latter, after removing their shoes, could
stand on the well-sanded deck. The leaders locked horns and their
comrades chose sides, each placing their arms around the waists of the
one preceding them, and then came the "tug of war." It was as great fun
to the bystander as it was good exercise for those engaged in the sport.
A reward followed to the victorious side, which, perhaps, took the form
of ginger ale or seltzer. We enter the Suez canal at 4:00 p. m.,
December 21st (Saturday afternoon). The evening shadows closed around
us; the low shores sank into half-transparent vagueness, and threw into
relief against the evening sky a solitary individual straying along the
water's edge, while within, a hundred yards from shore, were a band of
Arabs, folding their tents, preparatory to a long journey across the
desert. It was a most impressive scene. The quiet was almost
overpowering. The lonely hour and the more lonely surroundings, all
combined, made an indelible impression. The camels were in the act of
kneeling to receive the burden they must carry on the journey. In the
moonlight, the undulating sands of the Lybian and Arabian deserts looked
like the billows of an ocean, and the camels with their swaying motion
like moving sail vessels, were lost to sight in solemn silence. This
voyage on the Suez canal has a charm of its own indefinable.

The Suez maritime canal is about 120 miles in length from sea to sea
(Mediterranean to the Red). Out of this length only thirty-eight miles
were found to be above sea level; the remaining eighty-two were either
below or on the same level. About midway between the two seas is Lake
Timsah, nine miles in circumference. That basin is converted into a
central harbor, where vessels may at all times find a safe and
convenient anchorage. From El Guise, through which the canal passes to
the Mediterranean, the width is 240 feet, and from El Guise to Ismalia
it is 180 feet, after which it passes into the proper width, 240 feet.
The estimate of keeping the canal in order, from its completion in 1869
to 1895, is about L75,000 sterling. Great dredges lie near the shore as
we pass, from which vessels steer away. Charges agreed upon for transit
are ten francs, or two dollars, per ton; hence, our steamer "Caledonia"
paid for her weight of 4,125 tons, $825. The Indian steamers, instead of
stopping at Suez, steam directly to Port Said, anchoring off Ismalia
only long enough for passengers to land. We reache