,
and with the second officer and Don, the little steamer left her
landing-place, provided with a pilot, and steamed by the channel over to
the city of the desert, as it has been called.

CHAPTER XXV

A VISIT TO THE SPRINGS OF MOSES

The utility of the Maud was fully demonstrated at Suez, if there had
been any doubt of it before, as a tender, and Captain Ringgold
recognized it especially at this time; for the question of taking her
out of the water, and giving her a place on the upper deck, had been
referred to this point in the voyage, and it was yet to be settled.

Port Ibrahim is the walled basin south-west of Port Tewfik, or
Terreplein as the French call it, extending out to the deep water of the
Gulf of Suez. The shores are bordered with a shoal in every part. To a
practical person the motive of De Lesseps in avoiding the city of Suez
was probably to strike the water at the deepest point, rather than
political.

The party took their places in the standing-room of the Maud, which had
been prepared for their reception. The "Big Four" were again in their
element, though the pilot had everything his own way. A channel
describes about a quarter of a circle from the deep water and the very
end of the canal to the north side of the city, in which there is depth
enough for the smaller class of vessels engaged in its commerce.

Most of these crafts were dhows, similar to the felucca with which the
party had become familiar in the Archipelago, and the boys observed one
just astern of them with great interest. They are used on the Malabar
Coast in the East Indies as well as in the Red Sea, where it is called a
_baggala_, though dhow is the more common name in the far East. They are
over two hundred tons burden, and of all sizes below that. They have
been used for commerce and piracy, which is also true of the felucca of
the Mediterranean.

"She sails like the wind," said Captain Scott, after they had looked the
craft over.

"She is bigger than the Samothraki, whose acquaintance we made in
Pournea Bay," added Morris.

"I have read something of the craft in stories about the Malays; and a
craft of that sort suggests piracy to me every time, especially since
our experience in the Archipelago," replied Scott.

"There are no pirates up here," said the pilot with a laugh, for he
spoke English and understood all that was said.

"What do those dhows bring up here?" asked Louis.

"Coffee from the ports of Arabi