Immediately in front of the ship is the main street of the town. It is perfectly straight and about half a mile long, with a small public garden near the end. In this street are a large number of casinos, where music is dealt out at nights by bands of female performers, who are called “Bohemiennes,” and where, we are assured, everything is properly respectable—until eleven o’clock! Many of our lady passengers, in the innocence of their hearts, looking forward to a pleasant concert during the evening, are much shocked when they learn that the said concerts are held in casinos.
We landed at ten o’clock, and had a leisurely walk through the town and halfway through the Arab quarter, but the smells were so offensive that we turned back. A lot of young Arabs, however, urged us to go on farther, for there was an Arab hanging, but as we did not think a dead Arab would be likely to be a more agreeable sight than a living one we declined. The culprit had been executed that morning for the murder of his grand-daughter, nine months previously. An account of his crime was written in Arabic and attached to his breast, and the large scissors with which he committed the murder were suspended around his neck. Some of the young Arabs were vexed with us because we would not give them backsheesh, and began to be insulting, talking about Arabi, when presently a smart youth of ten years old interfered, and, cuffing the ears of the young monkeys, loudly proclaimed the prowess of the British.
We went to look at the Dutch House where the Marines were quartered, and a young officer, Lieutenant Cotter, kindly asked us to go over the building. The rooms are very fine; but what a change in the scene since we slept here for a night two-and-half years ago! Then the hotel was in operation, and the rooms were furnished as elaborately as in the house of an English gentleman. But everything had been taken away, and the officers were sleeping on the marble floors, and the men on the floors of the adjoining warehouses, where also the horses were stabled. Lieutenant Cotter had made a bedstead for himself, and one of his men had made him a bath, and these, with a chair, completed the furnishing of his room; his wash-basin consisted of a large flower-pot, with a cork in the hole at the bottom. The Marines arrived in Egypt a few days after Tel-el-Kebir, and so saw no fighting; but they had to march over to Fort Gemileh, seven miles away, and fully expected a very severe fight, as the fort is heavily armed with modern guns, and was manned by Nubians, who are reported to be excellent soldiers. Fortunately, however, there was no need to fight, as the commander recognised that the war was over.
At night a number of our passengers, of all classes, went ashore to attend the concert, and one of them known as Cetewayo, alias the Carrib or the Pirate King, announced his intention of kicking up a great row at the casino (of course after eleven o’clock), and he was as good as his word, and others besides, several having to be locked up for the night. We visited the soldiers in the barracks, and they were very glad to have a chat. We sent them the newspapers we had brought from England; with which they were greatly pleased. They told us the numbers, variety, and voracity of the insects was something maddening; some being busy at night, and others during the day, and that it was almost impossible to keep oneself decent. Altogether Port Saïd must be a dreadful place for Englishmen to live in; there was very little society, and I was told that at the time there was only one unmarried lady left.
The commanding officer of the Marines told us that the principal duty they had to perform as “police” was to keep the English sailors and visitors in order, almost all the drunkenness and trouble coming from them—to our disgrace be it said.
The land all along the coast lies very low, and is not seen until the yellowish-green water near it is reached. The water is discoloured by the mud of the Nile, one of the mouths of which (the Tanitic) is situated a little to the west of Port Saïd. This ceaseless flow of mud was one of the greatest difficulties experienced in making the Canal, and necessitated important and expensive works to prevent its access to the harbour. Lake Menzaleh is formed by this Nile mouth, and covers an area of about 1,000 square miles. Good wildfowl shooting is to be had there, and there are numbers of flamingos and other birds. 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 expected. 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. Two massive piers protect it, running out to the sea in a north-easterly direction for about a mile and a half. At starting they are 1,440 yards apart, narrowing to 770 yards, the navigable entrance being about 150 yards wide. The piers are constructed of artificial stone, composed of seven parts of sand from the desert, and of one part of hydraulic lime from France. The concrete was mixed by machinery, and then poured into great wooden moulds, where it remained for weeks, after which the wood was taken away to allow of the blocks hardening. Each block weighed twenty tons, and contained 13½ cubic yards; no fewer than 25,000 of these blocks were used in constructing the breakwater. The lighthouse is a very handsome structure, and is also formed of blocks of concrete; it is 164ft. high, and can be seen twenty-four miles away, being fitted with the electric light. (Baedeker).
At 4.30 p.m. our vessel started for the Canal, and having safely entered it made fast for the night, as no travelling is allowed after sunset. During the evening myriads of gnats and mosquitoes came on to the ship, the electric light being absolutely dimmed by them in many places, and we had good reason to expect a trying night from their presence.
While our ship’s doctor and a party of friends were ashore at Port Saïd they were greatly amused by the attention of a number of Arab lads who followed them everywhere. During their walk in the native quarter the party came upon a great crowd, and one of the young Arabs referring to the man who had been hanged during the morning stated that the man was not an Arab, but a Greek, and proceeded to explain the distinguishing characteristics of the various nationalities represented at this cosmopolitan port; he said—
“The Greek, he bery bat man, he stab—so (with a vigorous motion as though stabbing an opponent in the chest).
“’gyptian, he bery goot man, he only slap, so.