CHAPTER XXV
A VISIT TO THE SPRINGS OF MOSES
The utility of the Maud was fully demonstrated at Suez, if there had been any doubt of it before, as a tender, and Captain Ringgold recognized it especially at this time; for the question of taking her out of the water, and giving her a place on the upper deck, had been referred to this point in the voyage, and it was yet to be settled.
Port Ibrahim is the walled basin south-west of Port Tewfik, or Terreplein as the French call it, extending out to the deep water of the Gulf of Suez. The shores are bordered with a shoal in every part. To a practical person the motive of De Lesseps in avoiding the city of Suez was probably to strike the water at the deepest point, rather than political.
The party took their places in the standing-room of the Maud, which had been prepared for their reception. The "Big Four" were again in their element, though the pilot had everything his own way. A channel describes about a quarter of a circle from the deep water and the very end of the canal to the north side of the city, in which there is depth enough for the smaller class of vessels engaged in its commerce.
Most of these crafts were dhows, similar to the felucca with which the party had become familiar in the Archipelago, and the boys observed one just astern of them with great interest. They are used on the Malabar Coast in the East Indies as well as in the Red Sea, where it is called a baggala, though dhow is the more common name in the far East. They are over two hundred tons burden, and of all sizes below that. They have been used for commerce and piracy, which is also true of the felucca of the Mediterranean.
"She sails like the wind," said Captain Scott, after they had looked the craft over.
"She is bigger than the Samothraki, whose acquaintance we made in Pournea Bay," added Morris.