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November 27, 1869.3 THE TOMAHA WK. 243
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TUB SUEZ CAJSTAL.
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(from our special correspondent.) Port S...
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The The Pound Right . Plage for "the Sov...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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November 27, 1869.3 The Tomaha Wk. 243
November 27 , 1869 . 3 THE TOMAHA WK . 243
Tub Suez Cajstal.
TUB SUEZ CAJSTAL .
(From Our Special Correspondent.) Port S...
( from our special correspondent . ) Port Said , November 16 , 1869 . I POSTED my last on the eve of my sitting- down to dinner at gentleman Ismailia with . I regret the contractor to say the , dinner Spagmore was , not and a great the E success gyptian . I think it was a mistake to ask a perfect stranger and an Oriental off-hand in that manner , for you never can tell what a man is I made of till you dine with him . Spagmore says that is just the very thing I wanted to find out . I certainly did find out a good deal appointing I never business suspected . For before instance , but on I believed the whole the it contractor was a dis-, to be a thoroughly scientific and highly-educated man , but before we came to the cheese he insisted on drinking my health i j in did champagne not say clearl " to y celebrate what the the event event was , * ' a but s he he expressed got throug it . h He a twelve-franc bottle all to himself over it , , and then suggested that , I we to wash should it down all propose in . After a toast we each had , washed and have down some several more " dozen fizz " , 1 toasts confidentiall , all in y " about fizz , " he his got bankruptcy very vulgar in ' 52 and . Later told me in a the great evening deal he drew a plan of a one-span bridge to cross the Straits of i Gibraltar with a fork on the tablecloth , proposed the health of I the broke landlord a decanter , in three sang times four three comic ( the songs landlo and rd offered did not to hop like the it ) , Egyptian gentlem , an up the great Pyrami , d and down again for a five-pound note . The latter , by the way , did hot seem to understand our European fashion of dining , and put us all ; rather out of temper by taking seven times of soup , eating with I . his for wine fingers , in , and which looking respect gloomy he presented . He , however a pleasing , did - contrast not go in to ; Spagmore and the contractor . Before we broke up , I ought to mention that we brought on the question of the Bitter Beer I Company , but when we came fully to explain the matter it appeared that the Egyptian gentleman never from the first b understood uy some Turki in the sh least boots what , several we said pairs , but of thoug which ht he we had wanted brought to in a bag , and produced with the coffee . The beer scheme the therefore water came in the to bitter nothing lakes . Besides is not in , . I the heard least this bitter morning , but that extremely salt . Spagmore suggested that the " Suez Saline Beer with Company him , " but would if the read public just were as well not , and to I take am it inclined up , it would to agree of course be a serious matter , and a heavy loss to somebody . But to That revert is to take the lace topic to- of morro the w hour . You , the will opening obviousl of the have Canal re- . ceived all the general p details by telegraph long before the arrival thing of this from letter , a b thoroug ut still a hly perfec unprej tly udiced impartial spectator account may of the interest whole your readers . To-morrow , the 17 th , the great event is to take place , and the procession of vessels is to start early from Port Sai'd . I have a special invitation from Hobeesh Pasha , who , I believe , is something very influential in the coffee way , to join his party , and I hear I shall have an excellent opportunity of seeing everything * The weather this evening is magnificent . Port Said , November 17 , 1869 . 4 a . m . Magnificent morning ! The vessels are all assembled . Preand parations bustle are on all being sides made . Bonham for the a departure nd Spagmore , and are there both here stir and are bothering me to take them on board at once I having , promised to get them included in my invitation from Hobeesh want Pasha , whom to find they him persist outand in alluding explain to that as the bring " Nabob ing . " them They is , Turk " all rig I ht meet . " is I cannot exactl find like him the in Pasha face anywhere and trousers . Every and other I feel I shall not know him y . when I do see him . When he , asked me to come on board his yacht it was at a restaurant in Leicester matter square , is and quite it was altered easy to as recollect he seems his to featu have re belonged s then , Now to a tre the - mendous didn ' t I ch famil alk him y of , and Turkish , then I twins should . have Spagmore known says him , again "Why ?" Bonham , who says " he can't see the fun of missing the whole round thing , " hand insists , on a piece writing of paper " Hobeesh , and going Pasha to everyon in large e we Turkish meet hand in a . Fez No cap more and white can S trousers pagmore . or I cannot Bonham Write j so Turkish they have round
