"There are a couple of the waiters," said Mrs. Woolridge. "They are nice-looking men, not very black."
"They come from India, and make better servants than Arabs," added the guide.
"How slender their forms, and what delicate features they have!" exclaimed the New York lady.
"You are likely to see a good many of them in the course of the next month or two," suggested the captain, as the walk was continued in the town. "The houses are about the same as they were in other parts of Egypt, and they have the same ornamented lattices behind which the ladies inside can see you without being seen."
The party looked into the quarters of the Arabian sailors, consisting of low hovels, but did not enter. The population of the town is now about 15,000. Before the time of the canal, it was an Arab village of 1,500, with low mud shanties. It was like the desert around it; for no water was there to brighten the foliage, if there was any, for not a tree or a plant was to be seen. The water used was of poor quality, brought from the Springs of Moses by camels and donkeys. It was a poverty-stricken place. But the opening of the fresh-water canal from the Nile vivified everything, and vegetation has come into being since this event.
The party examined this canal, to which the place is so much indebted for its present appearance, as well as no little of its prosperity. It is six and a half feet above the level of the Red Sea, and its flow into the conduits for the supply of the city, as well as the waste into the sea, is regulated by a large lock, with gates. Near this they found the camel-camp, and not less than five hundred of these animals were there at the time; and the pilot said he had seen as many as a thousand of them there at once. They form the caravans to and from Arabia and Egypt, as well as into Syria.
The tourists climbed a little hill near the château of the Khedive, from which they obtained a fine view of the surroundings, which included parts of Asia and of Africa. This elevation is said to be the site of the ancient Clysma, a fortified place, built to protect the ancient canal of Darius. The party, especially the "Cupids," were beginning to be fatigued; and the guide conducted them to the pier, which is a notable feature of the locality.
"This pier is a mile and three-quarters in length, and reaches over to Port Ibrahim, conveying there a conduit from the fresh-water canal," said the pilot in a perfunctory manner, as though he had had considerable experience as a guide. "It is forty-eight feet wide, and is built of artificial stone, like the great piers at Fort Said. It is erected on a sand-bank, which curves around in the shape you see the pier. The land you observe at the end of it, about fifty acres of it, was made out of the earth dug out of the canal. The building you see near the shore is a mosque; and there are several others. We will walk along the shore to the little steamer."
The travellers were occasionally assailed by a mob of donkey-boys; but no notice of them was taken, and they reached the Hotel Suez near the landing-place. The guide pointed out an island near the shore on which was located the English Cemetery. There are at the west of the town an English and a French hospital. The party embarked, and the guide went to the pilot house. In a few minutes more they were on board of the ship.
It was not yet dinner time, and the arrangements for the trip to the Springs of Moses were made. In the evening, attended by the pilot, Felix and Captain Scott went over to the town again, instructed to visit the hotels and ascertain, if they could, whether the veiled Arab was lodging at any of them. While they were absent the company in the cabin reviewed the pilgrimage of the Israelites, and the events which led to the receiving of the Law by Moses on Mount Sinai, in which the commander conducted the inquiry, and read many passages from Exodus and Numbers.