d this point at 12:00
p. m. Before arriving a late supper was ordered by a few to celebrate
the leave-taking, for many who had traveled together so far were to
continue their journey to Marseilles and from thence to England, and
others with us were to go into Egypt. We here bade good-bye to Mr. and
Miss Donnesthorpe, who had been with us en route from Nagasaki, Japan.
Before leaving Mr. Donnesthorpe gave me his confidence regarding his
engagement to an English girl he had left at home. The outward-bound
vessels, instead of stopping at Alexandria, steam direct through the
canal to Suez and Bombay, while one vessel homeward bound passes through
this canal every week. Thus, two vessels a week make 104 a year.
Averaging 1,000 tons per vessel, the aggregate 104,000 tons at two
dollars a ton will produce the sum of L41,600 sterling annually. These
vessels carry to and from home about 10,000 persons a year, and this
number pay L4,000, so that from the Peninsular and Oriental line of
steamers alone the canal company will receive L45,000 annually,
exclusive of the duties received from coal ships. Total averages from
other lines are about L185,000, to say nothing of the pilgrims from
Tunis, Tripoli, on their pilgrimages to Medinah and Mecca. $5,000 to
$8,000 is saved on this route of travel to the merchants from England
to India. The depth of this canal in every part is twenty-six feet.
Steam is supplanting the use of sails, for the Red Sea offers no
exceptional difficulties to steamers. No vessel would require more than
her sails, for the wind blows strong and steady during nine months of
the year.

The opening celebration of the canal by the viceroy was regal. An opera
house, theatre and circus were constructed in Cairo; gas was introduced
into the city of the Mameluke Caliphs; Ezhekiah plaza was renovated in a
manner that ten years before would have been thought impossible; the
streets were laid out and flanked by granite and freestone curbing, and
sidewalks laid with massive flagstone; railway stations renovated and
the streets leading to it improved, so that on first introduction a
stranger would be favorably impressed. The viceroy's palaces were
repainted and every hotel in Cairo was engaged for the guests of the
Khedive, to feed them and lodge them at 48 shillings per day per capita;
all carriages and cabs free and at their disposal, the cost of
entertainment was $2,000,000. Light houses were erected at Bitter Lake,
and e