houses and bazar. The people wear gaudy prints and dirty mantles bespangled with gold. ”

“ Browne’s reminiscences of that voyage, which must, according to the volumes of them, have lasted a space of about seven months. I believe they were all very gay at Port Said, walking through the single wide China bazar street of the place, flaming with colour and resonant of musicians in the gambling houses, drinking black coffee on the boulevard, and realizing no whit of Port Said’s iniquity. The Suez Canal had no incident but several loathly odors, and then came the long smooth voyage to Colombo and a fantastic glimpse of first cocoanut trees fringing the shores of Ceylon. ”

“ Port Said receives its fresh water from the Nile. It has got pipes over fifty miles in length to bring that water from the canal at Ismaila to supply the town. Port Said is considerable of a place, and there is a good deal of enterprise there.
On the evening of February 22nd, we sailed from Port Said on the Vesta, one of the steamers belonging to the Austrian Lloyd's. The next morning we came in sight of Jaffa, the Joppa of the Scriptures. Jaffa is a kind of promontory or headland, projecting into the sea. The anchorage is simply an open roadstead, and landing is sometimes very difficult. ”

“ But one solemn promise I made to myself before the first hut of Port Said bobbed up across the sand—that I would escape from this place somehow, on something, be it coal-barge or raft, before its streets and alleys became such eye-sores as had once those of Marseilles.
I reached Port Said. After dinner I hurried away to the 165shipping quarter. As I had expected, no sailors were wanted. I went to ask advice of the American consul.
“A man without money in this place,” he said, “is here to stay, I fear. We haven’t signed on a sailor since I was sent here. ”

“ Port Said, like Suez, derives its only interest and importance from the canal. It contains some seven thousand inhabitants, with a floating population of two thousand. The region round about it is perfectly barren, like Egypt nearly everywhere away from the valley of the Nile. Through that part of the desert which we pass in coming from Suez, one looks in vain for any continuous sign of vegetation. ”

“ The run from Trieste to Port Said occupied six days and six nights. Our ship was the Calypso (Austrian Lloyd's) , a good old tub, originally built for a cattleboat. We were the only passengers, and, with the captain and his officers, we made a family party, and I was never more comfortable on board ship in my life. The voyage to Port Said has been so often described that I need not dwell upon it again. We had fair weather for the first five days, and then there was a decided storm, which, however, did not last long. One gets so knocked about in a steamer that baths are impossible ”

“ Port Said was made out of nothing, and it is pretty good. A town of eight to ten thousand inhabitants, with docks, quays, squares, streets, shops, mosques, hospitals, public buildings; in front of our hotel is a garden and public square; all this fed by the iron pipe and the pump at Ismailia—without this there is no fresh water nearer than Damietta. It is a shabby city, and just now has the over-done appearance of one of our own western town inflations. ”

“ The fleet came to anchor off the mouth of the canal at twilight. Port Said lay in a deep shadow, with only the numerous twinkling lights to show that the chief town of the Egyptian province of the isthmus was near at hand. ”

“ Again we went on leave while coaling was in progress, and next morning resumed our journey. Two days later we received a wireless message ordering us to put back to Port Said and there prepare to repel an expected attack by Turkish infantry on the Canal; and, further, we were instructed to make preparation to receive the Admiral of the port, who intended to hoist his flag in our ship. We at once set to work to protect our bridge and tops by means of sand-bags, hammocks, and grass ropes; and all the Captain’s furniture was removed from the after-cabin. ”

“ The total length of quays at Port Said is over 3 miles. The inner port has an area of 130 acres, and the outer port an area of over 4000 acres. There are, besides, 120 acres of docks, and 10 acres of channel. [257] Port Said has now a permanent population of over 17,000, and Suez one of 11,000, whereas the total population of the Isthmus in 1859 was only 150 inhabitants.
The Suez Canal can boast of having achieved many triumphs. It has abridged time and space in a way and to an extent that no other enterprise has ever before done in the history of the world. ”

“ There will be none till the Southern Soudan is reoccupied by our troops. Mark that. Good-bye; bless you; come back when your money’s spent; and give me your address.”
Dick loitered in Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailia, and Port Said,—especially Port Said. There is iniquity in many parts of the world, and vice in all, but the concentrated essence of all the iniquities and all the vices in all the continents finds itself at Port Said. ”

“ Port Said occupies the same position to the waters of the world as Dodge City once did to the Western States of America—it is the meeting-place of vessels from every land over every water, just as Dodge City was the meeting-place of the great trails across the prairies. When a cowboy reached Dodge City after six months of constant riding by day and of sleeping under the stars by night, and with wild steers for company, he wanted wickedness in its worst form—such being the perversity of man. ”

“ He thought of a Cafe chantant at Port Said, and said to himself, “It can’t be worse than that.” He was right then. The world had no shambles of ghastly frivolity and debauchery like those of Port Said.
The Cafe Voisin had many visitors, and Shorland saw at a glance who they were—liberes, or ticket-of-leave men, a drunken soldier or two, and a few of that class who with an army are called camp-followers, in an English town roughs, in a French convict settlement recidivistes. ”

