English Church. Church of the Epiphany (‘Eglise angl.’ on Plan), Rue el-Tegara; services every Sun. at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Port Said (pop. 42,000, incl. 11,300 Europeans) lies at the E. end of the strip of land between Lake Menzaleh (p. [418]) and the open sea, at the N. end of the Suez Canal, to which it owes its foundation. Its trade, chiefly through-traffic, is growing rapidly.
The Harbour of 570 acres has a depth of 26 ft., which is maintained by laborious dredging. It is sheltered by two massive breakwaters, the Jetée Ouest, 2460 yds. long, with a statue of Ferd. de Lesseps (1805–94), the builder of the Suez Canal (1859–69), and the Jetée Est, 1750 yds. long. The former protects it against the mud of the Nile. Between these is the Digue Nouvelle, an inner breakwater 597 yds. long, for shelter against E. winds; on the mainland opposite (to the W.) rises the *Phare, a lighthouse 174 ft. high, visible 23 M. away.
The inner harbour of 220 acres consists of the Bassin Ismaïl (with its three very shallow creeks), the Bassin des Chalands Charbonniers, and the Bassin Abbas Hilmi or Africa Basin, with the quarantine establishment.
The Rue Quai du Nord (tramway) leads to the N.W. to the Quartier Arabe.
71. From Alexandria or Port Said to Cairo.
From Alexandria to Cairo, 130 M., express in 3, ordinary train in 6–6¾ hrs.; 1st cl. 87½, 2nd cl. 44 pias.—From Port Said to Cairo, 145 M., express (with dining-car) in 4–4¼, ordinary in 5 hrs.; 96 or 48 pias.—As to transport of luggage, see p. [431].—The buffets at the intermediate stations are poor.
Alexandria, see p. [431]. The Cairo railway, the oldest in the East (1855), rounds Lake Mareotis (p. [432]), which during the Nile inundation rises at places to the permanent way. On the left is the Mahmûdîyeh Canal (p. [434]).
On the right beyond (17 M.) Kafr ed-Dâwâr appear the first cotton-fields.—38 M. Damanhûr (pop. 22,100), the ancient Egyptian Timē-en-Hor (town of Horus) and Roman Hermopolis Parva, is now the capital of the province of Beheireh, which extends from the Rosetta arm of the Nile (p. [418]) to the Libyan desert.
The soil becomes more fertile. Villages of wretched mud-huts and a few groups of trees appear. We cross the Rosetta Arm. 64½ M. Kafr ez-Zaiyât.