THROUGH THE RED SEA

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4043, 4 May 1938, Page 10

THROUGH THE RED SEA

ADEN, SUEZ AND PORT SAID. The following interesting account of part of the voyage from Australia to the Mediterranean was written by Dr Claire Weekes to an Australian contemporary. The long stretch of water from Fremantle to Aden has at last been crossed. The most interesting part of the journey is about to begin, with land almost constantly to port or starboard. Aden itself can hardly be called a tourists’ paradise. However, it is the closest mqst of us will ever be to Arabia, and if for this reason alone is worth the effort of going ashore. BROWN HILLS OF ADEN. I say “worth the effort,” since it is usually an effort to do things in Aden. The heat can be so intense as to melt the very ideas in one’s head, and most travellers are contented to lean on the ship’s rail and gaze blankly at the discouraging brown and barren hills encircling the port. Aden is of special interest to the student of history. According to legend, Cain is buried here, and the site of his grave is still to be seen. Some say the presence of poor Cain’s bones is responsible for the surrounding desolation. Some distance from Aden are seven enormous tanks, said to have belonged to the Queen of Sheba. These tanks were hewn from the natural rock, and altogether hold some 20,000,000 gallons of water. Excursions are conducted to these tanks. The excursion is neither beautiful nor spectacular, but it is entirely different from anything most have ever seen or are probably likely to see again. The tanks are about a mile from Steamer Point, where the ship berths, and Aden itself is a few miles further inland. Aden is one of the few places in the world where it is possible to see that dignified animal, the camel, drawing a cart. The shafts of the cart are built pointing towards the ground, so that when the camel kneels down, instead of upsetting, the cart merely attains the horizontal position. The excursion car leaves Aden bound for Sheik Ottoman Oasis. This oasis is a market town where the produce of the desert is exchanged for manufactured imports. One side of the main street consists of markets and shops, the other of eating houses on the French boulevard-cafe system. However, here the boulevards are the hot dry sand, the tables and chairs are dun-coloured and unpainted, the diners chocolate-coloured Arabs, and the odors are not of French coffee. One can buy one hundred Egyptian cigarettes for Is 6d.

The attraction of the whole excursion is the air force golf course. There is not one blade of grass on the whole course. The “greens” are made by pouring black oil from the aeroplane crankcase on to the sand, and then rolling the sticky mixture into a flat surface. One’s game of golf is hardly ever inconvenienced by rain. It rains every seven years in Aden. BUYING A .PERSIAN RUG. The traveller who knows how to judge a good Persian rug, can often pick up a bargain in the bazaars. In judging a rug, its texture should be examined and attention should be paid to the number of knots to the* square inch at the back of the rug. The greater number of knots the better, providing of course, that the rug is handmade. Some travellers are surprised at the number of small rocky islands in the Red Sea. It will depend on the ship’s course as to whether these islands will be seen. If passed at sunset, they make most, dramatic silhouettes. If the passenger is lucky, his particular ship wJP pass close to the shore line of Arabia, and he will be able to spend hours playing with binoculars trying to decide if that curious shiny white patch on the water’s edge is a settlement or a flock of birds. There will probably be a discussion about. It at the ship’s rail before the birds decide to fly away. EXCURSION TO CAIRO. The Arabian foreshore is magnificent but forbidding landscape, and it is with a sense of security that the traveller watches it change to gentler slopes with occasional palm trees, houses, and finally to Suez itself. The ship stops at Suez only long enough to allow passengers making the Cairo and Pyramid excursion to disembark. These passengers cross the desert by taxi to Cairo, returning to join the ship at Port Said. Seen from the ship, Suez is more interesting than Port Said, and retains more truly the characteristics of an Egyptian! settlement. So many travellers fail to appreciate Suez because of impatience to begin the journey through the canal, or because of the thought of Port Said to come. How many can remember what Suez looked like? After leaving Suez, the ship at. last enters the famous canal. I suggest that the traveller rises early and puts his chair in as good a position as possible close to the rail, so that he will have an undisturbed view of the canal for the rest of the day. It is thrilling to pass through the canal at night and watch the ship’s searchlights sweep across the desert, illuminating camels, tents and Arabs.

However, for consistent interest, the passage by daylight is preferable. WALLS OF SAND. The ship may take all day to pass from Suez to Port Said. Hardly aware of the ship’s slow movement, the traveller feels that he is stationary, and the many changing pictures are being gently unfolded before his eyes—small villages, wharves, boats, camels, natives working on the sandy embankment. or bicycling beside the canal. At times high walls of sand slope down to the water, and it is then that

one realises how enormous was the feat of cutting this canal. Most travellers en route to England have only a few hours at Port Said, and usually it is time enough. There is little to do other than look at shops, and this is made unpleasant by the shopkeepers, who cbme to the door and try to entice the tourist inside.