decided that I am to stop everybody and repeat the name in a tone of earnest inquiry . I do not like the idea , but there seems no help for it . 5 a . m . Have found him . He will be delighted to give Spagmore and Bonham places on his yacht . It is the " Ayeliah , " or " Alyiahey , " or " Haylayi , " or something with " hay " in it ; but 1 could not quite catch the beginning or the end . The vessels ' next start in the five forei divisions gn and . dip First lomatic , the bodies Khedive ; then and , nex his t , royal the two guests great ; steam , companies ; then comes something else ; and then our division . I hope the four first divisions will not wash away the banks and impede the progress of the Heyaileyah . The contractor said there would not be two feet of water anywhere after the first ship or two had passed up ; but I have had doubts as to the accuracy of his scientific data since his bet about the great Pyramid . 5 * 30 a . m . Great commotion near the port . Somebody says it is M . de Lesseps . Spagmore says he must have a look at him . We have got into a crowd of very dirty Orientals , and cannot make him out anywhere . Bonham sees him at last , and we all make for him . The crowd about him , naturally , is very thick , and I can only just catch a glimpse of his head , which is not prepossessing . $ As far as I can judge he appears to be rather a bloatedfaced and middle a -aged bad man hat , with but red as whiskers S . He remarks has a there bruised is certainl eye y a very hidden something ; — , a sort pagmore of " smothered genius , " in his expression that marks him out at once as a great and energetic philanthropist . Bonham says he must say he has crowd shaken . hands Lesseps with is him gesticulating , and so we wildl elbow y , and our apparentl way among y selling the something in packets to the surrounding " fellahs . " Bonham says they are shares in the Canal , and shows wonderful energy and tact . We all agree it is "just like Lesseps . " 5 * 45 a . m . Have got up to him at last . He is accompanied by an attendant with a drum and a little donkey-cart full of packets . Spagmore says he does not think he would carry about shares himself in that , fashion or Tur , key and rhu that bar b , or packets some trifle must of be that photograp sort , that hs he of is selling in aid of the funds of the Canal . We have asked a Nubian bystander what they were about ; but he shrugs his shoulders , and says he thinks it is some European religious service . He shows us a packet he has bought for a Nubian penny . It contains a gold ring , a bit of glass , a toothpick , an imitation of soverei a Whitechap gn , a thimbl el comic e , four song needles , and a a stick printed of sealing recipe for wax the , a copy cure of baldness . He says it is not Lesseps . 6 a . m . more Out said of the that crowd I said , having that B had onham a row said with it was Spagmore Lessep . swhich Spag-Bonham certainly did . Spagmore says any fool knows Lessep , s , and that he has rich curly brown hair , arid always wears a cocked hat on the Isthmus . Bonham again says , " he doesn't see the fun of coming all the way to Egypt to waste one's time in this fashion , " and that we had better go and look for the sources of the Nile itself next . Spagmore does not see why we gam should e for not it if when I am , we and have I have " done promised " the to can get al , and the says Pasha he to is make one of us , 8 a . m . Had a very disagreeable row about the actual amount of the source of the Nile as yet discovered . Bonham would draw it all on the sand with an umbrella . Afraid he has made us late . 8 . 10 a . m . I feared as much . The last division is off I We have missed the Ayeilah ) and had another recriminatory row of half-an-hour . Bonham is going back to Marseilles at once . Spagmore and I could are going do it to easil run y if we could and catch pick up the a boats couple up of . dromedaries He says he . I am going out to see what I can do , and post this . 9 a . m . P . S . —Opened this to say that I have got a camel , and he is the to thorn come opening round and seems read my next y in . ten fresh The minutes . camel . looks You shall as if he hear W 0 all # /< tf about pick ! up , very
The The Pound Right . Plage For "The Sov...
The The Pound Right . Plage for " the Sovereign People . "—
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Nov. 27, 1869, page 243, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_27111869/page/3/
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