“ Meanwhile we have arrived at Port Said. The engines stop and go astern violently, and the pilot comes alongside in a boat and climbs the rope-ladder. Just ahead is the breakwater, with a couple of motor patrols keeping guard over the fairway. Our escort puts on speed and goes in, for her job with us is done. She has gone in to coal, and she will be ready in a few hours to take another transport out. She and her sisters are like us—they are never through. The big ships may lie for days, or even weeks, in harbor. We small fry have to hurry. Back and forth we ply without ceasing. ”

“ The town has improved somewhat of late; the viceroy's château, which had become much dilapidated, has been restored, and portions of the desert, irrigated from the canal, have been transformed into fine gardens. Though the climate is agreeable and the air dry, it is not likely to become a pleasure resort. [Pg 224] A couple of small steamers run from this port to Port Said, while the railroad connects it with Suez.
The steamer remained a couple of hours at the station, as did the Ophir; and the commander obtained permission for the ladies to pay her a visit. ”

“ This outer harbour, called Port Said, is connected with extensive quays and basins within, from whence the canal proceeds across the isthmus. At 52 miles from Port Said there is Lake Timsah; also Lake Ismaila and the Bitter Lakes, at 57 miles from Port Said. These Bitter Lakes cover a surface of about 100,000 acres, and will always ensure a considerable draught or current from the Red Sea, to compensate for the large amount of evaporation which is constantly going on, particularly during the summer season, and is said to amount to about 250,000,000 cubic feet daily. ”

“ Port Said, where we have landed, is a large town with a big business, yet it is built on a site which a comparatively short time ago was nothing but a marshy salt lake. Men of all nations walk in its streets, and ships of all [Pg 53] nations pass through its port. ”

“ It is not an Oriental town in its administration, but it has all the motley character of Port Said on its streets. Europeans, Americans, Africans, Asiatics and mixed races are all represented in the crowd of the market or the loungers in the streets. The total population is 30,000, including Chinese, Persians, Turks, Egyptians, Somalis, Hindus, Parsees, Jews and Arabs from every part of the peninsula. Aden is a great centre for native shipping, and the dhows and buggalows that sail every year from the Persian Gulf to Yemen and Jiddah alway call at Aden en route. ”

“ Port Saïd had not existed before: there is now what would be called a “city,” in America, on a much smaller basis of truth: it has 12,000 people. Suez, with 15,000 people, was not much more than a village previously. Ismaïlia, half-way on the route, has 5,000 or 6,000 of population. There are other towns or villages.
A canal actually effecting a junction between the two seas viâ the Nile was made in the period of the Egyptian dynasties. It doubtless fulfilled its purpose for the passage of galleys and smaller vessels; history hardly tells us when it was rendered useless. ”

“ In 1902, however, a new industry was added in the export of cotton from the eastern provinces of the Delta, the cotton being brought from Mataria by boat across Lake Menzala. In 1904 the opening of a standard gauge railway to Cairo placed Port Said in a position to compete with Alexandria for the external trade of Egypt generally, besides making it a tourist route to the capital from Europe. ”

“ They were authorized to accept the words "se rendront à Port Saïd." Lord Dufferin, however, having in the meantime been informed of the views of Her Majesty's Government, stated that he could not accept them. His Lordship would agree to the retention of the words on the understanding that a paragraph should be inserted in the Memorandum, explaining the meaning of the words to be that the troops should "direct their course to Port Saïd in order to enter the Canal." ”

“ Port Saïd, as is well known, owes its origin to the Canal, and is situated on an island separating Lake Menzaleh from the Mediterranean. The town was expected by M. de Lesseps to progress very rapidly—indeed to rival Alexandria, but it has not gone ahead so fast as he p. 231expected. At present there are about 12,000 people there, and I should say more than half are Europeans. The town is built very regularly, and consists of rather temporary brick and wooden houses. The making of the harbour was a very difficult work. It occupies 570 acres, and is excavated to a depth of 26ft. ”

“ The police arrangements at Port Said appear to be well-nigh perfect. The boatmen do not pester for hire, because the fare is fixed at threepence per passenger during the daytime and sixpence at night, and it is paid into an office on shore—a penny of backsheesh making the boatman quite happy. ”

“ Here there is an incessant movement of steamers, yawls, and other craft pljnng from bunk to bank, while larger shipping is moored near the quays, and men-of-war cast anchor in the roadstead near the lighthouse. Although situutetl on Egyptian territory, Port Said is a Eurojx'an, or rather a French city, as regards its inhabitants, its social life, and local traffic. French is the dominating language, and in it instruction is imparted to the fifteen hundred pupils of the rival establishments opened here by the Capuchin friars and the Freemasons. Port Said is the healthiest place in Lower Egypt. ”

“ As soon as the music is finished, a woman, with a plate covered with a handkerchief in her hand comes before every customer. That means that you give her something and we are obliged to give something. We visited the cafe and gave 6 pence to the woman. Port Said is nothing but a seat of luxury. There women and men are very cunning. The interpreter will follow to guide you. But you boldly tell him that you do not want him. Port Said is hardly as big as the proper para 22 of Rajkot. We left Port Said at 7 p.m. Among our fellow-passengers one Mr. ”