Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

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BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF SUEZ CANAL.

Results speak for themselves. In 1854, there was not a fly in that hideous desert. Water, sheep, fowls, and provisions of all kinds had to be carried by the explorers. When at night they opened the coops of fowls, and let the sheep run loose, they did it with confidence. They were sure that next morning, in that desolate place, the animals dare not desert the party. “When,” says Lesseps, “we struck our camp of a morning, if at the moment of departure a hen had lurked behind, pecking at the foot of a tamarisk shrub, quickly she would jump up on the back of a camel, to regain her cage.” That desert is now peopled. There are three important towns. Port Saïd had not existed before: there is now what would be called a “city,” in America, on a much smaller basis of truth: it has 12,000 people. Suez, with 15,000 people, was not much more than a village previously. Ismaïlia, half-way on the route, has 5,000 or 6,000 of population. There are other towns or villages.